Well hello from Malaysia!!! I have moved up from Singapore and am now travelling as part of the 'Imaginitve Traveller' tour group up to Bangkok! I met the rest of my group on Saturday evening and we headed into town for one last look around and a lovely meal at one of the restaurants in a place called 'Suntec Centre'. Although the price was a bit out of range for us backpackers, it was still lovel!! ; ) It's a fab group and everyone gets on really well!! Complete range of people too which is a great thing, especially when its only a small group. We have 2 canadians, an american, 1 swiss, 2 scottish, a french guide and 5 english. The age range is 16 to 77 and we feel very sorry for the one lad as the only other male is the 77 year old!!! But its fine, we are all having a laugh and the entertainment is being provided by one lady who takes it upon herself to organise the rest of us, much to the annoyance of our leader!! and also appears to be quite obsessive about everything!! ; ) Should be a fun 2 weeks! So anyways, we all left Singapore yesterday morning and got the public bus over the border - got 3 more stamps in my passport!! - and crossed over into Malaysia. It's crazy and, although part of the same region and country, Singapore and Malaysia have different flags and currency!! We arrived four hours later in the little town of Melaka (spelt Malacca the local way) and checked into our hotel. Luxury to have a tv in our room! ; ) Everyone headed into the local chinese night market last night and we got our first taste of local cuisine. Although im not sure what exactly we ate it was nice! and for about 5 dishes and a local tiger beer, it cost little over 2pound!! Amazing!! I managed to watch the Chelsea Man Utd match in a bar with some locals last night!! It's the first match ive been able to see since ive been away! Then today we visited some of the local museums, before we all hired tri-shaws to take us round the town. Great fun! This afternoon we ventured on a boat cruise up the river and saw the back streets of Melaka; and the early constructive preparatons for the celebrations next year to commemorate 50 years of independance. We also came across a new looking animal that we nicknamed the comodo-croc - it lives on the river banks and looks like a cross between a comodo dragon and a crocodile! Interesting! ; ) We head out of here early tomorrow morning until we arrive in Kuala Lumpar and explore more night markets and the rainforests of the Cameron Highlands later in the week. With elephant riding and tea plantations all set for the next week its set to be a good time!! Its a refreshing change to be submerged in culture and real life locals as oppose to the western and sommercial sites throughout the rest of the trip. That was fab there bu its also nice to see this side of the world too. Not sure when i will be able to find internet access again over the next couple of weeks but i hope all is fab with you and hope to speak soon. Lots of love and take care. Georgie x x x