The Baba House Melaka

Another lie in this morning! Yippee!! Getting a bit too used to these at the moment! I met up with Bex, Hella and the Arlies (ie Charlie and Carly) at 10am and headed off to the Museum of Enduring Beauty. What a fascinating place. There are all different perceptions and traditions of what people around the world find beautiful and how they painstakingly achieve their goal. I'm not talking about cosmetic surgery, although that was mentioned, I'm talking about slitting your bottom lip and inser...

Our trip to Ipoh had deliberately given us a number of different possibilities for our next move on the way to Singapore. Having talked these through with the seasoned Aussie traveller we met in the Station Hotel, we decided that a trip to Melaka would be our best option. There are direct buses and the description of this old town on the mouth of the Melaka River sounded really interesting. It was founded in the 15th century by a Hindu prince and became an important trading centre, It...

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Arriving in Melaka, the first thing we noticed was the evident fashion trend amongst the hundreds of moped riders who all wear their jackets back to front with the back open... We pondered on the reason behind it, maybe - as its fairly warm - its to keep their clothes from getting dirty as they speed along, whilst still allowing a bit of a draft on their backs to cool them down? Although, most of them don't even have their front completely covered as the jackets have fallen down to their wris...

The afternoon train to Tampin and then a cab took us to Melaka. the joys of 1st class not costing an arm and a leg and a very quiet train. The Baba House is a super conversion of an old Chinese House and a lovely place to stay. Perusing the paper on the train revealed that Melaka FC were playing that night so off we went to the football - 10 ringits gets you into the main stand and we were such a novelty we ended up sitting by the announcer who worked the cassette player, including a Malay 'O...

Actually you cannot really say that Melaka is mayhem. It is a little town that is a very popular destination for travelers. It is full of history. We arrived at lunchtime and headed off for the obligatory orientation tour. We walked to Stadthuys, which is all red bricks. I was lucky enough to see a local couple getting married and having their photos taken in the picturesque gardens with fountains. Up the hill we visited St Paul's Church, also known as the the Our Lady of the Hill, which has ...

Day 69 Friday 07/01/05 Singapore - Melaka (Malacca) We left Singapore and headed for Malacca in Malaysia. The new name is Melaka but no-one seems to use it. We had a 4.5 hr bus journey with hassle free immigration stops - so many people use this border crossing. We arrived in Malacca at the new bus station which is housed out of town near a huge Tesco (Stewart can't escape them) and caught a local bus into the centre of town. Malacca has a historical centre to it - it was basically where mode...

We are actually sad to be leaving Melaka. It is a place we have always wanted to visit and it sure did not disappoint. It is all that we thought and more. It is simply beautiful...you could think you were in Europe, but with all the advantages of this weather, food and culture. Today we took a bumboat ride down the river to see some traditional "kampung" and fishing boats. We saw a few monitor lizards along the riverbak as well. Our guide was fantastic and kept us laughing for an hour. The fo...

Malaysia in a Mustache MALACCA Living and working in Malaysia has afforded me a wonderful opportunity to venture to many incredible locales. South East Asia is rich in culture, food and untapped pieces of paradise. However, we often tend to forget about our own backyard. Therefore, I have decided to challenge Malaysia armed with nothing more than a camera, an appetite, a taste for good conversation and the ability to grow a unique form of facial hair in under a week. Welcome to 'Malaysia in a...