I arrived in Melaka a couple of days ago (Wed, i think!) and i've not got much to say..to be perfectly honest i'm quite bored here! Mainly to do with the fact i am the only person in a 30 bed hostel..well 3 people arrived today but they didn't seem like the sociable types.
Why am i here? The main reason is because it's on the route from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore and i decided to try and fit one more place in since i only had a week in Malaysia. I've been here for 3 nights and really 2 would have been enough to chill out and see the main sights as you can pretty much walk everywhere easily and today i hired out a bike, which was fun but not so much fun when cars were leaving about 2 inches between me and them!
It's a very pretty town, apart from the areas which have been built up into giant shopping malls, and it has a lot of history as it has been ruled by the Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese and British at some point over the years as it's situated by the sea. There is a variety of architecture around the main town which reflects this and it's very different to a typical Asian town.
Yesterday i visited the Baba Nyonya museum, which was basically a traditional mansion house which a typical (rich) family would live in. It was cool to see but nothing too exciting - this was majorly to do with the tour guide who had a monotone voice and made us feel like we had to rush through every room, she was one of the most dull people and i wonder who gave her a job. Anyway i didn't completely give up on the museums since it's pretty much all there is to do here except eat and shop. I went to the People's Museum today which was more fun and told you about the history of Melaka etc. The best part for me was a section on 'Beauty and what we suffer for it' and it had displays on body decorations from around the world (see my photos) such as piercings, lip blocks, tattoos, neck rings etc. Some of the things tribal people do to their bodies is crazy!
After that i had another little cycle and ended up in Little India, which was only about 2 streets big! I was looking for a restaurant recommended in my guidebook which does amazing satay and the sauce sits in the middle of the table and you choose vegetables and meat to dip in. I spotted it as there was a queue out the door and i waited all of 3 minutes as quite frankly i refuse to queue for more than 10 mins when i'm hungry, plus it was more of a sociable eating experience i think and not so exciting on your own. However once i got back to Chinatown (where i'm staying) i found this really cheap but good place and had roast chicken and rice balls which is one of the traditional meals in Melaka - for only one quid it was tasty!
At the weekend Chinatown is buzzing with little market stalls so i had a good float around there and didn't buy anything haha! It's all about the people watching i guess! I ended up stopping at a little cafe as i wanted to try this local dessert called cendol and i had been thinking about it all afternoon..how sad is that. Anyway it's made of green worm shaped things which are just like pasta, coconut milk, ice and a very thick sugar cane syrup, oh and how could i forget kidney beans! It was very tasty and refreshing but i left the kidney beans floating at the bottom cos i couldn't quite eat them without feeling sick - they belong in chilli not a dessert!
Anyway i'm off to Singapore tomorrow on a mid afternoon bus so should arrive there around 6pm. I'm very excited about it as there should be loads to see and do and i'll probably struggle to fit it all into 3 days! I'm starting to get very excited about Australia too as i'll be there this time next week!
Bye for now x
