Malaysia...this is just the beginning!

I'm going to apologise now for the length of this blog, I don't seem to be able to fit everything in and make it sound as good as it was like Alec does with his blogs. If you feel I'm rambling a bit, don't feel you have to read all of it. I just get carried away with trying to describe everything. In the next blog ill try not to go into soooo much detail! :D

Heading across the border between Singapore and Malaysia we handed in our Singaporean visa and picked up another two stamps in our passport! Our first stop in Malaysia made for a good one... Melaka!

We spent two full days and three nights in this old town and boy did we pack a lot in (mainly into our tummies)!! Melaka is based on the west coast of Malaysia and is famous for its quality and diversity of food. From North Indian, Pakistani, traditional Malayan, Chinese and even a bit of western food, Melaka is chockablock with restaurants, street stalls, food markets and local people inviting you in for tea!

We arrived from Singapore on the bus at 'Sentral Station' and decided to take the 'local bus' to our youth hostel. The bus was waaaaaaay cheaper than getting a taxi at one Malaysian Ringgit per person! That's about 20p (The taxi was going to cost about £3.50, so not that much and in hindsight we should have just got a taxi, oh well, makes for a good blog story!)

The bus driver told us when to get off and dropped us off in the middle of town. "Just walk that way" (random hand gesture that could have meant several directions)! After a lot of going in the wrong direction (the youth hostel gave us the wrong address) asking a lot of locals and showing people my phone for the address and name of the place we found it. The Sayang - Sayang hostel, right slap bang in the centre of China town!

Our room, which Alec described as a tree house, was a tinie tiny box about the size of an average bathroom. As you walked in, there was a two person sofa and a set of stairs. The stairs lead to the second story which was just a double mattress on the floor. So you climbed up the stairs and into bed essentially. Now you understand the tree house description. It was a funky little room and served its purpose for the three nights we were there!

During the time we were there we managed to fit in all the best local places to eat such as the famous Hoe Kee chicken rice (Basically just chicken and rice, sounds like prison food but it was so yummy we had it for breakfast both mornings!) and Pak Putia Tandoori (best chicken Tandoori and tawe prawns EVER!).

For the history buffs among our readers we did the A Famosa, the Portuguese fortress. It is among the oldest surviving European architectural remains in Asia. The clock tower, and the Cheng Hoon Teng temple, which is the oldest Chinese temple in the country.

Our favourite activity though was hiring bicycles for 30p an hour and riding the length of the Melaka River and back. Dodging the mopeds, cars and pedestrians was a hard task. We rode around all day and sampled some out of town delights such as home made chicken satay. We also stopped at the famous Honky Tonk bar and had an ice cool drink at the end of the day.

To finish our stay in Melaka we wandered up and down and round and through the Jonka St night markets, at which Alec replaced his lost glasses for £4 'genuine' D&G ones and I got some lovey decorative hair ties!

All in all our stay was awesome and everything we did/ate/drank and saw we enjoyed, even the grass jelly drinks!!

So ill say... Selamat malam (Malayan for Good Night.) for now and update you all soon on the next leg of our journey!