Chapter 42 - Melaka to Kuala Lumpur

This chapter is less about Malaysia and more about our final days of travel in Asia. On the surface Malaysia seems as developed as Thailand if not more. In Melaka (Malacca in colonial days) we settled in to a room with clean sheets; a lodge with efficient internet connections, a rooftop terrace and a café amongst other trappings of comfort.

We walked around the historical sights of Melaka, of which there aren’t many to be honest and we strolled through the very charming China Town. Here, on the same street we entered into a Hindu mandir, a mosque, and a Buddhist-Taoist-Confucian temple. Another street specialised in antiques and on entering some of these we felt transported back in time.

That night we ate Pringles whilst watching ‘Apocalypto’, which was been shown at the backpackers lodge. The day after we took the very efficient bus service to get to Kuala Lumpur (2 hours), a mild relief after our recent bus journeys in Sumatra! In Kuala Lumpur we rented a cheap room that was full of small cockroaches- but it had air-con and a hot shower (a question of priorities!). Since we had a huge mall nearby and a long shopping list of stuff to buy for when we settle down, we decided to go on a bit of a spending spree.

For our last full day in Malaysia we did a token bit of sightseeing in the morning but after 10 months of it we both got bored very quickly and went for some more retail therapy (well, Laure went shopping and I found the nearest arcade to play video games). We saw an afternoon showing of ‘Spiderman 3’ to pass the time and chilled out for the rest of the evening. Kuala Lumpur isn’t the most inspiring city to visit but if you want to whet your appetite with strange, bizarre foods this is the place to be. For one meal I ate boiled frog with rice and another we ate barbecued sting ray with fried noodles and vegetables- absolutely delicious!

On the way to the airport the following day it started to sink in- our travelling was coming to an end. One can’t fight reality forever. Once in Daya Bay across the border from Hong Kong we would be in for a good dose of parental pampering before throwing ourselves back into the global rat race.