Pandannusa Island Resort Melaka

... town that sounded nice didn't really prepare us for what we were about to experience. We got to the building that was hardly impressive, a grubby little door above little local restaurants in a deserted street, our first impression was hardly impressive. We should have know better, this was Malaysia after all and we were greeted by the owner Howard, it really felt like visiting a long lost friend. Howard runs the coolest little guest house you are ...

... character ends up surfing his dead dads body through the air!! haha. What a film. [Tom: Rich mate - Couldn't you have just posted a link to IMDB?)[Rich: No Tom, I couldn't]

The film was so bad that everyone watching it seemed to be laughing (but nowhere near as much as we were), and seemed to generate conversation at the end of it, which brought as all together and meant that we met some quite nice people; one of which was a British couple (whose names now escape me) that ...

Melaka is a short 2 hour bus ride from Kuala Lumpure. A Unesco site for the architecture, I guess. The Portugese and Dutch had a big hand in its founding so the buildings that still stand from a few hundred years ago give it that Colonial feel. It is now mostly Chinese and Indians now. Th problem with that is that it is hard to get Malaysian food there. Justly Chinese and Indian. I ended up with Indonesian Satay that was REALLY good!. Both Chicken and Beef had ...

... so helpful, but then I keep finding that everywhere I go. Never judge a book hey! I like the transport too, well the big VIP bus seats anyway!! Even the normal public bus was pretty good. I guess there is more money in Malaysia. There are certainly a lot more well formed bellies than in Vietnam and Cambodia and I think I only saw one person begging in KL. Will I be back, umm yes most definitely!

... However when we finally arrived at Ringo's Foyer Guest House, there was nobody there to answer the security gate and let us in. Lisa waited while I ran to the store to pick up two cans of juice. Most of the cans of juice in Malaysia have little pieces of something in them, sort of like bubble tea in texture. My favorite drink was black current and aloe, which had little pieces of aloe vera in it. Although this isn't something that sounded appealing to ...

... dir poco equivoco). Poi il clou della serata a vedere un maestro di kung-fu che spacca le noci di cocco con un dito: no, non sto scherzando, ci fa un buco usando solo l'indice della mano destra. Indice che sospetto si rompi ogni volta che fa questo spettacolo, ovvero ogni fine settimana, e che cura con quantita' fuorilegge di balsamo di tigre. Dopo aver salutato mia cugina Joyce, decido di fermarmi ancora un paio di notti prima di lasciare la Malesia; incontro un ragazzo ...

... in the direction of some guest houses. We ended up staying in Ringo's guest house which was run by a really friendly man, Raymond. We took an air conditioned room which was such a treat. Matthew and I decided to go and try the famous Melakan dish, Chicken and rice balls. It was actually really good and very cheap (less than $2 with a soda). After lunch, we decided to go up the sky tower. Basically, you got in at the bottom and it lifted you to the top where is then did a complete ...

... plain tedious, like the Independence museum which covers in overly minute detail Malaysia's road from Chinese colinisation to 1957 break for freedom from English governance. I'd say mostly, Melaka is a place for buying good kak. If you're making your way south to Singapore at the end of your trip, it makes a decent overnight stop to stock up on cheap souvenirs and gifts, plus there are some excellent local artists plying their paintings, all in the Chinatown ...

... of days: Ethnology and History Museum; Portuguese fort, Dutch church, Islamic museum; kite museum, culture museum, beauty museum, sultan's palace. In between most of these visits we ran across the street to the shopping mall and some well needed a/c! Window shopping resulted in a few purchases and now the backpacks are literally bulging at the seems and we're going to struggle to ...

... Singapore is a very ordered city, with numerous (perhaps too many) traffic lights and pedestrian crossings and people generally behaving the rules of the road, Malaysia is a much more nerve wracking proposition for the pedestrian (and probably for the driver). Firstly, pavements do not appear to be a requirement at the side of the road, often meaning that you have to walk along the edge of the road, hoping that the wing mirrors of passing cars miss you. When pavements are present ...