Some rambles about our rambles: Malacca: Selamat Datang!

From Johor Bahru our next destination was Malacca City. Our journey started with an interesting ride on the local bus to the main bus terminal. The bus journey was surreal for two reasons;

1. Everybody on the bus appeared to enjoy staring at me ‘the tall white girl’ as if I was from out of space and 2. The bus was playing Marilyn Manson very, very loud, transporting me back to some shady clubs I used to frequent in my youth, Eddies being the first to spring to mind. But if that was not bizarre enough it was nothing to the sensory overload that is JB bus terminal.

Destination: Malacca

There appeared to be hundreds of people either hawking their goods, haggling loudly, eating at the many food stands, running to their buses or just sitting around enjoying the exhaust smoke atmosphere and of course the touts who just want to get you on their bus. Saying this the whole process was very smooth and much more organised than certain bus stations at home *cough* Digbeth coach station *cough*. Within 30 minutes we had brought our tickets, enjoyed a refreshing ice tea and got on our very comfy Malacca bound coach. Two hours later we arrived, greeted by a giant Tesco superstore.

The controversial sky tower overlooks the city.

As it was so hot we took a taxi and 10 minutes later we arrived at our hotel. After a quick shower we headed back out to see what Malacca had to offer. On first look it would appear that the answer was busy roads, no pavement and everybody’s favourite- open sewers! Hurrah. Quickly becoming tired of avoiding cars and motorbikes, which could drive any direction they chose, we headed to Chinatown.

Trishaw in Chinatown.

Ahhh, pavement! Well sort of, there were still those damn bikes. But we both thoroughly enjoyed the market- all the smells and the noises and just a really good atmosphere. We decided that tonight was a sit in a bar kind of night, it was fun to just relax and watch the locals and tourists at the market.

Cute doggy in Chinatown

We awoke the next day refreshed and ready to face the day. We grabbed breakfast from a Chinese bakery and it was delicious, but I couldn’t really tell you what was in it!

That day I saw Malacca in a different light, from the ornately decorated trishaws to the quirky Mediterranean feel to the place, Malacca had a lot to offer. I am even starting to get used to people asking to have their photo taken with me, I might even start charging!