Category Archives: Malaysia

Day 173 – Stats 105 Malaysia

We have a spare Malaysia flag sticker ... any takers?

We have a spare Malaysia flag sticker … any takers?

We did … NOTHING! Well, other than lounging all day we only crawled out of our palace to have breakfast and dinner with our lovely hosts Thomas and Dui. Thus, room for another (more timely) stat post!

We have already shared our thoughts about Malaysia at length in previous posts. Therefore, just some brief observations.

What made Malaysia great for us were the amazing people we met along the way. We got free accommodation, workshop space and heaps of food from a bunch of generous peoples. Special thanks once more to Sonja and her family, Sunny, Tony, BK and of course Jonathan.

Unfortunately, we did not really find access to the country beyond that. Maybe we will come back some day, with a fresher mind and also go exploring further east. Just over 1000km feels like barely scratching the surface, now …

Country data #5: Malasia

Full screen version of the map

  • 1222 km traveled (1178 km of GPS tracked)
  • 6 travel days, 18 days total
  • $8.28 Average cost per night (7x room, 9x invitation)
  • 73.69l of standard fuel for $  48.89 (6 l / 100km)
  • ~$25.15 for food every day, always eating out with many invitations
  • ~$1.650 in total

All $ values are converted to NZD.

Day 169 – Run for the sun

Again on the "old" bridge ... it was just shorter

Again on the “old” bridge … it was just shorter

We could not find any more destinations or activities in Malaysia that were able to re-kindle the fire and joy that has been missing for a couple of days. Nina and I talked a lot about how we feel about the trip, what we thought were the reasons and what we might do with it. One decision that came out of this was to call it for Malaysia and head over to Thailand, today. There was still doubt, though. Are we missing out? We also did not want to do Malaysia dis-justice, when we were so hyped up about exploring here after coming over from Sumatra.

My last bid for a set of Heidenau K60 in Malaysia fell short as well, so at 10:30 it was time to hit the road for the last 150 km in Malaysia. Since I could not find them in Thailand either, it might come that we need to settle on a different tire soon. There was an importunity to get the promising looking Metzeler Karoo 3, but unfortunately they do not make a front in Rocinante’s size. Continue reading

Day 168 – The artsy town

Finally made it to the waterfront!

Finally made it to the waterfront!

Georg Town is actually known for its pretty, colonial era district (also listed as Unesco World heritage) and a lively scene of street art. Since we were occupied with the bike yesterday and then only moved in a radius of 50m from our hostel, today was the day for sightseeing.

We started the day with planning what’s to come after Georg Town. This is our last stop in Malaysia; the border to Thailand is not really far away anymore. However, all the interwebs told us that we will only get a visa for 15 days if we cross over at the land border. 15 days is too short for all of Thailand. So we made up elaborate plans to drive up north to Bangkok, change tyres and then swerve to the right into Cambodia…or try to get a 30 day visa here in Malaysia.

Spontaneously, we jumped on the bike, drove to the Thai embassy in Georg Town…and left again. The first employee we met was able to tell us that tourists cannot get a multiple entry visa here. Really, multiple entries is the only one that makes sense for us so we left again. The visa fees were horrendous as well.

Town Hall

Town Hall

Back in the hostel, we picked up Josy and Peter who had shown interest in doing the 2.5km long “walking tour” through the inner city which the Lonely Planet suggested. Glad to be out of our motorcycle gear again, we started. Man, it was hot. And almost lunch time as well. Not feeling up for a museum, we passed the Penang Museum before crossing the park in front of the City hall and Town hall. Only the 20 ringgit entrance fee deterred us (and the backpackers) from having a look inside Pinang Peranakan Mansion which is one of the best preserved old buildings in town.

From here, a quick walk through Little India brought us to an Indian, vegetarian place that I’d been eyeing up ever since we got into town. The Paneer Butter Masala was delicious while all of my fellows went for the set menu lunch and were rewarded with a tray full of 7 cups with different sauces, soups and even milk rice surrounding a mountain of rice topped with crackers. Flo ordered the deluxe version so had one cup more and chappati extra.

Minions are taking over the world

Minions are taking over the world

Happy and full, we continued from Little India with its blaring music to Chinatown. Starting from Lebuh Armenian, “my” section finally began: Georg Town’s street art. Those tiny little roads are filled with artsy tourist shops, scenes made from a thick metal wire and of course, the painted street art works. It’s hard to describe but I hope you get an impression through the photos. I really enjoyed it.

