Melaka - Malaysia - Part 49

After a mass of buses and a maze of subways and getting the final bus to Melaka I was a bit gutted to find the bus station was way out of town. Thankfully though the drivers had a great grasp of English and it was much easier to get to my hostel than I had anticipated. I met Hassan at the hostel and he convinced me for an extra 30p per night I could get my own room; he didn't trust the locals in at the time and I figured he was the best guy for advice; he was hardly ripping me off for an extra 30p! This turned out to be a wise move as I realised later.
When eating out later I got chatting to a local Chinese man; he said he was visiting family and I briefly explained about my travels. He finished first and went to pay and then I saw out of the corner of my eye that he and the waiter were very obviously talking about me. The cynic that I am, and have to unfortunately say because not everyone can be trusted, wondered was I being set up for something. I quickly finished my meal and went to pay only to be told that the Chinese man had kindly picked up my bill. I managed to catch up with him and shook his hand not sure how to show my overwhelming appreciation. This is the first time any stranger has done something like this for me; it wouldn’t have mattered if it had cost $1 or $1000 – his kindness blew me away, especially as I have been made to doubt the intentions of so many people whilst away. Maybe he was a Christian, I don’t know but it made me want to buy everyone meals and more – so inspiring! My faith in human nature restored.
After watching a boat race, visiting a museum where there was a replica of an old Portuguese wooden vessel I was rewarded again – this time the sun setting and views of ‘A Famosa’, the remains of a Portuguese fortress.
The next couple of days were spent sight-seeing around the churches of Christ Church and Xavier, through Little India where there were loads of pigeons for some reason; maybe they were being fed although I do remember the same thing when I visited India last year. I continued around mosques and Chinese temples and met another Chinese guy who was so helpful and could actually understand me, which never fails to amaze me. One evening I took a walk to Pulau Melaka, a very modern island that has involved the reclamation of two islands and built in the style of Dubai. There is a bridge connecting one to the mainland but turned out to be a longer walk that I had thought.

I ate in a restaurant and again realised the honesty and kindness of people. In an effort to get rid of some change I offered the waiter the small change along with a 50k note, to receive, easier only, notes in change (hope that makes sense). However, I got confused and as I made to walk off, without the notes, he called me back and pointed out my mistake. Phew! That would have proved an extremely costly meal.
I made my way towards more mosques, where at one I took off my shoes to enter, only to be asked if I was a Muslim and then escorted out!
Following the horde of tourists I found a vantage point for the sunset although the atmosphere was almost drowned out by a very talkative American girl, so I drowned her out by putting some great sound tracks on my tablet and actually adding to the idyllic setting.
So time to pack up, yet again, and travel on. I took a local bus to the main station and once settled for the one hour journey decided to go on my tablet…only to discover it wasn’t there!!! Due to safeguarding my belongings in the hostel, after the warnings, I had placed my tablet under my pillow – and it was still there! I jumped up and rang Hassam to guard my room with his life. I jumped off the bus as fast as I could with a 20Kg+ bag plus a 30litre day bag, getting some very strange looks as I had just paid the fare to the end of the line. I hurried panting and sweating back, bursting in to my room to find it under my pillow where I had allegedly left it safe. Thank goodness I had taken the advice of my own room. After getting myself in to a complete panic I retraced my steps to start the journey again. The ride gave me plenty of time to curse myself and reflect on perhaps becoming too complacent, getting used to different horizons and moving so much. What with the money and now this – big lessons learned in the last few days!

Next stop, Johor Bahur, Singapore’s border and home to LEGOLAND for more adventures and more lessons!!