Blogs from Melaka, Malaysia, Asia - page 4

Finished packing my bag and caught a taxi to the correct bus station, joining a 15 long queue to buy a ticket to melaka - just south of kL. There was approx 12 different bus companies going to melaka within that hour - how on earth do you choose! Anyway, closed my eyes and picked one and it seemed fine - comfortable, clean, fans etc. 2hrs later and we were there - well, still 9km from the centre so had to get another taxi into the centre to find a hotel. Found a tourist information place who pointed me in the direction of many guesthouses so off i went in search. After visiting about 3 or 4 i found one that suited me - a double room with air con and a shared bathroom for 50 ... read more

Malakka Am letzten Tag des Jahres 2014 kommen wir am späten Nachmittag in Malakka an und machen es uns im Hotel erst einmal bequem. Schon ziemlich später (gegen 20:00 Uhr) fällt uns dann ganz plötzlich ein, dass ja heute auch noch Silvester ist. Wir verfallen beide in einen Lachanfall. Erst haben wir beim Reisen die Wochentage vergessen und jetzt auch noch Silvester. . . Wir schmeißen uns in unsere besten Klamotten, gehen in die Altstadt und warten auf eine Inspiration, wie wir diesen Tag angemessen feiern können. Wir kommen vorbei an der St. Francis Xavier Church, einer christlichen Kirche, in der wir kurz mit dem Pfarrer reden und spazieren weiter nach China Town. Nach langer Suche kommt uns ein kleines romantisches Restaurant direkt am Flussufer in den Sinn, bei dem wir auf dem Weg nach Chinatown ... read more

I took the free walking tour offered by the tourism bureau and it was well worth getting up early on a Saturday for! It's offered three times a week and starts promptly at 930. (They highly suggest you sign in before 915, though.) The good news is that you can spend the extra time chatting with fellow travelers and enjoying air conditioning. I had a lovely tour guide who made the experience educational and memorable. We started along the river, standing in the shade while she pointed out various things along the river and talked about the history of the city. We progressed to Dutch Square (aka The Red Buildings), the church on the hill, and then back down to the fort, a former palace, and Independence Hall. While we didn't go in any of the ... read more

Every weekend evening, Friday--Sunday, Jonker Street turns itself from a quaint, historic area into an area teeming with life. Every inch of space is used by hawkers, vendors, and shoppers. I tend to like night markets to I decided to check it out. This night market is unlike others I've been to. It's probably the only one I've been to that isn't selling the same scarves (that I bought in Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam--because they're "unique!"), jewelry, or decorative paper lamps. It does, however, have a wide variety of clothing, toys, and my favorite, FOOD. (Okay, food at a night market isn't unusual.) I wasn't looking to buy anything except dinner, so my friend and I went from table to table seeing what was available. Some of it I'd seen before, but most of it was ... read more

We took a taxi to the southern bus station in Kuala Lumpur where we were to catch a bus for the two hour trip to Melaka (or Malacca - both versions seem to be in use). We had visited the city over ten years previously and were expecting to see many changes. Certainly the bus station in KL was very different - a massive gleaming building which was a complete contrast to the old run down central station. It was a boring trip as the scenery was unspectacular and we were pleased to arrive in Melaka which had certainly grown though the old town appeared to have retained much of it's charm. The bus terminal was certainly very different - last time we were there the bus depot was a shack on a muddy block of ... read more