Singapore was definitely an improvement on India. However, it was still a busy city and I was looking forward to somewhere with a more relaxing pace of life. A couple of hours on a bus over the Singapore-Malaysia border, we found the perfect place to chill out. Melaka was formerly ruled by the Portuguese, Dutch and British and as such has a colonial feel, with lots of churches and ornate buildings. It’s a seaside town but the main feature seems to be the river/canal, and due to the Dutch influence, it strikes me as a Malaysian Amsterdam (without some of the Dutch capital’s more infamous sights).

Most importantly for us after our tour of India, Melaka has some lovely accommodation, including the boutique hostel named ‘Hotel Twenty’ where we stayed, and plenty of appealing places to eat and drink. We spent a few days pottering around town, reading and playing Monopoly back at the hostel, avoiding the sticky heat and torrential downpours common at this time of year. In the evenings we treated ourselves to cocktails at the Geographer Cafe and posh nosh at Harpers Restaurant, where we reserved the best table overlooking the river. So much for the backpacking budget! At least Malaysia is cheaper than Singapore.

Once we had recuperated and were ready for more sightseeing action we took a boat trip along the river, perused the noisy Chinese weekend night market and had a cuppa at a traditional Chinese tea house set in the tranquil gardens of an historic house – nothing too strenuous :o). The very friendly staff at the Dutch Harbour cafe lovingly prepared a typical Malaysian curry for us, mine without spice, Dave’s with the usual amount of spice. After a few mouthfuls, he declared it was the hottest thing he’d ever eaten and turned a bright shade of pink, much to mine and the staff’s amusement. He ate mainly cheese sandwiches from then on.

Note in the photos the very well dressed rickshaws – these were one of the main features of Melaka, and at night they sported flashing lights and ghetto blasters, each one out doing the next.

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