A bit of relaxing later, all four of us made our way through the city again. This time during dusk, towards the waterfront where Flo and I had picked an Italian restaurant. It was this time of the month again…our next try of Italian food in an Asian country. Checking out the prices at the door, Peter and Josy rather continued to the nearest food market while Flo and I decided to be decadent. Looking like tourists in our hiking pants and jandels, we still didn’t stick out too much. The pizzas were good; the best ones we have tried since leaving the western world but still a

My cake looked at me!

My cake looked at me!

tiny notch under a Scopa pizza for example. Being decadent already, Flo enjoyed a glass of wine to his food while I ate a piece of a rich Equatorial Gianduja cake. So good!

Back at the hostel, we ran into Josy and Peter again. Feeling generous and almost like in Wellington after the good food, we invited them to a drink in the “Behind 50” bar on the opposite side of the street from our hostel. It also looked and felt very kiwi so we got into reminiscing our time in Wellington…

 

 

Day 167 – Learning about electronics

We had a very simple (read: not good) breakfast in the Red Inn Heritage hostel and then retreated back to our room. Since we had been told quite clearly yesterday that we weren’t really wanted here, we just used the wifi to update the blog before packing. Through agoda, we booked into the hostel around the corner to have our night sorted before starting any work on the bike.

Flo's lunch: The daily special

Flo’s lunch: The daily special

At 11am, Flo managed to speak to Jonathan on the phone and he agreed to have a look at Rocinante after lunch. He would even seek us out in our new accommodation. Having set up this meeting, we moved all our stuff into the Guest Inn Muntri and went out for a quick lunch at a Chinese place. Flo ordered the daily special which turned out to be something that looked slightly like a seared sausage. It apparently didn’t taste too bad. I went for the more conservative option of rice and vegetables. However, the vegetables arrived with prawns and I was just surrendering to a lunch of plain rice when the waitress realized that I didn’t touch my food, asked if prawns were okay and when I shook my head, took it away and replaced it with pure vegetables. Win!

"Under the hood"...undergoing surgery

“Under the hood”…undergoing surgery

After lunch, we sat outside the hostel, briefly waiting for Jonathan. He arrived pretty soon after and went right to work on Rocinante’s electronics. The ECM (Engine control module) was checked thoroughly without showing any cracks or dents. So Jonathan concluded that the connection had to be bad. This part of the motorcycle is similar to a computer and here is what I gathered happened to our bike: The different metal connections sit in place for years, making the bike run smoothly. Every bit of the surface that isn’t used, oxidized with time. After the square hit, the connections shifted slightly so that now, oxidation was sitting on oxidation, weakening the connection having the effect of a loose connection…one time it works, the other it won’t.

Jonathan and Flo discussing tyres

Jonathan and Flo discussing tyres

So the solution seemed to be unplugging and re-plugging everything for a couple of times so that oxidation would be scrapped off, allowing the connection to go back to normal. It worked! After the treatment, Rocinante started reliably again and Flo learned something about the electronics’ side of the bike. Mechanically, he is well versed by now.

Jonathan is a very busy man so he declined our offer of a coffee as “thank you” for his help but me being very, very relieved and Flo feeling off today meant that we declared this day as a rest day and went back to relaxing instead of sight-seeing.

While blogging in the communal area of the guest house, we met Josy and Peter, two German backpackers (https://fuckitwereleaving.wordpress.com) who travel South-east Asia now, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are still to come later in the year. This gave us more than enough in common to fuel conversation so we made it a date to have dinner together on the night food market.

...with chocolate cake...

…with chocolate cake…

Before this though, I dragged Flo into the Purrfect Cat Cafe; a cafe that serves coffee and cake but also has a room with up to eight cats that you can pat. I had tried to get us in around 3pm but was turned away because the cafe was already full on a Sunday afternoon. She recommended to come back at a later time  maybe after 6pm. So we went back there.

I liked the cake and tea but was slightly disappointed about the cats: They were clearly peopled out for today. Most of them were up on a cupboard where no one could reach them while one was sleeping on the window sill, not caring if it was patted or not. A second one hopped down for the cupboard later on but went to a chair and even turned its back on Flo when he approached. This cat would also endure patting without looking too happy about it.

