day two - melaka

melacca or melaka depending which era you would like to represent eh?

the four of us went on a day trip to melacca which is about 2 hours south of KL. we all thought it was a bit of a shame we didnt get to do more exploring because it seemed a very interesting town. we had lunch at king dong (hehe - not really, but thats what kirst misinterpreted it as) which was one of the best meals we had had at that point. spent about half an hour in the vicinity of jonker street, bought the most amazing statue 'one shy man' for 100RM - told you, monopoly money around here! (oh, 200RM is approx $75AUD currently)

stopped at a spot close to the straights of melacca also. short stop in the dutch part of the town where kirsty was game enough to hold an albino snake, well i think she was game until it started constricting on the back of her neck. scary!

also visited st francis xaviers burial place and met a local artist ben who we bought some pics from. i think every time the bus was leaving we were the last two on it, mainly because we were never sure how long we were supposed to be in each place.
the last stop was a local produce spot where i got shauniqua some candy and me some nutmeg oil (supposed to be good for many things including bone related conditions).

funny things about this here country of malaysia:

- noone really takes any care whatsoever when they are driving, it's quite mental!
- there are man whores who offer themselves to aussie tourists... ick!
- to barter is a way of life really...
- you can smoke pretty much absolutely everywhere.
- squat toilets aren't as bad as you think...
- tourists are really dumb with the amount of sun they allow themselves to get exposed to - not us, we're smart
- there hasn't been too much of a language barrier, most people speak at least some english.
- the people are super lovely and accommodating
- it's '50 years of nationhood' for malaysia this year, so come and visit.
- watch out for the curbs... there are ENORMOUS gutters which you could easily fall down - in fact if i stood in one it would probaly be at least up to my neck!
- lots of good food, lots of indian influence, lots of chinese influence...

it's chinese new years tomorrow!
john let off fireworks last night on teh beach - norty.

we are in penang at the moment and there is a muslim temple a few doors away from the hotel, about three times a day we hear the praying coming from the temple and it's quite magnificent, i wish i had something to record it with!

more soon.
xxJ