Melaka Getaway

This past weekend, we took a trip to Melaka, Malaysia.  Originally, we planned on going on the weekend of our anniversary, but we put off planning for too long and then couldn't find a hotel room because it was a school holiday weekend, so lots of people were travelling.  So we had to push it back a few weeks.

We got up early and caught a luxury bus from Singapore to the Melaka bus terminal.   It was a smooth ride, only 3.5 hours and very comfortable as the bus was a regular sized bus with only 29 seats.  We had plenty of leg room and could recline pretty far back.  Andy's long legs were happy.

Andy got us a nice room at the Holiday Inn with a view of the Melaka Straits.  He had used his points to get us a free room, but they made a mistake when assigning the room and we ended up with two single beds.  So, after some complaining, upon which he flashed his Platinum status (thanks to all those nights spent in Victoria last year), he got us upgraded to a nicer room with a water view that came with free breakfast.  After checking in, they brought us this welcome treat - fancy! 

Our view of the Melaka Straits and a mosque.

After some resting, we headed out to explore the sights of the town.  First, we stumbled upon the "Pimp My Rickshaw Contest" at the plaza.  There were all these rickshaws lined up with numbers and I guess they were being judged.  

This is one really souped up rickshaw.  You could rock out while riding the streets of Melaka.

One of the creepier rickshaws, decked out in.....barbie dolls.  Weird.

A muslim woman at A Famosa, the old Portuguese fort. 

The front side of A Famosa

The ruins of St. Paul's Church

A local school boy looking out the window of St. Paul's Church.

Me hanging out inside the church.

Just down the hill was Christ Church of Melaka, probably the most famous tourist sight of the town.  Of course we took a few pictures.

We also spent some time strolling down Jonker Street, which basically closed down at night and became one really long night market.  I picked up some cool leather bracelets for my sister for $1 a pop.  So cheap!

Jonker Street at twilight.

After dinner, we were zonked out and headed back to the hotel.  The heat and humidity can really be a killer here.  The next morning, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and headed out to the mall where I got my shopping fix in.  Stuff in Malaysia is so cheap!  At the mall, there was an archery store, so Andy and I gave it a try.  I even hit the bullseye on one of the targets - to which Andy remarked, "Were you actually aiming for that one?" Surprisingly, I was.  If you know me, I definitely have a lack of hand-eye coordination, I've even missed the cup when pouring water before...so I was really proud of myself.

Watch out Robin Hood, here come the Sokoliks!

After shopping and archery, we headed back to Jonker Street and had some Hainan Chicken and Rice Balls. It was pretty good, although I think I still prefer the Singaporean version with rice in a bowl.

This cost about US$4! So cheap.

So we basically spent a little over 24 hours in Melaka, but had a great time.  Getting back to Singapore was a bit of an adventure since we waited until we got to Melaka to buy tickets for the return and found that all buses back to Singapore were booked.  We then found ONE company that still had tickets to Johor Bahru, Malaysia, (which is right across the border from Singapore) and had to go there, then take the public buses back over to Singapore.  Took almost 6 hours to get home.....  

So, we got to celebrate our anniversary in style, a month late...but better late than never!  I posted the rest of my pictures in my flickr album so you can check them out here.