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Asia, truly Asia... - Melaka, Malaysia Travel Blog Posted: 04 Jul 2011 12:00 AM PDT   Melaka, Melaka State, Malaysia Monday, July 4, 2011 After four days in Singapore it was time to move on again. We went to a bus terminal just outside our couchsurfing host's house and got coach tickets to Melaka, three and a half hours away. Sasha have heard so much about that historical city and was very excited to go. Dasha went along for the ride! The border crossing was effortless. We just had to get off the bus twice. Once before we crossed the border by foot and second time to give immigration our departure cards.  Malaysia seemed to have tight security as we had to get our fingerprints scanned before we entered and left the country. The scenery had changed dramatically when we crossed the causeway to the Asian mainland. Heavily urbanized Singaporean landscape gave way to untamed jungle. The road quality remained perfect though. Roadside signs were in Malay only unlike the English signs in Singapore. Malay used Roman script so it was not too difficult to follow the map . We were excited the moment we got off the bus at a service station, however, we felt safe the moment we set foot on the soil of this oriental country. Most women were wearing headscarves (and most Malays spoke at least some basic English). We got some local money from an ATM and bought some exotic sweets. Finally we arrived at the Melaka bus terminal and found a local bus going to the city centre. Riding a bus with no fixed stops along the route was a new experience for Sasha. The town was a bit disorienting, however, we teamed up with a young man from England and found the backpacker district. Over the past nine months we rarely knew where we going to stay next night. Booking a budget type of accommodation is often not possible in Asia since guesthouses can't be booked online and making an international call won't make much sense. Walking in is the way to go - tourist guesthouses are usually clustered and inspecting the premises is important. In general, we were happy with an Asian style hotel as long as the water was running (hot water is often a luxury, don't expect it), toilet is available nearby (again, don't expect toilet paper, Asian people rarely use it) and we don't have to share a room with an army of cockroaches and bugs. Dasha wanted to mention as for no toilet paper, it's always great to bring your own or succumb to the toilet pistol which is a spray attached to toilet .  Usually, Asians use water pumped through the spray to clean down there.  It seemed more hygienic to use the spray as the water pressure is strong and basically does a spiffy clean up job. So, the guest house hunt began.  The first guesthouse was a major flophouse, our English friend stayed there since it was less then 5$ a night. Crossing the street brought us to a better kept place which was fairly expensive - 13$ a night. Malaysia is generally more expensive than other countries in the region. We would be reluctant to call it a third world country - there are no shanty towns, everyone has access to government services such as health and education and an average monthly income is about $500 dollars a month. Almost every family had a car (or a motorbike if they were really poor). Public transit is not good outside Kuala Lumpur that has an extensive system of commuter trains, high speed trams and monorails but let's face it - how good is transit in Canada outside major cities? Sasha was impressed with the driving culture as cars even stopped for pedestrians! So, Melaka... During the four days that we stayed there Sasha and Dasha went to visit museums, lots of museums. He was excited to learn about the country. Dasha was, too. To keep cool, we enjoyed walking in two air-conditioned mega malls, just a few streets away from our hotel . There wasn't much else to do, as our guidebook Lonely Planet explained.  The sites advertised seamed to be deserted. There was hardly a store open in a (supposed to be bustling) Chinatown, Little India was little more than a sari taylor shop and the waterfront was inaccessible as it was separated by a major highway. Perhaps it was a major holiday when we were there.  Four days later and we were on our way again. Our objective was to get to the island of Penang, but the trip there from Melaka was way too long. We decided to stop over in KL for a day or two and take a break. We had all the time in the world since our flight to Bangkok was in two and a half weeks. Kuala Lumpur, here we come! -SD

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