Malaysia baby!!

We are here safe and sound. I'm officially melting!! The thunder storms here are mental but much needed. The thunder sounds like we are under siege, the lightening and thunder striking at the same time and the rain thunders down for a very short period but floods everything (slight exaggeration) that will be the monsoon rains then!

We traveled by bus across the boarder from Singapore to Johor Bahru where we met a beautiful young man, Dan, who tagged along as we got the connecting bus to Melaka, on the west coast of Malaysia, south of Kuala Lumpur.

Sunny's guest house was to be our home for the next couple of days. Zain, our friendly hostel manager, who took a bit of a liking to Angie and I. I think he wanted Angie's babies and when it looked like he was going to shove his tongue down my throat as we were leaving, I had to decline!! Saying this, he was harmless and provided us with much amusement, especially when drunk. He was a kind man, feeding us mango and herbal tea. Our dorm room very rustic, the sheets had lots of stains on that I really don't want to know where from and the fan sounded like a helicopter landing, still we loved staying there. To celebrate our arrival we drank a lot of yummy tiger beer with Dan, Zain and Box (local tour guide). Great evening, not so much fun the next day in the heat! Roti is great for hangovers!

Melaka is a real mix of architecture and areas. It had a really nice vibe to it and everybody was friendly and welcoming. The historical and colonial area are home to the charming red Town Square (Dutch Square, with a red town hall and Parliamentary buildings), the replica sultans palace, made all from wood and no nails! Ruins of the Portuguese Fort, Port de setiago and behind the fort, high on a mound, the ruins of St Paul's Church built in 1521 by the Dutch and with great views overlooking the Straits of Melaka.



I really liked the preserved busy Chinatown district across the river, it held a lot of character and randomness! Strolling through Chinatown in the evening we didn't get chance to go inside the numerous temples, one- the oldest Chinese Temple in Malaysia.




In contrast, Melaka has the more consumer areas with plush shopping malls and eateries. The air con was a welcome break! There is a lot of ongoing development, construction work and more construction work, Sunny's hostel was close to this area! The hostel was tucked away though, sandwiched between so many local cafes and hidden from view of the construction work. I'm loving the locals cafes. Most of the cooking is done outside on huge gas cookers, where people sit chatting and eating. The smells, totally awesome. In true style we also managed to eat our way around Melaka. So many tasty foods, from Malay, to Chinese Malay, Indian Malay and many more. All good for the veggies, although I did find a tiny, tiny fish in my Indian spinach curry!!

There are so many wild cats here which is of constant entertainment to Angie. If possible, they would be coming with us around Malaysia!

Our last day, before heading to the big city, Kuala Lumpur, we spent in the Peoples Museum, Muzium Rakyat, in the Town Square. Lots of cool varied exhibitions looking at the cultural makeup of Melaka- the Malay, Arabic, India, Chinese and mixed marriages, the history of sultans and colonisation of the Portuguese, Dutch and British. Loving the exhibition on fusions of cuisines, yum! A stunning exhibition on kites around the world, the history and their significance from leisure to more spiritual.

The Beauty exhibition explored the meaning of beauty in some cultures. Some of the images were very graphic from lip plates and scarification practices in certain parts of Africa, foot binding in China and Vietnam through to body piercing, tattooing and the women's friend-the corset-clever!

I'm a little behind on the blog as per usual, but the most important thing to update you on-Sarah is here!! It's soooooooo good to have her here, I'm not letting her go home!! I'm sure that she was a pioneer traveler in her previous life, effortless transition into the world of backpacking and of course the most awesome company. I know you'll be missing her back home, but selfishly it's amazing to have her here, exploring the world together.


Bye for now and sending much love xx