MELAKA - MALAYSIA

Despite the countless hours of reading and research I was still not sure what to expect from Malaysia. It seemed very green but it was all palm oil plantations. The roads were as good as back home but with only a fraction of the traffic. As I liked sampling the various foods and drinks I got a can of what was called winter melon (no that's not a spelling mistake) expecting some exotic fruit juice and the taste was horrible !!!!!!!!!

Got to Melaka  and it took several circuits of town in the rattletrap local bus before we found the accommodation.

Went to explore the town with Phil in the afternoon, visited the maritime museum and went to the top of a big hill. I described the town in an e-mail as old, historic and a bit run down.

In the evening we met several other backpackers, one was on a 3 year/40 country trip. The owner of our accommodation took us out in his car to a bar at the other end of town. It was great playing pool and drinking with the locals. However one of the other people who came with us was very drunk and was going out of his way to ruin my night. In the end Phil had to stop me from hitting him.

The only full day we had there I went to buy a new camera that I was very impressed with. I would later discover that the strange combination of modern, shiny shopping centers in the middle of old run down streets was common to Malaysia and a lot of South east asia in general.

The final night was the same as the first night but without the idiot mentioned above. Next stop was Kuala Lumpur...........