So dinner it was. Flo and I went for dumplings on the night market this time. I thought that the spinach and pumpkin ones were vegetarian before being told that they contain prawns so I got stuck with a plate of all sweet dumplings. Guess it could have gone worse.

Day 166 – Wear and tear

These were the kindest, loveliest, most heart-warming people we met in a while

These were the kindest, loveliest, most heart-warming people we met in a while

There is no doubt about it, this day started way better than it would eventually conclude. We remembered from yesterday that the lovely place we had lunch at also serves breakfast. Since the breakfast at our hotel was underwhelming to say the least, we were more than keen to go there. The owners actually remembered us from yesterday and were super kind once more. We had delicious strawberry pancakes and our usual coffee and tea setup. It’s these encounters that keep us going, honestly.

Rocinante between the two GS DownUnder bikes.

Rocinante between the two GS DownUnder bikes.

Only 200m after packing the bike and hitting the road, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye that had us stop again right away. A pair of overlander bikes, with the unmistakable Touratech panniers were parked on the main street of Tanah Rata. We stopped and had a look around until we found Bjorn and Willemien in the same Indian restaurant we had dinner last night. They have come down overland from the Netherlands. Since we already had breakfast, we kept it to a brief chat, exchanged some contacts and went back on the road.

It was not too far though, and the first disaster of the day was about to strike. We refueled a couple of kilometers north before we intended to tackle Gunung Brinchang (highest public road in mainland Malaysia). But then, Rocinante would not start with what looked like a flat battery. Only that it should not have been flat. A suspicion started to creep up on me while we push started the bike down the hill.

The stupid fall last night when I tried to lubricate the chain on my own? Well, instead of just falling flat on her side, Rocinante hit a massive flower pot that went right into the left rear cover. That panel covers all the really important electronic parts of the bike: Regulator, ABS computer, ECM (Engine management) and fuse box. It did not look too damaged from the outside, though …

Sure enough though, right after the push start the next issue arose. The ABS light was blinking, warning about an issue with the break system. So we stopped on the roadside 100m on and I had a look under the cover with the engine kept running. Luckily, this issue was sorted by forcing the plug of the ABS unit back in properly.

A little boulder had come down a while ago...

A little boulder had come down a while ago…

The road up to Gunung Brinchang was sealed all the way, all though a bit worse for wear. The only mild worry were all the big land-cruisers zipping about with loads of tourists on board. With the road pretty steep and narrow, Nina got a bit worried that one of these cattle haulers might come flying and knock us off the road. Gladly, none of the sort happened. Only that reaching the top was a bit of a let down in the end. The clouds were hanging so low that there was nothing to see here. Oh well, at least Rocinante started without issues or warning lights this time …

And then, the world disappeared

And then, the world disappeared

Next stop, Ipoh! The mountain road was nice, until the clouds drew darker and darker. This time, we missed our 30 second window to stop and decided to put on wet weather gear, and so we got drenched through when the first bit of rain hit. The rain here is really an all or nothing affair.

We decided against another detour with minor sights around Ipoh and headed for the center of town instead for some lunch. At first we could not find the restaurant from the Lonely Planet we wanted, then found another recorded one which would turn us away again at the mention of Nina’s vegetarianism. Hot and frustrated we got back onto the bike, when real disaster struck. A push of the starter button did not produce the reliable humm of the starter motor but instead “crashed” the electronics of the bike. Rocinante would not start, and for the first time ever I did not know the cause right there and then.

We pushed her one street over to where the restaurant was that we were initially looking for, only to find out that it was closed. Defeated we dropped into the first forgettable eatery we saw and considered our options. Just in case I checked in with one of our contacts for workshops in Ipoh.

I was able to get the bike started again, after some tinkering with the electronics under the side cowl. Less exciting was the fact that the issue seemed to be related to the Engine Control Module, a prohibitively expensive black box type computer controlling engine operation. Well, once started, she seemed to be running fine …

The 150 km to Penang flew by in no time on the motorway. For no particular reason, we took the “old” bridge over onto the Island. Impressive as it is, the new 27 km long motorway over the sea seems impressive to say the least. This is the only time that even motorbikes need to pay the toll in Malaysia. We could not find any place to pay our RM1.40 in cash. Just when we were about to fork over RM20 for a toll card, someone handed us his wave & go card and payed for us to get through. Since toll is only payed getting onto the island, we were sorted! Nice.

