Melaka

Aaaaaand it's hot again. While in the Cameron Highlands it was a nice 18-25 degrees and you had to wear a sweater in the evening we are now back to humid 31℃ in Melaka.

The city itself is pretty different from most cities we've seen so far. It is cute, calm and the traffic is bearable! We came here on Monday and spent the first day relaxing and eating great street food. The next morning we got a free guided tour to most of the tourist attractions in the city which include Dutch colonial architecture (the houses are long and narrow as tax was imposed based in the frontage of the house), the remains of a Portuguese fort, a wooden sultans palace built without a single nail, Chinatown and an old trading ship which is now a museum. After more delicious street food (chicken rice ball) we continued by ourselves to little India, the sea front, the biggest Chinese cemetery outside of China - Melaka was an important port for spice trade and attracted many Chinese merchants - and malls for air condition. Did we mention that it is really hot here? In the evening we took a bike (yes, Claire rode a bike) to more tasty street food (Laksa, a kind of curry) and other parts of the city. This bike tour was organised by the hostel and we met some nice people with whom we decided to continue the evening, treating ourselves to one beer each (yes, just one: 1,5euro for a small can. We can't wait to have cheap beers! ;)

Today we wanted to do a cooking class but the only hotel offering it is a bit stupid so that isn't going to happen. So, no Malay food when we come back. And we'll probably leave a day early and head to Singapore tomorrow.Read more