Melaka

On Thursday I left Kuala Lumpur, with my plan essentially being to get to Melaka by the evening, stopping off for the day in Putrajaya en route. Putrajaya is a pretty modern city by world standards only being established in the late 20th century, but it is the administrative capital of Malaysia and home of the prime minister. Getting there proved a challenge however despite it being a direct bus, as the information people at the bus station were telling me blatant incorrect information. I was on the ball enough to know where I wanted to go and what bus number I needed, I just didn't know what bus stop to get it from as it was a pretty sizable bus station. I eventually found someone who told me where to go instead of telling me to get on the bus nearest to them.

When arriving in Putrajaya I walked into the city centre, which was surrounded by modern abstract bridges and high rise buildings. The highlights included a couple of mosques including this one with a pink roof, and the prime ministers house. I had a good walk round the city, before heading back to the bus station in Putrajaya. I thought from Putrajaya they operated a service to Melaka, but when I asked they said they didn't and said I had to go to the main bus station in KL. As I didn't have WiFi I wasn't sure if that was the truth or not, so I headed to the main bus station in KL and from there managed to pretty easily get a bus to Melaka.

Come morning I went out to explore the city of Melaka itself. The city has a lot of interesting old buildings, historically linked to the Dutch colonial era, but more recently a British influence from the days of the British Empire. I downloaded a self guided walking tour map to help me get round, mainly so I knew what I was looking at. I initially followed the river, although there were a couple of massive monitor lizards which I was slightly vary of as a bite is potentially fatal of you get too close. I soon reached the city luckily and passed several old buildings and markets before reaching St Paul's Church on top of this hill. There were  great aerial views of the city up top.

I soon dropped down to Famosa Square before heading back to the river which I followed to Dutch Square. I had lunch in Little India, having this fantastic vegetable curry which came with three different daals, before exploring Jonker Walk, home to buildings such as Chinese Temples and Mosques. I once again followed the river for a bit round here too, which had a lot of interesting street art. I also went down to seafront although there wasn't much to see other than a shipping port. In the evening I returned to Jonker Walk as it had a night market on Fridays, although it was extremely busy! Good food though. What made me laugh was the taxi service on offer which was effectively these tricycles with fairy lights and stuffed toys attached playing songs like gangnam style down the street.

On Saturday I thought I'd go and check out Klebang Beach which had some pretty good reviews online for its nearby desert like landscape of Pantai Klebang. The beach itself was a little way out of Melaka City, although someone kindly gave me a lift there. The main beach itself though was a little disappointing when arriving as there was also lot of litter about and it said the sea wasn't safe to swim in due to water pollution. There was this small recreation area which had a pool with loads of fountains, so I relaxed there for the morning, before heading out to Pantai Klebang which like the main beach was covered in litter. There were loads of sand mounds which gave the illusion is was a desert though despite is being right by the sea!

Come lunchtime I went to the submarine museum, where this family insisted I try their local dish which was like a whole fish in this chilli stuff. It was interesting! I then headed back into Melaka City where I just took a slow walk round Jonker Walk and the river, eventually ending up at the shopping mall which is becoming an increasingly good place to head for the air con to get out of the humidity. Come evening I watched the football, with finally some nice kick off times, watching the Man United Liverpool game, followed by the Newcastle Southampton game. It was once again a dour affair though but it was nice to go down the pub.