In town, the day wound down with another minor series of catastrophes. The road to our intended hotel was closed for a movie shoot, the hotel was full and a fat white man got randomly prissy with us. Then we got ping ponged between three of the many Red Inns of George Town’s Love Lane.

Night food market near our hostel

Night food market near our hostel

As often, the day concluded in a great positive encounter with a local contact. Through Tony from Touratech we got hooked up with BK. He has just come back from a 6 month trip on Honda Waves to London and is somewhat of a local legend. We went out to an amazing food court, talked about traveling and everything else and went home with a contact number for Jonathan, the local motorcycle electronics wizard!

 

Day 165 – Jaded, faded

To understand today’s post, one needs to know that I’ve been having an “identity crisis” for the last couple of days. Five and a half months into the journey, the honeymoon phase is well and truly over. And our time off in Thailand as well as our stay in Kuala Lumpur freed up time to think. Do I really want to go back to sleeping in moldy rooms? Is this still what I want to be doing? Are we doing something wrong? Do we still enjoy it? For a while now, there hasn’t been one of these “WOW” moments on the motorcycle. Yes, we loved KL but this is hardly a place where you need to go on a bike…a regular plane takes you right into the heart of it.

Today, we woke up in the Cameron Highlands. This place has made it onto the cover of the Lonely Planet edition for Malaysia…and we were totally underwhelmed. All I could think of is “Sumatra’s tea plantations are nicer”. Is that what comes with travelling extensively? You’re just filled up with experiences and landscapes and can’t appreciate what is in front of you anymore? Are we even doing the countries justice anymore?

To not be a total, depressed spoilsport, we started on the whole Cameron Highlands thing: First, see a tea plantation from up close. We decided to go for the one that is especially recommended. Still not as nice as Sumatra’s.

Different products: Grade 1 and 2 teas, tiny particles for teabags and the last row is only used for fertilization

Different products: Grade 1 and 2 teas, tiny particles for teabags and the last row is only used for fertilization

The tour through the factory was cool but only took 5 minutes and basically, you don’t need any humans for the whole process. We tried some of Boh’s own tea in the cafe which I liked but even the strawberry cake didn’t get me out of my low. It was too sweet anyway.

By this point, I have probably depressed you enough. To quote Flo who quoted Hugh Laurie: “I realized that I must be depressed when not even exploding monster trucks could excite me”. Is that what was happening?

Standing amidst tea

Standing amidst tea

One the way back from the Boh tea plantation, we stopped at Cameron Bharat’s tea house because it had a nice view. The tea was not as good as Boh’s but the views were nicer.

Defeated, we went back to the hostel. To put our heads into the sand or under a blanket. But we still had a high tea planned for the afternoon so we needed to have lunch in order to make everything happen. Quick lunch in one of the local food stalls before returning to our room. Lunch turned out to be our turning point. I ordered food at this stall run by an older couple who turned out to be deaf-mute. Not only was the food excellent but the couple was amazingly lovely. Interested in where we came from, they kept asking us questions. Neither Flo nor I are able to sign so we improvised gestures or, if everything failed, wrote questions and answers down. As soon as both of them heard that we came from NZ, they opened up completely. Both of their children live in Auckland and they had been to NZ recently to visit them. We were shown pictures of them at Matamata, on the sky tower and in Rotorua. It just made for such an awesome encounter. This is why we are on this trip…not all the tourist attractions. When we left, they even got out one  of their own souvenirs from NZ to give to us…which we had to refuse as we have such limited space on the bike. What a sweet gesture though!

To further remind us of the “why”, we watched “Terra Circa”. It is really helpful every once in a while to get inspired again. Reading, listening or watching other travellers is something we highly recommend. Although, just to be clear, we have no aspirations to rough it like those guys. They are insane. 🙂

The high tea and us

The high tea and us

At 3pm, we went to our high tea at Cameron Highland Resort. And enjoyed it! Yes, it was not as fancy or delicious as the Hippopotamus one (thank you brain for reminding me) but it was a solid high tea with time to try sweet pastries and another pot of Cameron Highland tea.

There was just enough time to finish “Terra Circa” and write some postcards before we headed off to dinner in an Indian restaurant. Most of the Indians in Malaysia who we encounter are from the southern part, as is the food they prepare. For us, this is amazing as southern India is not currently along the route we have planned but this way, we get to experience the food here. My paneer Masala with naan was delicious.

