Malaysia: Melaka

Val drove me to the bus station that morning.  Back to reality!  I could have cried!! But I was brave.  Got my bus ticket and wearily headed onto the bus.  I had to get my head back into the travelling mindset; meeting people, crappy accommodation, planning and organising. I had a 3-4 hour bus journey to do it.  This would be ok!

As I went to put my bags on the bus, I was asked if I wanted help by a young English couple.  They seemed nice and friendly and Val had overheard them saying they were also going to Melaka. We had to stop on the way to go through immigration.  At this point all the tourists stuck together and we had a little chat in the queue.  The English couple (Matt & Sarah) were travelling around Malaysia for 2 weeks on holiday. Matt had never done backpacking before.  There were also 2 German couples.  We got to Melaka and I mentioned to Matt and Sarah about sharing a taxi into the centre. We arranged with the 2 German couples to meet up that night.  We went to McDonalds at the bus station to find out the address of Matt & Sarah’s hotel and this was when Matt realised he’d left his wallet on the bus. Panic!  Sarah managed to find out that the bus driver had gone to fill up with petrol but he would be back later. We waited in McDonalds and after about an hour the bus returned.  The driver had Matt’s wallet.  Hurrah!  I think if we’d been in Bali it would have been a different story.  We headed to Melaka, about 20mins from the bus station.  My accommodation was fine, basic but had my own room and the staff were friendly and it was central.  We met that night and went for some food at an awful Chinese restaurant.  Pork ball soup. It was terrible!  Luckily as it was the weekend, there is a night market on Jonker Street selling all different types of food, electronic goods, toys, jewellery etc.  The market was so cool, really busy as people come from all over Malaysia and Singapore for the weekend.  Melaka is a UNESCO World Heritage place so there’s lots to do and it’s really pretty.  We had some food at the night market, walked around, went on a viewing platform thing then went to bed.

Next day I had a walk around the centre.  So easy to get around here.  Went to the Baba Nonya museum, learning about the history of Melkka.  Had some lunch; tried a laksa soup mmmm…. Then went back to the hostel.  Met a lovely Argentinian girl there (Paula) who was also traveling alone.  We then went for another wander and went to the Strats Chinese Jewelry Museum which was ok. Later we went for Indian food at a place recommended by our hostel, joined by Iggy from Spain.  The food was so good!  Tandoori chicken with naan bread yummy! The food in Malaysia is as good as people told me and it’s so cheap! Then we met Matt and Sarah, all walked down the night market again which was lots of fun (had some deep fried ice cream, yum!), then had a beer in a bar.  Had such a nice evening with some really nice, funny people.  I couldn’t stop smiling.  Didn’t get to bed ‘till 1.30am which was pretty late for me.

Next stop KL!