Melaka and Singapore

Melaka has quite a history, and as a result is now an interesting mix of Indian, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, Malay and British cultures. One of my favourite things about Malaysia (if I haven't mentioned it yet) is the multicultural feel of the country and the way that this seems to work so well. This is particularly apparent in Melaka. We found the hostel we had decided to stay in (eventually) which is in one of the older buildings in the town and would have been stunning had it been refurbished. Even without this it is a lovely building and we managed to bag the only room with a balcony. Actually, balcony was really dressing it up - more of a rooftop. Still.
One of our reasons for planning a few days in Melaka was to catch up with Amy (who we met in China and have seen a few times since) and on our first evening we met up with her and her father for a drink in a small bar in China town. China town is the part of the city which is most fascinating to wander through and people watch in. We made plans to meet Amy the following day for some sightseeing and maybe a few more drinks on the evening (not exactly a budget activity in Malaysia!)
We had an enjoyable day sightseeing - there's a big variety of things to see in Melaka - forts, churches and a ridiculous number of museums (we only visited one of each). Kev seems to have developed an enthusiasm for antiques shops so we also spend a fair bit of time wandering in and out of the many shops along Jonker Street looking at beautiful things we couldn't even begin to afford and wondering how many were genuine. That evening was the weekend market so we ate from various stalls along the way (Kev was less than impressed by his choice of baby octopus!) then settled for a couple of beers in a small bar that Amy had been to before. Here we were treated to songs and piano from Joe, who told us in no uncertain terms that he played nothing post 1950. Good fun though, particularly his variations on the theme of 'Mack the Knife' (Chinese style, John Wayne style etc etc.). We even got treated to comedy halfway through from an Indian woman. It was... quite funny.
The next day we supposed to be going on a day trip with Amy and her Dad to a nearby island. When we got to the meeting point however, there was no Amy in the car as she had hurt her nose the night before and wasn't feeling too good. So that gave us a spare day to fill. We went for the truly cultural option - we spent most of it in internet cafes, the shopping mall and the cinema. Sometimes you just need some air-con! The evening however was great as we went for a coffee and happened to be in the right place for more live music - this time from a very talented Chinese girl who sang and played guitar just beautifully - I was so impressed and we stayed far longer than we'd intended.
Then the next day we really did make it to the island. This is an island that Kev and I would never have made it to on our own as it's not mentioned in any guides we had come across and would be hard to reach the jetty by public transport. The island itself is a place of pilgrimage for many Indian Muslims in Malaysia and is considered to be very holy. once we arrived on the island we visited one of the holiest spots - a small cave within the rocks where many pigrims had come and left offerings.
The truly strange thing about the island is that a few years back, a beautiful huge resort with a golf course was built and apparently used for a while, however it is now totally empty. The golf course and resort are both kept by groundskeepers - the grass of the course is kept short, the flower beds are watered and the resort itself is looking pretty good considering it hasn't been used in at least 6 years. The resort is guarded by men with guns, but didn't take much persuasion to let us in the wander around. It was like walking through a ghost town - a bit creepy. The amount of money which must have been spent on building and the upkeep since is staggering, not to mention the amount of jungle cleared to make a golf course which is never, ever used. On the way back from our day trip we stopped for some fantastic Chicken Biriyani before saying out farewells to Amy and heading to Singapore the following morning.
It was Kev's second visit to Singapore and my first. The journey there was really easy - just a few hours on a bus and we were there (slightly less easy as the fantastic chicken biriyani turned out not to be so fantastic the next day...). Our hostel was actually really nice, even though we were in dorms for the first time in months. There were only 4 to each dorm and the beds were heavenly - the most comfy mattresses in 9 months! We arrived around lunchtime and, as we only really had 24 hours before flying to Manila, headed straight out for some sightseeing. We had a lovely afternoon seeing the sights and managed to resist the temptation to spend an entire day's budget drinking Singapore Slings in Raffles hotel. I was pleasantly surprised by what we saw of Singapore - I hadn't necessarily expected to like it all that much but I really did. There's a lot more to see than we had time for so maybe another visit will be needed. The next day was time to fly to Manila, and we took it easy in the hostel in the morning before catching the train to the airport ready for the next adventure...
We are now in the Philippines, although we have already left Manila and made it to Palawan where diving and island hopping await us. Fingers crossed for no typhoons!