Ending the day on a food high was exactly what it needed. While I finished commenting photos for the latest blog entry, Flo oiled the bike’s chain on his own. And then the bike fell…tbc…

Day 164 – Once more with feeling

Today is the third time we “leave” Kuala Lumpur. All jokes aside, it will very likely also be the last time we set off. We left Sonja and once again all we had to give was an inadequate ‘thank you’. We receive so many acts of kindness. People go out of their way to help us, often as if it were the only logical thing to do. We say ‘thank you’, take a photo and move on, but without all this kindness, we would have provably given up a while ago. This is what keeps us going and is, for a big part, also why we are on the trip in the first place.

Frankly, Nina and I talk often about how we will repay this life debt. Not in the sense of to “repay” everyone we meet, but in general. What can we do to give others this immense warmth?

Did not realize how much of our gear is in coprate colours

Did not realize how much of our gear is in coprate colours

To follow right up in the same vein: I wisely gave Tony Lim a call after breakfast. He is the Malaysian importer for Touratech and had a shop in Penang, where we will arrive in a couple of days’ time. Or so I thought. I found out just in time that the info on the Touratech website is outdated and he moved shop to a suburb of Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately, I also learned that the two pieces of Touratech kit I was hoping to replace were out of stock, but after a brief discussion we decided to pay them a visit nonetheless. After all, our bike is so kitted out with their stuff that we once were asked what kind of motorcycle brand Touratech be. 🙂

It turned out that Tony and his staff are incredibly kind and hospitable people. After a last ditch attempt to at least find one pannier-carrying handle to replace ours (which has a broken buckle) we got invited to lunch! At our pick, we went to this lovely Malay place. There were even all sorts of desserts thrown in for us to try out. I liked the rice with palm sugar water steamed in tapioca leaves.

Nina’s comment: It didn’t stop with a simple invitation for lunch. No, Tony made dead sure I had enough vegetarian food available and, in the end, even got me a take-away bag with rice crackers because I grew to like the crunchy addition to lunch a lot!

Everyone sports the Touratech logo but we are the ones with the most yellow ;)

Everyone sports the Touratech logo but we are the ones with the most yellow 😉

Before the mandatory good bye photo session, Tony loaded me up with contacts for Georgetown and Bangkok as well as some Touratech merch to replace some of our wearing wardrobe.

We took the motorway north all the way to the turn off for the Cameron Highlands. The ride was once again blissfully smooth, the one brief gust of rain not withstanding. At least this gave us a chance to experience another cool feature of Malaysian road infrastructure. Here, motorcyclist are not left “standing in the rain” or ducking precariously under bridges but rather every bridge is upgraded as a proper rain shelter. With little ramps leading on and off to get out of the way of the trucks. Even on stretches without bridges, there are little shelters set out in good intervals.

The moth it was eating was bigger than most spiders I know ...

The moth it was eating was bigger than most spiders I know …

Turning off the motorway we got the last bit of shopping done to be prepared for our first night camping. Or so I thought … As we arrived at the designated campground / nature park we first were a bit unsure because it was almost fully abandoned. No money collected at the entrance booth, the cafes all closed up and locked down. That alone would probably not have stopped us, but walking around to check out the site we found something that surely did: Two massive spiders, as big as my hand sitting in nets spanning 2 meters across one of the paths. Right next to the designated camp sites. Nina pulled her veto card – for what I think was the first time on the trip. We explored the site for a little while longer, enjoyed the also enormous Raja Brooke butterflies and then headed off further up towards the Cameron Highlands.

We ended up booking into the Twin Pines hostel. Back to slightly moldy rooms and shared bathrooms it was, but at least at $16 NZ the price tag was good 🙂

Day 163 – Batu Caves

Trying to find breakfast in Melaka is almost as hard as finding dinner after 7pm. The Lonely Planet suggested cafes but when we got there, it was either closed or didn’t exist (to our knowledge). Not feeling like indulging in yesterday’s Western-style cafe, we ended up in the same Indian restaurant we were in the night before. THEY open at 7.30am, serve coffee and chai AND we were quite certain we would be able to find SOMETHING to eat. And we did. Despite Flo’s best efforts to get a savoury doughnut with chili and spices in it that you dip into curries and chutneys, we had yummy Roti Pisang which is the Indian version of banana pancakes.

