In the weeks before.... the planning and e-mails back and forth and the attempted budgeting, had at times been frustrating, but very busy and exciting. I was going to see my girls again - Eldest daughter (ED) I had seen quite recently on her trip down to Australia, but youngest daughter (YD) I had not seen for almost two years. We were on a tight budget and so backpacks would be required items, and filled with only a few necessary items... during the trip those non approved items would be referred to as contraband, but I was very grateful for a lot of those contraband items.
Wednesday 28th .. ED was the first of the three of us to arrive in Singapore on Wednesday the 28th and arrived by ferry from Batang Indonesia. She quickly found a backpacker place to stay and spent the first night in the dorm which she said was very noisy and everyone had the lights on all night, so she decided to move into a private room when YD arrived the following day.
Wednesday 28th .. ED was the first of the three of us to arrive in Singapore on Wednesday the 28th and arrived by ferry from Batang Indonesia. She quickly found a backpacker place to stay and spent the first night in the dorm which she said was very noisy and everyone had the lights on all night, so she decided to move into a private room when YD arrived the following day.
I stuck my head out of the hole in the side of the building that served as a window and took photos of the alleyways out the back. “OK, I thought, this is going to be even more of an adventure than I had thought” YD and I had the bunkbeds and ED was on a mattress on the floor, and for this ED had paid 50.00! - time to get out of Singapore. I woke up the next morning to see YD’s pink painted toenails peeking out the end of her bed above my head, with her pink pashmina scarf draped around her feet. All will be well I thought - I am with my lovely girls :) Let the adventure begin.
Friday 30th ….... Our heavy backpacks on our backs we set off towards the bus station, with me snapping photos of colorful buildings, and pretty flowers, and hurrying to keep up with the girls and not lose sight of them in this huge busy city. “Hey you guys wait up! I thought it was illegal here to jaywalk.” We stopped at a little restaurant and had soup for breakfast - skipped the pigs organs and crocodile and went for fish balls which we continued to find in all sorts of different shapes and sizes throughout our trip.
Bus tickets purchased, we loaded onto the bus and admired the different colorful patterns on the seats, carpets, curtains. Half an hour later we were off the bus and up three flights of stairs to clear immigration out of Singapore, then down the three flights of stairs, and onto another bus, carefully holding onto our bus tickets. Over a bridge and off the bus again to book into Malaysia at Johor Batu - we were to do this same process a few more times on the trip. It was about a four hour bus ride up to Melaka, and immediately we started to notice the oil palms, which are a huge bone of contention, ecologically. ED says the Indonesians all want to plant more oil palms to that they can be “as rich as the Malaysians”. We arrived in Melaka early afternoon, outside the orange coloured dutch church and clock tower,
then wandered over a very pretty bridge towards a cobblestone street lined with lovely little backpacker hostels. After manhandling our heavy bags in and out of a few we decided it would be better for ED to go and wander around alone while YD and I sat with the bags. Firstly we had what might very well have been one of my favourite meals of the trip. Nasi Lemack consists of a mound of rice that has been cooked in coconut milk with ginger, and lemongrass. Surrounding it are hard boiled eggs, sliced cucumber, little raw peanuts and some dried anchovies. there is also a little pile of chile sauce and this can be mixed in with the rice as desired. ED had booked us into Jalan-Jalan which was a mixed dorm with ten beds along either side of the room. Each bed had its own fan and electrical outlet which was marvellous. You had to go downstairs and through a little open garden to get to the bathrooms, which were open at the top to the trees and sky, but everything was very nice and clean, and there was a computer in the office to use and free wi-fi. Also a washing machine and washing line, so we stayed there a few nights. We were there for New Years eve and wandered down to a bridge where a local singer was singing, but then went home and hung out at the hostel. The mornings started with the muslim call to prayer at 6am and then the buddist drumming - I only heard it the first morning, after that it must have just become part of my dreams..... It was a lovely if touristy little town to wander around - trishaws, potato chips on sticks, (a potato cut on a spiral then stretched out , drenched with batter and deep fried) and flowers everywhere.....
We did lots of walking around looking at different buildings and gardens and then later in the day the high light was a boat ride on Melaka river which wanders through the town, under one cute bridge after another. The gardens outside the Sultans palace has some cool shady spots to hang out.
The girls had read about a new restaurant so we headed off in that direction - you sit around a table that has a hole in the centre where a little fire is placed and then a pot of simmering sate sauce is placed inside it. You go to the fridges and choose a variety of sticks which you then cook in the sate. Very tasty, but we all ate too much and found it quite rich. One of our favourites was a ball of “spinach”, and then also some fluted mushrooms.
The girls had been reading the guidebook, and had decided it was time to move on, so early the next morning found us boarding the bus for Mersing....
(to be continued)
Bus tickets purchased, we loaded onto the bus and admired the different colorful patterns on the seats, carpets, curtains. Half an hour later we were off the bus and up three flights of stairs to clear immigration out of Singapore, then down the three flights of stairs, and onto another bus, carefully holding onto our bus tickets. Over a bridge and off the bus again to book into Malaysia at Johor Batu - we were to do this same process a few more times on the trip. It was about a four hour bus ride up to Melaka, and immediately we started to notice the oil palms, which are a huge bone of contention, ecologically. ED says the Indonesians all want to plant more oil palms to that they can be “as rich as the Malaysians”. We arrived in Melaka early afternoon, outside the orange coloured dutch church and clock tower,
The girls had read about a new restaurant so we headed off in that direction - you sit around a table that has a hole in the centre where a little fire is placed and then a pot of simmering sate sauce is placed inside it. You go to the fridges and choose a variety of sticks which you then cook in the sate. Very tasty, but we all ate too much and found it quite rich. One of our favourites was a ball of “spinach”, and then also some fluted mushrooms.
The girls had been reading the guidebook, and had decided it was time to move on, so early the next morning found us boarding the bus for Mersing....
(to be continued)
