Wednesday 10 April 2013

Malaysia

China Town (Kuala, Lumpur)
We Started Walking The Other Way (Kuala Lumpur)
Yet Another Example of How Bad the World Can Be (Kuala Lumpur)
Portuguese Fort Remains (Malaka Malaysia)
China Town (Malaka, Malaysia)
(Malaka, Malaysia)

Malaysia was raining.

Tired, sleepy and ill-informed after 22 hours on a train we arrived in Malaysia with hopes of catching what we thought to be the quickest way from the border to Kuala Lumpur, the train. Whilst running to buy the ticket for the train that was about to leave in the following 2 minutes we ignored all the signs; the bus driver promising a 4 hour drive at a lower price, an almost empty train and a complete exodus of tourists from the train station. It took us a mere 1 minute in our deserted carriage to realize that we had paid a premium to increase our journey by 3 hours and spend in total 29 hours on trains since leaving Bangkok.

The following day we didn’t even try to find out if there was a train to Malaka; we immediately headed to the bus station.

Malaka was small, quaint and merited a couple of days. Between wandering around town looking for the remnants of Portuguese invaders and Dutch colonizers we took refuge from the torrential afternoon rain in our hostel and patiently waited for our next opportunity to eat. Needless to say our highlights for Malaka revolved around food. Advised by the hostel owner we spent an hour queuing outside a local eatery for what can only be described as satay fondue. Incredibly rich and delicious, we thought it was time well spent.

Before boarding the bus to Singapore we stopped by our vegetarian restaurant of choice for some take away breakfast and experienced yet another gesture of hospitality and generosity. Whilst Diana struggled to choose amongst all the food on display a lady pointed and advised on what we should try; the samosas, egg rolls, Chinese fried sweets, everything was good. Not wanting to contradict this lovely lady we asked for one of each and when we attempted to pay she insisted it was her treat. And so totally unexpectedly, and after less than a week in the country, we hopped on the short 3 hour bus to Singapore with several bags full of yummy vegetarian delicacies.

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