Final lap. This is the southernmost point we will reach on the continent.

Final lap. This is the southernmost point we will reach on the continent.

Thus filled, we rode our ‘good-bye lap’ through the city center and left towards Kuala Lumpur. Since we had the whole day, we had planned for the scenic route along the coast instead of taking the motorway. It turned out to be not scenic at all as the GPS showed us the coastline right next to us but all we could see was a row of houses. Also, the road was rather boring. A short stop at Port Dickson didn’t convince us to stay longer so after lunch, we hopped on the motorway again. Being so early gave us the opportunity to see the Batu Caves today.

Maybe we should have read about who this is ...

Maybe we should have read about who this is …

I knew before that the caves are not far from the city but truthfully, they are IN the city. They are also a major tourist attraction which is why traffic picked up…nothing you particularly want after being steam-cooked on the motorway in the afternoon heat. After finding a parking spot, we had a cold drink before starting on the 272 steps up into the largest cave. It has Hindu carvings and a temple in it as it plays a big part in a celebration coming up at the end of January. The two caves used for this purpose are HUGE. Certainly as big as a cathedral and also the biggest cave we’ve ever been in. Preparations for the celebration were going on: Floor newly resealed and parts of temples newly painted.

Apart from looking at the grandeur, there is nothing to “do” in these caves though. It is very cool to go and see the caves (it’s also free) but we had the feeling, we wanted a bit more out of it. Luckily, next door there is the “Dark Cave” leading tourists in and out again in 45min tours. The “Dark Cave” is a habitat for bats, cave spiders and other creepy crawlies and also part of a conservation effort for limestone caves. Flo, being a big fan of limestone caves, and me being kinda meh about the whole thing, signed up for the tour. We only had to wait 15min for the next one and when we were fitted with hard helmets and torches, I got very excited about it, too.

All excited now and ready to go!

All excited now and ready to go!

Our guide was a woman whose English was excellent…unfortunately, the same could not be said about our fellow tour participants who violated rules every so often because they hadn’t understood them. We didn’t see any of the bats (it’s not a good idea to shine a torch on 200.000 bats on a cave ceiling) but you could definitely hear them; not to talk about all the guano on the ground. We managed to see caves spiders, venomous centipedes and cave crickets. Also, one part of the cave system has light coming in from above and it looks so much like Moria that it made me miss a step. 😛

There was less sunshine when we came back out again and also less tourists. Given that it was also 5pm, we guessed that the caves close around that time. We, now,had our next place to visit: Sunny cycles. On the way down to Melaka one of Rocinante’s warning lights went on and stayed on for the entire trip south. While the manual assured us that this particular warning light is not for anything crucial, Flo wanted to have it checked out. It took about 30min and stripping the bike down to pull the engine up (again) before it could be fixed. The “air intake hose from the air filter” (Flo-speak) was unplugged. Once this was plugged back in, the guys from the workshop forgot something else which led to nine warning lights going on. This was also fixed with plugging something crucial back in.

So after riding, sight-seeing and working on the bike, we arrived back “home” at Sonja’s place and were treated to delicious pizza, a shower and a cozy,comfy bed.

Day 162 – Hostage in Melaka

Uncertain about what to do in Melaka we booked into our hostel for two nights last night. After our first round of sightseeing though, we felt like this would be a bit excessive. Turns out, canceling one night was harder than we thought though, so we ended up staying to not waste those $20.

Coffee, tea, muesli, toast and jam...it had everything that we wanted

Coffee, tea, muesli, toast and jam…it had everything that we wanted

It was not all bad though, since this gave us a chance to finally fully catch up with the blog and get some postcards sorted. Not before a good long breakfast, though. Unfortunately, the 3 year old Lonely Planet turned out to be useless once again. No Chinese breakfast treats for us then. Instead we found a cute and cozy western style cafe. The prices were steep, comparatively, but the food and coffee were excellent.

We made up for the expensive breakfast a while later, when we re-emerged from our hotel to have lunch in a nice Chinese Vegetarian restaurant. For about a third of the price of our breakfast. We also found our Malaysian go-to drink in the form of lemon iced tea (That is tea on ice with lemon juice). Cheap as and so refreshing.

