Holiday Inn Melaka

... hours before making our way to the Newton food village (outdoor food court with a variety of stalls setup where you pick and choose whatever dishes you would like - we had dumplings and chicken satay). Kevin finished off the day once again at McyD's for some icecream...who could pass it up for $0.30. Spent that night back at the hostel watching "The Ugly Truth" and then went back to bed for the third time that day (the pillows were ...

... part of the trip keeping a tally of Man Ure shirts seen, double points for Rooney, minus for out of date Ronaldo. More football themes to follow, I’m sure. Early afternoon, we settle in to the Equatorial Hotel Melaka- we’ve paid extra for Equatorial Club privileges, (look it up yourself on thier web-site), at least when I say extra that, in reality, probably equates to less than a round ...

... a t-shirt on. So we got in a taxi to the bus station then a bus over to Malacca which takes about 4 hours including time spent at the border. <br><br>Very easy border formalities, quick look up at me and a couple of stamps. Country number 4 - Malaysia. Just crossing the causeway instantly makes me feel like I'm now in Asia. Singapore didn't really feel like Asia. More a western city with Asian people. Where as in Malaysia it looks and feels more Asian ...

... scoring some custard tarts and kiwi juice for a snack and walking the river walk and the buffer zone again, considering some shopping. I am not inspired to shop! This is incredibly frustrating, because things are cheap and the goods are beautiful! I just don't know what I want! So rather than stress out about my lack of impetus to buy stuff, I'm giving up. I figure, when i'm inspired, I'll know. And then I'll *buy*. We took a stroll through the ...

... its size and the jam tarts it sold and the shopping plaza nice and cool! We then spotted a board that told us of performances being put on for Chinese new year so that was good news!! First to celebrate chinese new year, there was a lively street market, lots of lanterns, a disturbing number of children with fire crackers and some people singing on a stage! Sadly however actual Chinese new year isn't full of tourist ...

We were up to get the 8am bus to Melaka in Malaysia. It's pleasant enough in the morning before the sun gets high and the oppressive heat of the day sets in. Thankfully our bus had big seats, lots of leg room and air-con so the 4 1/2 hour trip was comfortable enough. Although the strength of the sun through the window was so great that we were still sweating even with the air-con. The border crossing was no probs and no-one seemed ...

... and once again it was very busy and simultaneously very relaxed. We eventually found some traditional dumplings which was Michelle's biggest concern for a while. Personally, I'll always remember my bemusement at walking into the gallery and t-shirt shop of local artist, Charles Cham and finding a glistening red Morris Minor. The eccentricities of the British Empire pop up in the most curious and unexpected places!