Saturday 27 November 2010

Arrived in Melaka!

Saturday 27th November 2010

MP3 track of the day: Beautiful Girls - B.O.B

Weather: Hot
















Waking up early I had bags of time to get some breakfast before catching my bus to Melaka. The bus was quite luxurious; there were only three seats per row and only ten rows. This meant that each person got a huge amount of space, a big comfortable chair that reclined almost into a bed and the chair could be set to 'massarge' (apart from mine!).

Whilst on the bus I met a British guy who's on business over here in South East Asia. We chatted until we found out that the seats on the bus were allocated and we were both in someone elses seat; I therefore moved to my allocated seat with the British guy two rows in front of me. The air-con was on full bast and it ws nice and cool; there was a film showing on the TV however a it didn't get past five minutes as it just got stuck (dogy copy) and the sound wasn't on. Therefore I put my MP3 player on, read about Melaka and looked outside at the view.

The coach journey was very 'stop-start'; firstly we stopped in Singapore for ages to pick up more passengers. After an hour we then stopped at Singapore immagration where I handed back my departure card, then five minutes later we stopped at the Malaysian immigration where I recieved another departure card (ready to hand in when I leave the country). We then stopped, I think, for fuel which firstly took ages, secondly we were all still on board and thirdly the engine was still running (though I can understand why the bus company waits unit they cross into Malaysia for fule as I bet it's stacks cheaper than Singapore).

Finally we got going; the driver, realising that the film currently showing kept getting stuck, changed the DvD to 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'. I thought great as this must have been an old Harry Potter, watching this would allow me to remind myself of the story so far before I go and see the new Harry Potter. As I watched the film I couldn't remember any of the scenes and I thought that I must have missed a Harry Potter film along the way (I then tried to remember all the film titles without sucess). It took me quite a while to realize that this was an elegal copy of the new Harry Potter film just out though, with no sound, I still need to see it at the cinema.

Looking at the time I knew that we must be getting close to Melaka, which was good as I was bursting for the toilet. The driver had stopped previously so that HE could use the bathroom but he never said that this was a rest stop ... infact the passengers never got a rest stop for the entire journey. Finally we arrived in Melaka and my instructions said to take a bus, then walk for ten minutes to the hostel. As I was needing the toilet badly the taxi option of 20RM (£5 ... the bus was only 20p) was looking really good and luckily the British guy I met on the bus offered to share taxis, meaning my fare was only 15RM.

As the taxi driver turned down my street I thought I had arrived in Bagdad ... there were people, cars, bikes, stalls everywhere in no particular order. I got dropped off at my hostel with a bit of a nervous lump in my throat; I said thank you to the taxi driver and in I went. I was very pleasntly suprised when I got into my dorm as it seemed very nice and clean. There were also two other guys in there (one Brit and one Aussie) who seemed nice; I asked the Aussie if there was anywhere nice to eat and he walked me to a place he went to earlier today. He then said goodbye to me as he went off for a massarge.

I went inside and I ordered (Kind of forced to order) the Melaka lasaka , a traditional Melakan dish. It was noodles, prawns, and rice balls in a very spicy watery sauce. It was very nice and the lady, who cooked it there and then, chatted to me as I ate my meal. After this I went around the local area taking photos and looking in the stalls. I found a hat that was what I was kind of after; it had a 'British Colonial' feel, with it being white, and it had a wide brim that could cover my ears from the sun. I tried it on and ummed and arred as I looked at myself in the mirror; I did think that I looked a little special, however at the cost of £1, it will do for now (if it protects me from getting sunburnt, so be it).

After this I headed back to my hostel to chill, de-heat and wait for the evening as there is supposed to be a Chinese market tonight within this area ... sounds fun!

Toodle Pip!

2 comments:

  1. Hi Matt, this is John, we met on the bus. I think I also had the Melaka lasaka. It was VERY hot, and I could not believe they would only accept the equivalent of £2.50 for the meal. The people were extremely friendly and chatty.
    I saw your comment that eating alone is tough. I can relate to that from many business trips. In Melaka I asked some locals what was in the meal, and they talked and talked. Great.
    Good luck with the rest of the trip.

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  2. Tell me about it; luckily some Aussie warned me of the Lasaka's strength so, when I had my first, I asked for only a little spice ... and it was very nice. I forgot to ask for a little spice the second time and paid the price ... never mind. Food is very cheap, but snacking is expensive compaired to meals due to most biscuits, chocolate crisps etc being imported.

    It's quite strange really; when I travelled around North America I used to head into shopping centers to get a cheap meal, now the tables have turned and the shopping centers are expensive compaire to street food. We had a good chinese market near to where I stayed and the food was great.

    Good luck with where ever you are doing business next ... have you shown your children the Tesco photo yet?

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