Mandy: Thursday 25th – Saturday 27th July
The hotel in Malacca was lovely with river views from our bedroom and we were right in the heart of the world heritage part of the old city with winding streets with lots of boutique shops, temples, antiques shops etc. This part of Malacca is very quaint and therefore a nice contrast to Singapore.
The first night we had a lovely meal in the Far East Cafe which we thought was a bargain at £10 for the four or five different dishes we shared. However, for lunch yesterday we walked into the Little India district and ate in a very basic but very busy cafe full of local Indian and Asian people of all ages……with and without bindis (smile) and had a delicious meal for just £2.60 for the two of us! It included a random desert cup (with tapioca and random bits of short spaghetti in a sort of yellow creamy sauce), a piece of fruit and water. …Oh and poppadoms of course! Every time we thought we had everything and could start our meal a variety of waiters kept coming around putting different spicy sauces and blobs of this and that on our banana leaves! It was a tasty meal and a great culinary and cultural experience…of course I embarrassed Glen by ‘being a tourist’ and taking a photo.
I bought an umbrella today…. and at £2.40 it has proved to be another bargain. Not only can I use it when it rains but also to keep the sun off without looking foolish as every other person has one up all the time (smile) and seeing as those heavy showers start without warning it is perfect. (Grin)
We experienced our first rain in over three months yesterday and it was full blown ‘tipping it down’ rain!! So pleased I bought the umbrella (smile)
We also got in the way of a film shoot, well when i say we…..I was walking behind two beautiful young Indian women, thinking wow they have wonderful outfits on and expensive handbags etc but surely they are hot in all those layers and full makeup…..when I caught up with Glen (who had walked away across the grass) and he pointed out that he had noticed that there was a film crew filming the two women!!! He had heard them shout ‘action’ and walked out of the way…. I then saw the camera crew too! Ooopsie! I ruined their shot!!! When we went inside to a nearby building the crew and the two actresses whoever they were, came in too as it had started to rain and people were going over and having their photos taken with them (smile).
On our last night we got to experience the weekend’s Jonkers Walk street market. They close the streets off to the whole of the old town where we are staying and hold a market with stalls selling clothes and food etc. They were serving amongst other things…..baby crabs! and blue Spotted Rays (see previous holidays diving photos!!) and all sorts of un-appetising creatures and weird food mixtures. We stuck with a couple of vege options! At the end of the evening we came across the famous (in Asia and Guinness book of records) Dr Ho Eng Hui who,
after a lot of banter and showmanship pummelled his finger into a coconut in front of our very eyes!! I have the video to prove it! As if this wasn’t enough excitement Glen decided to try the famous Cendol coconut drink. Wonderful I thought, I like coconut…..but no Glen thought it best to order the Durian Fruit version!!! (Even though we had been warned in our hotel not to do so!!!) There is always a first for everything…..and that will be the first and last time we try that!!!!! (It tastes as bad as it smells!)
Note from Glen: I’m glad I tried it but for the record I will not be having that again, not only does it smell bad and not taste that good but the smell lingers and repeats for several hours after!!
Some photos of Malacca and the night market
Malaysia washing observations:
Their clothes airers are huge! I wish we could buy them in Egypt (smile)
As we drove through the outskirts on the coach as we arrived the other day i noticed however that some people (the poor maybe?) had just slung the washing randomly on trees! Sloppy!? Or maybe they had blown there after a gust of wind?
Most people here however seem to be VERY organised. They have the clothes hanging outside on rails …..on hangers! Much the same way i noticed Mum had last week under the swing seat ‘roof’ ( i took a photo but she will kill me if i put it on the blog!) I also hang wet washing on hangers in our dining room in winter (smile)…….. i think Mum and I would fit in well here. (Wink)
We’ve done three Continents in eight days by the way…not that I am counting!