Phnom Penh Pal: Malacca

For Pchum Ben, a Buddhist holiday that took place in October and is about paying respect to ancestors, Gordon and I decided to leave Cambodia and explore a wee bit more of the big wide world. After much debate - after all Vietnam, Laos and Burma are close by and China, Japan, Bali and even Australia are not that far away - we settled on Singapore and Melaka (Malacca), a port town in Malaysia.

Flights to Singapore were under $100 each, return, so it was with slight trepidation that I waited to board the Tiger Airways flight. However all passed without hiccup and the flight was pretty good. A gold star for Singapore's budget airline.

We arrived in Singapore but were immediately heading to Melaka. After a slick journey on the MRT (their under- and overground system) and a friendly greeting by our bus company rep I was worried I might not want to return to Phnom Penh. In Singapore you can walk on the pavements - and they're not cracked and broken, or filled with rubbish, or have motos bearing down on you as they spot a shortcut through the traffic. I thought it was probably a good thing we left the city sharpish!

Our four hour bus to Melaka was one of the most luxurious buses I think I've ever been on. Super comfy seats that reclined to practically horizontal. Bliss! There was one other person on the bus when we got on - a Scottish guy from Glasgow. What are the chances. He had left his job at Bauer Radio (radios Clyde, Tay, Forth etc) and was travelling for a few months.

Melaka is an historical port town and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Malay, Chinese, Indian, Dutch and Portuguese influences abound which makes for some fabulous food.

After dropping off bags we headed down towards Jonker Street where they have a night market every weekend.

he hates when I take pics of him eating

tasty fried noodles

one end of Jonker Walk - the end with the MASSIVE stage

hustle and bustle on Jonker Street - taken right beside the MASSIVE stage

Jonker Street is lined with food stalls and market stalls selling all kinds of wonderful stuff. We did a spot of Christmas shopping as well as buying some new bike lights, me an Angry Birds t-shirt (it's awesome) and Gordon lots and lots of snacks.

The buildings and streets in Melaka are a photographer's delight and I spent most of the next few days with my camera glued to my face.

dragon on Kampong Kling mosque

top of Kampong Kling mosque

I particularly loved all the buildings in the Chinese part of town.

They'd used the Chinese lanterns to form the body of the dragon the
whole way down the street. The photo doesn't do it justice.

We went on a boat trip down the river, passing all the amazing decorated buildings along the way. Right at the end we also finally saw one of the monitor lizards that are meant to be all over the town. I managed to snap a quick photograph but it is not of a high enough quality to make the blog so you'll just have to take our word for it. (Dad has also requested that I put less photos in the blog as when he prints the blog out for my Gran to read it's getting to be too many pages. Don't say I don't listen to you Pops!)