Just about there

I’ve finally found time write my next post. This travelling lark really keeps me busy.

I arrived in Melaka in Malaysia about a week ago to find rain and grey skies. The day started well with a comfortable bus ride up from Singapore. Things went a bit down hill after that as I smacked my head and cut my head open on the bus - Malaysian bus drivers like to stop, wait for everyone to stand, then move again.My hostel was in Chinatown so got on the local bus but got off 2-3 stops too early in the pouring rain. A wonderful Chinese family took pity on me standing there drenched in the rain and took me into their home and then drove my into Chinatown. They were so kind.

Chinatown

Chinatown was shut for the day and it was pretty dark and very quiet on the streets. All of the streets looked the same so I spent nearly two hours in the pouring rain looking for my hostel - I’d lost the address so was just looking for it by sight. Along the way I got soaked and slipped and cut my leg on an open drain.

All of the crap earlier in the day was worth it as I turned up at the hostel and the guy who runs the place, Howard, was the nicest guy you could meet. He introduced me to the rest of the people in the hostel and ended up going out with them that night.

I spent a couple of days in Melaka and took in some of the sights and went to the Heritage museum which was well worth it. It detailed Melaka’s past under different colonial rule, starting with the Portugese, through to the Dutch, and finally with the British.

Satay. Nice!

I also experienced a Malaysian satay restaurant where everyone sits around a table with a boiling hot vat of peanut sauce in the middle - imagine that in England with the health and safety Nazis! The idea is that you go to a fridge and fill up a tray with various skewered bits such as tiger prawns, cuttlefish, pork ears, chicken, clams etc etc and then cook them in the peanut sauce. It was really tasty and came to about 2 quid with a beer, unbelievable.

Next day I headed up to Kuala Lumpur (KL). More about this later.

p.s. Malaysian should be known as “The land of the slippery pavement”. If you ever go expect to fall on your arse at least twice a day.

Arrived in Singapore on 1st December after a tortuous 12.5 hour flight from flight. Well, it wasn’t that bad, it’s just 12.5 hours in a narrow seat was rather uncomfortable.

First thing to hit me walking out of the excellent Changi airport (makes Heathrow look like a third-world airport) carrying my backpack was the humidity - I was covered in sweat in about 2 minutes which I’m sure is some sort of Guiness record. Ways I’ve found to combat the humidity are not going out between 11-3 (obvious), not wearing shoes during the day, and walking slower, which has been quite hard as I walk like I’m on a route march usually.

Found the hostel (http://www.betelbox.com) pretty easy and got checked in. I’m staying in a 14 bed dorm which sounds bad, but really isn’t. The dorm is right in the middle of one of Singapore’s many Red Light Districts so there’s on average about 30-45 hookers outside most of the time. They’re not allowed to bother you unless you go into the bars, so we’ve stayed away from them and headed for bars by the beach to watch the footy.

Met up with a couple of quality guys from up Manchester and spent some time with them going to the beach, playing footy, visiting the night safari, shopping etc. And also met a couple from Stoke.

Parts of Singapore are very westernised, particularly the food. And food is everywhere here! Every street corner has a restaurant of some type, ranging from McDonalds, KFC and Burger King nearer the main city, to Muslim eating houses and Chinese stalls outside of this. I prefer the Muslim eating houses as the food is tastier. It’s all very cheap. The two curries and the naan that I had for my lunch today only came to a pound. And it was lovely.

I’m trying to build up the courage to be more experimental as there are some delicacies on offer such as frog rice, pork stomach, fish head curry and chicken feet. I almost tried the chicken feet earlier.

It’s my last day in Singapore today before I head off to Melaka in Malaysia, then onto Kuala Lumpur. It’s supposed to very cheap in Malaysia so I hope to save some cash.

Will post again when I’m in Malaysia.

Only 10 days to go until I leave for Singapore.  It’s my last day at work and I’m sat in a chair decorated with purple balloons and glitter, while wearing a paper hat with the message: “I AM NOT A LADY BOY” (cheers guys).

I will keep you all up-to-date on my escapades in the Far East.