Spent our last few Malaysian days in Melaka, spending most of the time being entertained by Howard our hyperactive hostel owner who saw it as his responsibility that his guests were occupied at all times. On our first night this involved taking us on a bike tour around Melaka. He mumbled something about a procession but only when we got into the centre of the town to see closed off streets, police everywhere and crowds of people did we realise what he meant.
To celebrate the anniversary of Melaka being made a world heritage site all the important officials and governors of melaka were going on a ceremonial bikeride through the streets. After talking to some of his police friends Howard informed us it was fine for us to ride along at the back as long as we let all the important people go first. So after watching all the ministers wobbling off in their formal costumes and then hearing a "go go go!" from Howard we set off in their wake following at a very slow speed as they made stops at temples and Chinese opera shows along the way. They seemed quite happy to have 3 tourists in their midsts and at one point Melaka's Minister of Tourism was looking after my bike while I went to one of the Temples.
To make things more surreal our journey was accompanied by newspaper reporters jumping in our paths and snapping us with their cameras, and the police escort for the parade which we kept getting caught in the middle of. And while all this was going on Howard was happily riding along on his 1969 Chopper Bicycle (like the one in E.T. with low handle bars, a chair like seat and horns) complete with flashing disco lights spinning on the wheels and an R&B Soundtrack playing from a mini speaker system cunningly attached to the bike.
So it was fairly hard to beat this for memorable experiences but enjoyed the rest of the time in Melaka, shopping, doing a bit of site seeing and sampling their very delicious food. Went for a Malaysian Satay meal where you pick your choice of all different types of meat, fish and vegetable satay sticks and then sit around a table with a boiling pot of peanut satay sauce in the middle and cook the food, very delicious. Also saw the best of Melakan night life when Howard took most of the guests in the Hostel to the only place I think had a dance floor in Melaka - a gay club, and complete with his outfit of cycling gear and a rainbow headband led us all in a dance to YMCA.
Left Melaka with a sad goodbye to Howard and then had one more night in Kuala Lumpur where we said goodbye to Malaysia in appropriate style - with some very good food.
