Venus Hotel Melaka

... old colonial names that ring out over the years - ‘sailing the Mallaccan Straits…’

The direct bus service was not quite as direct as we imagined. Jen made a survey of the bus ticket stands and was suckered by the ‘our bus is just about to leave’ number that had been pulled before. Despite all her specific questions and the direct answers she was being given, the 10:30 bus that she had bought tickets for did not leave until 11:15, just like ...

... globe not Magellan!

The night time we was advised to check out Jonker street in the Chinatown area which was near where we was staying. The street was bustling with market stalls selling everything from antiques to Dim sum. It was a great way to spend the evening. At the top end of the street on a raised sage area there was a karaoke competition in full swing with people up dancing by the front of the stage. They looked like ****** old men dancing ...

... lustigerweise können sie dem Glauben nach nur hüpfen.. Känguru-Vampire :-) Als wir nach ca 1,5 Stunden ankommen, erwartet uns unser Guide bereits. Wie sind mitten auf dem Lande. Die beiden Locals erklären uns, dass viele der chinesischen Malayen in der Stadt leben, die "ursprünglichen" Einwohner dagegen eher auf dem Land. Nun geht unser Höhlenabenteuer los. Unser guide ist ein ca 15jähriger Malaye, er kann kaum Englisch, ist aber, wie eigentlich alle Leute hier, sehr sehr ...

... community and a bit like Malaysia itself, you have a real melting pot. The centre of town has centuries old Churches and Official Buildings built out of the disitinctive red stone. Obviously following the Unesco way, every thing has been turned into a museum. Its a bit weird, a bit like the prisoner, except you're welcome to go in and look, and you don't get chased by a large white balloon. We visited a few of the museums (you couldn't ...

Malacca is a nice town with good colonial vibes. Spent the first evening in a typical Satay restaurant which was a really good experience. The numerous sticks of meat and prawns were welcome as I could start feeling a lack of protein in my diet. The first day was at the Northern beach which was also a good treat for me after the cold nights (3 blankets ...

... though because as I got us lost with my terrible sense of direction we wandered to an area where it really looked like a shanty town and people were quite clearly living there. I thought it would be a little rude to take pictures there so I resisted like a good tourist. I was hassled out of 2 pounds by a monk there too, I was getting all excited that I could communicate with the dude in Mandarin but that just made him more adamant that I had to buy a ...

... persuaded by the owner at the bus station. It is just two blocks behind the heart of Chinatown - a great location - and iss only 50RM (about $15 USD) a night for a private room with private bath and hot water. Not too bad. We wandered through the town and checked out all of the interesting architecture. Over the years the city has been ruled by the English, Portuguese and Dutch so there is some variety in the structures. We did a brief tour of ...

... mouth. "We use Chinese black vinegar," said the waitress. "Is that OK?" I wouldn't want it any other way. Everyone at the guesthouse was talking about a place called Capitol Satay, located in Little India. It's been around for 3 generations and has become so popular that if you don't go early, you'll never get a seat. Our putzing around got the best of us (again), but we got lucky and only had to wait 15 minutes to get a street-side table ...

... almost forcing you to put on your sunglasses to look at them topped off with cheesy summer hits music jingling away as I wondered if anyone ever had the nerve to forgo the embarrassment and ride in one as I saw a convoy of them trundling down the street full of waving Chinese. Bless em. Picking a museum I opted for the maritime museum more to do with the big kid in me wanting to climb up on the huge replica ...