Day 7: Southward to Melaka!

So actually we just returned to the US two days ago.  After a whirl-wind layover in Munich and a one night stay in Waltham (it felt sooo good to have a proper shower and a clean change of clothes!), we repacked and drove the snowy roads to Upstate New York to spend the last few days of my winter holiday.  As it snows and blows outside, now is an excellent time to finish up these posts!

We checked out of the Hotel Sentral and caught the morning bus out of Penang.  It was sad to leave, but we felt we spent a sufficient amount of time in the city and it was time to move on.  We drove southward to the small, beautiful, old city of Melaka.

Along the way, 90% of the landscape was dominated by these monstrous palm oil plantations.  It is heartbreaking to think not too long ago this all used to be rainforest! 

The 9 hour bus ride was comfortable (check out those reclining seats and our delicious sweet breads!), but there was no bathroom, which made us nervous.  I am pretty sure the driver would have pulled over to the side of the road if necessary (he pulled over a couple times himself to smoke).

The surviving 10% of the landscape had remarkable rocky outcrops

The bus had a stop in Kuala Lumpur, the big city.  The Donnellys came here to party after the wedding.

We eventually made it to Melaka, though we arrived and hour late (probably because of all the smoke breaks the driver took).  The city bus from the bus station into town wasn't showing up and we were running very late to meet a friend and to check into the hostel.  I felt terrible it was getting so late so I insisted we take a cab to our hostel (it only would cost $5).  I grabbed the first cabby I saw, and it ended up being a big mistake.  I swear the guy was half crazy--he seemed friendly enough but kept mumbling to himself, didn't speak English, and didn't seem to have any idea where to go and how to get there.  Our hostel was in a central location so it should have been easy to find and would have taken only 10 minutes to reach.  The guy drove us around for an hour, taking us to random hotels and random locations.  It was the first (and thankfully only) time on the trip I felt totally helpless, waiting until we would finally get to our destination, which we did.  I thought it was a complete scam but the guy actually did stop to ask for directions and he really did seem crazy, but when he insisted we pay him 3-times the amount we agreed on (because he spent so much time driving), I had a fit, gave him the original amount, and walked away.  I wouldn't have paid him anything at all but he had our luggage in the trunk and held it ransom until we forked over some money.     

We were so happy to have finally arrived in Melaka!  It was especially great to be greeted by Andrew Li, whom we first met in Canberra.  In fact, this is the same friend we met with in Ferrara, Italy several years ago.  It is a little sad to think that he is the only friend from Johns we have seen since leaving Australia.  At least he is good company for travelling!
 

 Late night New Years Eve dinner with Andrew by the very beautiful riverside. 

We experienced the local Nyonya cuisine.  This is food that developed from the original Chinese population that assimilated into the Malaysian culture many years ago.  The house specialty used this nut I had never heard of before (Buah Keluak, black nut), which required a tiny fork to scrape the meat out of the shell.  

Chicken with the black nut.  The description of the dish called it 'addicting'.  It was strange at first, but it actually did become addicting!

Dutch Square by night.  The trishaws were so cute and sparkly!

Everyone was out and about for New Years Eve, including Mr Dragon

The popular Jonker Walk

Happy New Year!

The aftermath

Our street in the old part of town for some reason was always lit up with lovely red lights

Our quiet and very welcoming hostel.  The friendly owner and his wife were very sweet and left out homemade cakes, cookies, and fruits for the guests.

This was a really great hostel--clean, comfortable, with lots of filtered water, tea, coffee, books, and snacks.  Right on the river, it was fun to look out and watch these little river cruise boats go up and down the colored light-lined waterway all night.  Each boat had a different type of passenger--some boats had drum-playing men wearing white tunics and fezes, one was all women wearing full, black burkas, one was all guys in turbans--but all the boats were festive.  What a colorful start to the New Year!