Melaka (S. Malaysia) + Singapore

Hi all, hope everyone’s ok? I’m going to start a new update now, but will finish it off tomorrow as we are a bit pushed for time…Wayne’s making me go to a basketball game (Singapore v’s New Zealand)…I’ll let you know whether it was worth it tomorrow.

6/12/06 – 8/12/06
Melaka wasn’t anything to write home about: stayed in a travelers guesthouse that had military-like house rules, but the room was a great size so we just kept ourselves to ourselves so as not to get into any trouble! Visited a few museums (including Baba Nanya Heritage Museum: a traditional 19th century Pernakan house, and the Maritime Museum: located on a recreation of the ‘Flora de la Mar’ – a Portuguese ship that sank off the coast of Melaka whilst trying to transport treasures back to Europe) and hung out in coffee shops playing cards most of the time. We were just really stalling so that we didn’t have to pay for too many nights in Singapore.

9/12/06
After a 5-hour bus journey we arrived in Singapore…We hadn’t booked any accommodation, so were delighted when a random man on a bicycle greeted us at the bus station in Little India. He offered us a room for S$25/night – far cheaper than any of the ‘budget accommodation’ listed in the guidebook – so we jumped at the offer, no questions asked. When we arrived at ‘Al’s Nest’ as he like’s to refer to it, we realised that we had agreed to a ‘home stay’ arrangement, rather than a room in a guesthouse…we are therefore currently residing in a family home. It is very bizarre – the sign over the door declares that it is an export trading company (??), they leave dirty washing all over the floor and never ever clean the shared bathroom (gross), but they give us breakfast and then let us get on with it…all we have to do is put up with the grandmother, who gawks at us, whilst shouting in Chinese (we have now established that she’s deaf). After ‘settling in’ we caught the underground to Orchard Road, the infamous shopping district. It is so Christmassy: lights, music and decorations everywhere, and incredibly busy – worse than Oxford Street at this time of year!

10/12/06
Breakfast eaten quickly and in silence, whilst grandmother viciously decapitated smelly fish with a humungous knife. Escaped and caught the underground then bus to Singapore Zoo, which is just outside the city in the centre of the island and set in beautiful jungle. Saw a Bengal White Tiger and a Polar Bear for the first time. The zoo is excellent and internationally acclaimed, primarily because they try to recreate an entire ecosystem appropriate for individual species. There are virtually no cages and animals are only separated from visitors by a moat system (many species, including the Orangutans are free-ranging ).

We spent the evening wondering around Little India: it was a memorable experience; despite the fact we did very little. Apparently every Sunday night all the Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi immigrants (in Singapore on 2 year work visa’s) swarm the streets and simply hang around…there were literally thousands of men (no women), you could hardly move, even the alleyways were crowded. Sunday is their only day off, so they ‘socialise’ according to ‘Al’ (the man of the house we are staying in). They don’t drink, eat or party - they just stand. Some of them must have intended on spending a bit of money though, as we went to the only ATM in Little India and queued for about 20 minutes behind a massive line of Indian men. Spoke to Al for the rest of the evening and learnt that hangings are still carried out here and that men who commit crimes receive a beating from the police force!

Run out of time, I’ll continue tomorrow – our last day in Asia! Emma xx