I awoke from New Year's celebrations quite well at a surprising hour of 8.30am! I wasn't hung over as in most years, mainly due to the outrageous cost of alcohol in Singapore. I settled for the coke at $8 a glass at the club I went to (only had one mind you)... the huge bottle of beer at the food hall for $6 along with the 2 free drinks did a little to help. It was an ordinary night, with an ordinary crowd. The streets were quite subdued to what we're use to in Australia. To get the feel, I walked around the riverfront at 9pm. Lots and lots of people but I wanted to get clubbing so I left and didn't stay for the fire works.
After a 4 and a half hour bus ride from Singapore, I have arrived at my first destination in Malaysia: Malacca (or Melaka) (population approx 750,000). Having an MP3 playing music most of the way, along with my stash of snacks from City Hall made the journey quite pleasant. The weather wasn't that great, raining most of the way. The scenery from the window was mostly tropical lush jungle.
Already I have noticed a difference in the people. It seems more relaxed here in Malacca. I was expecting a smaller place but it is quite bustling. Watch where you step as well... all over the place, there are deep crevices on the side of the road. The cars, motorbikes and people all mingle together to share the busy roads. I'm getting into the swing of just walking on to the road and expecting the cars to slow down.
I am testing myself over the next two nights by staying in one of the cheapest guesthouses in Malacca: Shirah's Guesthouse. At RM16 a night ($A6), I get to share a room with two others, even though the room had me and another German girl last night. I had to settle for this one given that my preferred hostel (Traveller's Lodge) was full. I'll try to do the sell: the showers are cold (splashing water on me worked wonders), the matress is on a hard box that flips up, the TV goes all night (thank god for the ear plugs), there is no breakfast included (that's ok because I just go to one of the food huts) and it is run by a friendly, helpful local that tries his hardest to speak English. Not bad for $6 a night. Don't worry... I'll compensate by staying at a nice place down the track. The guesthouse had a nice single with shower attachment for $20 but I'm not desperate for my space, it's good to talk to other travellers and I want to experience budget backpacking at its most interesting. Now that I think about it, I think it's quite a bargain.
The exchange rate makes for a very thick wallet. Given the exchange rate of $A1:RM2.7, I was able to withdraw RM1000 from my account which will be my weely budget. I don't think I will spend anything close to that over the next week or so. The public bus, for example, is RM1.
And talk about public transport... I brought my ticket for Jerantut from the express bus station today (RM17) and then intended on returning to my area. However, I got on the wrong bus and ended up having a grand tour of Melaka. I loved it. What a fantastic way to get to see sights that I wouldn't have got to see otherwise. Once I noticed that I was going in the wrong direction, I got my trusty Lonely Planet out and showed it to the ticketing girl: they didn't speak English but were very friendly about it and reinforced that things would be 'ok'. I ended up back where I started 1 hour later.
There isn't much to see in Melaka except the old city which has a beautiful town square. I have two nights here and then leave at 4pm tomorrow for Jerantut. Apparently, a hotel in Jerantut organises everything for tours of Teman Negara. Will be winging it tomorrow but the touts at the bus station have already proved helpful. They have all the local knowledge so why not ask them questions like 'where do I get the bus to the centre of town?'.
Hope everyone had a fantastic new year's eve. The first week has flown by and I'm still in the mindset that 'wow, I'm overseas... this is fascinating!'.
PS: My digital camera just went flat. Hope to download photos soon. This internet cafe is great... and cheap to (RM4/hour).
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