What follows now is a bit of a whistlestop tour up the Malaysian peninsular, so lots of photos and not too many words you'll be pleased to know!
Waking up at the crack of dawn (why does travelling always seem to involve waking up at 5am?!) I caught a bus from central Singapore to Malacca, of straits fame.
I met a nice guy called Chris from King's Lynn at the bus stop and we travelled together for the next few days.
After pretty much abandoning the hostel trail in Australia, apart from a brief period with Jude in Japan, I was now well and truly back on it. This was the un-air-conditioned, mosquito-ridden dormitory we stayed at in Malacca.
It wasn't as bad as it looks or sounds, honest. And the owner was really helpful and friendly. It just took a bit of getting used to after the cheap hotels I'd been using in The Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan. And for two pound a night, I couldn't really complain!
After pretty much abandoning the hostel trail in Australia, apart from a brief period with Jude in Japan, I was now well and truly back on it. This was the un-air-conditioned, mosquito-ridden dormitory we stayed at in Malacca.
It wasn't as bad as it looks or sounds, honest. And the owner was really helpful and friendly. It just took a bit of getting used to after the cheap hotels I'd been using in The Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan. And for two pound a night, I couldn't really complain!
Malacca was recently made a Unesco World Heritage site and so the locals are pushing tourism hard.
There's an old 16th century Portuguese church and surrounding buildings were added to by the Dutch and British as they took over through the 18th and 19th centuries.
Our guesthouse was in Chinatown, which was a really atmospheric part of the city; the rest of which was covered in malls, as seems to be the Asian way.
The rickshaw drivers had taken the tourism thing a bit too much to heart though, decking their vehicles out in this kind of garish decoration. And fitting them with seriously powerful sound systems that blared out terrible 90s pop and dance music!
There wasn't much nightlife, but I did manage to make friends with a couple of locals (who all seemed to be called Sam) at a bar round the corner one evening and we had a good chat about Malaysian life - it's a much more corrupt and racially troubled country than I'd imagined.
