Bayview Hotel Melaka

... I actually didn't feel too horrendous so armed with paracetamol and anti bacterial throat sweets, we still managed to see some sights on the first day. <br><br>China Town is quite a nice little place to wander round and to get lost in. There are lots of twisting streets and alleys but the main attraction is Jonkers Walk which is the main street and is crammed with handicraft stalls and little boutique shops. Across the river from China Town is Town Square which ...

... that different cultures participate in ritual mutilation and scarification activities. It was on the 3rd floor of some old building and had NO AIR CONDITIONING, which is terrible in Malaysia because everything is air-conditioned, sometimes overly so. We sweated through the exhibit, which was totally worth it, because we saw some crazy photos of Chinese foot-binding, those crazy lip plates that African cultures use, piercing, corsets used by Europeans, earlobe ...

... you may remember from the XXXX ads with Paul Hogan from years ago, where he walks into a pub surrounded by red desert and nothing else, well the Silverton Hotel was the one they used, as well as being in many films, Mad Max 2, Razorback etc, etc. At night by the camper the sky was just amazing, with one of the clearest Milky Ways I have ever seen, as there was no light pollution there. It really took your breath away. From Silverton we crossed the border of New South Wales ...

... after an hour, we got into our room and went to sleep. The next day, we went to Port Dickson Ostrich Farm. We got to feed lots of the animals and then we were given the opportunity to ride an ostrich. It was as ridiculous as it sounds! Hahaha. A unique experience though! We also were able to tred on a real ostrich egg, which didn't break!! They're like rocks. Then we went back to our resort and spent 4 and a half hours in the pool. It ...

Rather than a couple of days in KL before my flight to Borneo, I decided to spend the time in Melaka. The port city has had a bit of a turbulent past with occupation by the Dutch, Portuguese, English, Japanese (and preobably someone else I've forgotten) combined with a big population of Chinese, Indian, Indonesian &amp; a big ExPat community, the town really is a melting pot! The different cultures can be seen in the ...

... was ceded to the British in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 in exchange for Bencoolen on Sumatra. From 1826 to 1946 Malacca was governed, first by the British East India Company and then as a Crown Colony. It formed part of the Straits Settlements, together with Singapore and Penang. After the dissolution of this crown colony, Malacca and Penang became part of the Malayan Union, which later became Malaysia.

... only in Melaka', it has been a thriving business for three generations. Once seated you take a stroll over to the cold display and pick your raw skewered goodies - anything from pig lung and cockles to veggies, quails eggs, tofu and prawns. Back at the table you thrust your sticks into the boiling sauce and lick your lips as it cooks. Each stick costs 60 cents (about 10 pence.) This is good enough ...

... About 3 hours into the journey the air conditioning system broke down. The man asked everybody if we wanted to go back. It was a 5 hour journey altogether so it was a strange question but we were lucky enough to continue "only because it was raining so it was not so hot"...right. The first thing I saw as we entered Melaka was a huge tesco sign. A tesco! In Malaysia? Learn something new everyday. A guy there told me it was doing really well with it's low prices too. Marks ...

... so we could go diving off of Sipadan Island. This is not like us we must still be drunk. We later caught the hop-on hop-off bus (2 RM per person - about 60 cents USD) and checked out the sights without leaving the bus. Lazy Day. We had some street food of steamed dumplings and went back to the hotel to relax. Our bus is leaving at 8:00am so we went to catch the local bus to the main bus station at 7:00am. We were slowed down a bit because the ...

... we go out for night on the town (we are usually in bed by 10:00). We headed down to Chinatown and found a man singing Simon and Garfunkel tunes at the Geographers Cafe, and I decided to treat myself to a Guiness. Malaysia actually has it's own Guiness brewery, but the taste is much more bitter and refered to as the "foreign extra stout". It also has a much higher 8% alcohol. Soon we were talking to the couple next to us, exchanging ...