Day 37: Bonus day #2 in Malacca

Not a whole lot to report today. We spent most of the day in the common area of the hostel chatting to other guests and doing work/internet stuff on our laptops. Ventured out to lunch at a satay place that Carol had recommended which we didn't quite manage to find! So we wandered a bit further to the hawker area that we hadn't been to and had seen last night - as with most hawker centres it was closed during the day, but a couple of places were open.

Ended up going with a place that sold fish ball noodle soups: you basically picked out the ingredients you wanted (dumplings, fish balls, various vegetables and tofu stuffed with fish) and he'd combine them all into a noodle soup for you. Was very tasty and not heavy at all, no coconut milk. The broth was more like the clear broth you get with pho.

We also wandered over to a place Foursquare had recommended called Baboon Cafe which was a trendy little cafe hidden inside an old building, and was filled with little trinkets, artworks, fish ponds/tanks and greenery. No photos permitted unfortunately. The burgers on the menu (and on other tables) looked amazing but since we'd just eaten we settled on a Vietnamese iced coffee for me and a fresh juice for Shandos.

Back to the hotel to spend a bit more internet time before heading out around 6pm for the main reason we'd stayed in Malacca an extra two days - the night markets! These ran for probably 600-700 metres along the main shopping street, and had a whole bunch of different stuff. Clothes, toys, crafts, art, selfie sticks, and of course food & drink. We sample a bunch of different stuff: a Taiwanese burger (fried egg patty with ham), Nyonya dumpling (glutinous rice in bamboo with food colouring and minced pork), pok pai spring roll, ice cendol, Portuguese tarts, satay cup fish balls, chicken satay sticks, and more. Sounds like a lot but each portion was pretty small. There was lots of people out, and the atmosphere was very festival although it was spotting rain. Even a karaoke stage at one end with lots of people watching - I'll never quite understand the fascination with performing in front of strangers, especially when some folks have ... fairly average singing skills.

Once we'd satisfied ourselves at the market we wandered back to the riverfront and had a couple of beers in one of the bars. Back to the hotel by 10pm and off to bed, feeling fairly confident that we'd seen and tasted most of what Malacca could offer. Slept poorly again as a couple of other hostel guests were being very noisy in the common areas at 3am, though I couldn't quite bring myself to shout at a couple of young Malaysian girls. It gets made worse as well because the walls, floors and ceilings are all bare concrete, so all noise just echoes up and down the building. Still a few kinks to work out I guess!Read more