Selamat from Malaysia

Why is Melaka mysterious? Because besides shopping for a ring (which took about an hour if that) and a wee wander around we did nothing else except sleep. As much as we wanted to explore jet lag took over and so we slept. We flew from Rome to Singaport (12.5 HRS) With no or little sleep, waited 2 HRS for a bus once in Singapore (at 6am) and then endured a 4.5 HR bus ride to Melaka. But we were staying at a fantastic hostel called Kancil guesthouse and if we hadn't already have booked accommodation in KL we would have stayed longer.

Next day we caught another bus for KL. We were still pretty tired and dazed and I was wondering why they were refusing to sell me a 11.30am ticket and going on something about 12.30 bla bla bla. Five mins before our bus was due to leave I realised. It was not 11.30 like I thought but 12.30 when I bought the tickets.
They must have thought I was raving mad trying to buy a 11.20 ticket at 12.20pm. We didn't have time to finish our maccas but had to chuck it out and haul ass to the bus. (I also blame the jet lag on buying maccas).

Made it to our very cool hostel (Red palm guesthouse). Very helpful staff and a room with aircon and very good value too. There is a common room with about 50 or so DVD's to choose from and plenty of SE Asia guidebooks and a book swapping system which is great because I've already finished two and need a new one. They have three computers with internet too and breakfast is included plus they keep fruit in the fridge for us. Couldn't ask for better really.

Spent day one having a look around the area and shopping. Was looking forward to getting back into bargaining and re-using all those skills I learned from our time in Ghana and Egypt!

Chinatown night market had much the same as in Italy (handbags, purses, watches and glasses) except much cheaper here. The people are all super friendly (except one man who called me an idiot - he was indian) But it was very hot and crowded and although chris did very well (sungalsses and hat) I bought nothing. Ah well I still have a few months to get back into the swing of bargaining and crowded markets etc.

Food is all very good and tasty. We are not too worried about being careful with what we ate and so far so good. The secret is to eat where the locals are eating (for cheap food) and where it is busy (for fresh and clean food).

Today was our second day in KL and we had an early start (our very first one so far - our average morning start has been about half ten!) and headed to the petronas towers - the highest twin towers in the world. Apparently 263 times my height I learned later. They give out a certain amount of tickets (free) per visit so we booked ours in for 2pm and then caught the hop on hop off bus for a tour of the city. Stopped off at a craft village where you can watch painters, carvers and people making batik out of wax and dye.

The trip up the petronus towers was to the sky bridge which joins the towers. Great views from the top and an interesting 3D presentation about how they were made in just 2 and a half years.

Later we went shopping again and I bought a watch for 12 Ringgit (around $3.50) and a top for 15 Ringgit. Loving the bargains - unfortunately there's only so much we can fit in our bags so we will eventually have to stop! We also bought a tiny harddrive to keep our hpotos on instead of carting arounds CDs or DVDs. (Chris is sorting the photos right now).

Tonight we decided to go th the imax cinema which was the size of the netire front of the cinema (maybe twice the size if cimena one at readings?) pretty big anyway. Watched iron man. Good choice for an imax cinema!

Tomorrow we plan on getting some fresh air at the lake park and gardens and Chris wants to visit the bird park. then we will climb the KL tower in the evening for some night views over the city.