We boarded our Malaysia bound bus in Singapore and enjoyed a swift journey over the border and to our first Malaysian destination of Melaka. After leaving the comfort of our air conditioned coach we experienced our first local bus in Asia, hot and bumpy but we arrived into the centre of town all in one piece. Resisting the many offers of a tuk tuk ride we set off in search of a place to stay for the night.
Having found a place to rest our heads we launched ourselves into China town and soon found lunch and a cold drink to set us up for an afternoon of sightseeing. Melaka has been inhabited by the Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and the British over the centuries so there is a real mish mash of buildings, cultures and best of all, foods.
For once we had managed to time our visit just right as the renowned night market was setting up as we made our way back to our accommodation. So, after a quick turn around we wandered in and out of the stalls and sampled as many different types of delicious food as possible.
After a few bottles of Tiger beer and a quick peek at the football we staggered back to bed.
We changed hostels the following morning then enjoyed breakfast by the riverside and another hot walk to see the disappointingly dreary Melaka straits and the obligatory shopping mall.
The highlight of the day was our visit to Capitol Satay, a restaurant which specialises in the local speciality of Satay celup. In the middle of our table sat a vat of bubbling satay sauce and we helped ourselves to the array of foods on a stick which we then cooked in the sauce, what a treat!
Fearing for our waistlines we left Melaka the next day in search of jungle hikes and forest reserves full of magnificent migrating birds in Port Dickson. What we found was a town full of resort hotels and stranded Europeans.
Begrudgingly we checked ourselves into the Avillion Admiral's Cove and then revelled in the luxury of a 4 star hotel for a couple of nights.
We didn't spend all our time enjoying the pool, we found our way to the Cape Rachado forest reserve and hiked up and down the hills for a few of hours in search of any sign of the 300,000 migratory birds we had heard so much about. Not a feather to be found, definitely the wrong time of year to visit if birds are your goal. We did find some wildlife in this low lying jungle, thousands of feasting mosquitos and a troupe of monkeys raiding the grounds of the nearest hotel to the forest reserve. Dripping with sweat we made our way back to the hotel where the extremely polite members of staff stared at us in wonder when we crossed the threshold and threw ourselves into the cools waters of the pool. Tempting to stay and get into real 'holiday' mode but KL and the east coast beckons.
Having found a place to rest our heads we launched ourselves into China town and soon found lunch and a cold drink to set us up for an afternoon of sightseeing. Melaka has been inhabited by the Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and the British over the centuries so there is a real mish mash of buildings, cultures and best of all, foods.For once we had managed to time our visit just right as the renowned night market was setting up as we made our way back to our accommodation. So, after a quick turn around we wandered in and out of the stalls and sampled as many different types of delicious food as possible.
After a few bottles of Tiger beer and a quick peek at the football we staggered back to bed.We changed hostels the following morning then enjoyed breakfast by the riverside and another hot walk to see the disappointingly dreary Melaka straits and the obligatory shopping mall.
The highlight of the day was our visit to Capitol Satay, a restaurant which specialises in the local speciality of Satay celup. In the middle of our table sat a vat of bubbling satay sauce and we helped ourselves to the array of foods on a stick which we then cooked in the sauce, what a treat!
Fearing for our waistlines we left Melaka the next day in search of jungle hikes and forest reserves full of magnificent migrating birds in Port Dickson. What we found was a town full of resort hotels and stranded Europeans. Begrudgingly we checked ourselves into the Avillion Admiral's Cove and then revelled in the luxury of a 4 star hotel for a couple of nights.
We didn't spend all our time enjoying the pool, we found our way to the Cape Rachado forest reserve and hiked up and down the hills for a few of hours in search of any sign of the 300,000 migratory birds we had heard so much about. Not a feather to be found, definitely the wrong time of year to visit if birds are your goal. We did find some wildlife in this low lying jungle, thousands of feasting mosquitos and a troupe of monkeys raiding the grounds of the nearest hotel to the forest reserve. Dripping with sweat we made our way back to the hotel where the extremely polite members of staff stared at us in wonder when we crossed the threshold and threw ourselves into the cools waters of the pool. Tempting to stay and get into real 'holiday' mode but KL and the east coast beckons.
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