Melaka

I arrived at Sentral bus station just outside of Melaka town completely unscathed - remarkable considering how many bus crashes there's been in the last two weeks! My night bus was regularly doing 100kmh on normal roads. They seem to forget they've got 40 innocent people sitting right behind them. Anyway, from Sentral bus station I took local bus 17 to town square where I was informed by way of a sign that I am 10,623 KM away from London - quite a long way from Bacon sarnies & PG pyramids.

Melaka was colonised first by the Portuguese, then the Dutch, followed by the British who lost it to the Japanese during WW2 before reclaiming it after the war was won. We pulled out in 1957 when Malaysia won it's independence from the commonwealth. Consequently there are lots of different races & religions all living side by side in perfect harmony. Where else would you find Chinese, Muslim & Hindu temples all on the same street? There's Indians, Malays, Eurasians and a big head of Chinese here. In fact they have the best China town I've been in so far! It's hard to describe but I just felt great roaming the streets there. Not once was I harassed to buy anything, there were no market stalls with cheap mass produced imported shite being forced upon you. No "Hey Mr, special price for you". It is still a working China town where the locals live & ply their trades from local shophouses. Basket makers, blacksmiths, silversmiths, souvenir makers are all there doing what they've done for decades, centuries even.

I'm so glad my plans changed and I came here, I'm just gutted that I've only got two days! The old center of town is where the bulk of the history lies, the suburbs are spreading ever wider as the town develops. There are now huge shopping malls, a cinema, bowling alley & the big hotels are moving in - progress they say - let's hope the old town retains it's charm & character while the suburbs sprawl across the surrounding countryside. One good side of that is that I found a Nando's brother Tom! My usual in the UK was under half the cost here including government tax and service charge although it didn't seem as good - maybe because my Nando's eating partner wasn't there! Also found a great bar (D'Arts cafe, 121 Jonker street, Tel 016-661-5558, dart@streamyx.com )with bottles of Malaysian beer for 5RM, great music & a friendly owner. I'm off there in a minute!!

I'm staying at Travellers Lodge and have a tiny room with shared facilities for 20RM per night. Maybe i ought to think about upping the accommodation budget.

So tomorrow morning I leave here bound for Singapore. Will be there for two nights only before heading back into Malaysia for Johor Bharu airport and my Friday 13th flight! Not the best idea I've had this trip but it was the cheapest flight I could find.

Pictures above are of Christ church (built by the Dutch), the ruins of the old Dutch fort and yours truly in front of a fantastic temple.