 

View along the river towards our guest house

View along the river towards our guest house

After lunch, we walked once again to A’Famosa and the area with all the attractions to get stamps from the post office. On our way back, we took the scenic route along the river. It is very pretty, a bit reminiscent of Amsterdam, but would be improved dramatically if it were not for the smell. We got rewarded though by spotting a pretty large reptile swimming in the river.

By this point I almost dread going into detail for another meal, but for us the last attraction of the day was going to an Indian banana leaf restaurant. Banana leaf, because instead of a plate, you get a large piece of banana leaf put on the table in front of you, a bit like a place mat. On that the waiters put the rice and a couple of veggie / stew things plus some curry over the rice. it was, once again, delicious. After that, we rewarded ourselves with a coffee and chai – Nina remarked that it was almost as good as dessert 😉

Yeah, Melaka, lot’s of food 🙂

Day 161 – Melaka

Monday is a good day to start again. Monday was the day we were leaving KL to explore more of Malaysia. If we could only get this packing done…

In our defense, we had stayed longer at Sonja’s place than we usually do in any hotel plus we had sorted things out that we didn’t take on our special trip to Thailand. And, we were probably more thorough than at other times. We noticed, for example, that the oxo cubes in our kitchen box had somehow drawn water and were disintegrating…a mess that we cleaned immediately, with running water and swipes so nearby, rather than leave it. So yeah, packing took until lunch time.

beautiful!

beautiful!

It didn’t impede much on our plans though. The city of Melaka,  a Unesco World Heritage Site, is only 150km away from KL. Also, Flo had picked a small town half-way in between to have lunch as he read a lot about Malaysian food lately. Going on the motorway still delights Flo and we even listened to some audio book, a thing we haven’t done since we left the Australian Stuart Highway. This fact, probably more than anything else, should tell you in what a great shape the roads here are.

Cautious at first, but it was pretty good

Cautious at first, but it was pretty good

Stopping in Seremban at a small but well-frequented eatery (Lonely Planet suggestion), we realized that we didn’t even look at the language section so far. Luckily, most of the words for foods are exactly the same here as they are in bahasa Indonesia so we already know a lot. One phrase needs to be added to my vocabulary “sayuran saja” (gemüsig ich bin) and then I should be sweet for the rest of our time here. In the end, we had noodles in some kind of tomato sauce with fried tofu and tried a cendol as dessert. Cendol is like nothing I knew and it is surprisingly un-sweet. You get a bowl with shaved ice cubes, jelly noodles, little crunchy things, coconut milk and some sort of red bean mash. Not bad but very new for my taste buds.

Riding another 80km down to Melaka didn’t take long anymore. The city is probably still better known in the West as “Malacca”, first a Portugese trade hub, then taken over by the Dutch before being handed over to the British…Flo could give you a history lesson if you are interested. =P

Still not sure why, but cool motto

Still not sure why, but cool motto

Today, “Don’t mess with Melaka” is the slogan here. After we found a place to stay and cooled down a little again (man, you forget how hot those motorcycle clothes get), we explored the old center a bit. Crossing the river got us to the “Stadthuys” or town hall next to St. Peter’s hill. There used to be a fortress on the hill but after having been taken a couple of times by force, one settled for a church up there now. It is an odd place, filled with the old grave headstones which are nowadays used as props by the tourists. We even saw a couple taking their wedding pictures there.

Back down from the hill, half molten by the heat, we once again stumbled into a massive mall. The AC was on “freezer” temperature, I think, but the mall had many perks. First and foremost, it had massage chair which I used for 6min. Don’t bash it before you’ve tried it…it’s not the real thing but it’s still better than no massage at all.

ICE CREAM!!!!!

ICE CREAM!!!!!

Second, it had a real ice cream stall. The advertisement went from “natural ingredient” to “freshly produce”. BUT, the ice cream was YUMMY and it made me happy as the picture testifies. Flo had a very good but very sour “Lemon Lime” flavour which he balanced with “Snickers” while I had the more classic combo of “Chocolate” and “Berry yogurt”.

This refreshment gave us new energy to keep on exploring colourful alleys around the river. We also started looking for a dinner restaurant when the sun started to set, just to notice that most places were already closed. Cafe-style eateries close at 5.30pm here so we were more than an hour too late. Wandering the streets, we had to settle on a Western restaurant which meant that the food was expensive and not spicy enough.