Enjoying the opportunity to sleep in we started moving at 9 on Saturday and went out to find some breakfast. We found it a short walk along the river at Momma's Cafe where we treated ourselves to toast, eggs, sausage and beans.

Continuing along the river we crossed it into the city centre and visited the numerous museums dotted around. From the customs museum, housing illegal items that had attempted to be smuggled into the country, to the maritime museum with a full size replica ship to explore. A small exhibition on outer space made for an interesting conversation with Faitoz on the big bang theory.

Next we headed to the old church at the top of the hill to get views over the city and the sea. Even here hawkers have set up shop in between the old headstones propped up against the crumbling walls and outside buskers play and sing.

The role of tourism here is apparent. From the hill you can see the observation tower, a rotating deck that rises up a few hundred meters to give views of the sights. At every corner you can have your photo taken with a snake or a parrot while the streets are filled with fancy, flower covered rickshaws which light up at night, offering a personalised guided tour. Attracting tourists has it's downsides though, the food is expensive, even more so than KL, and you have to barter the get the best deals but luckily most people speak English.

The city centre, recognised by the red painted buildings, is all a protected heritage site (with no smoking permitted anywhere) and fancy blinds cover shop fronts along the roads. In the centre is a water fountain, in front of a red church opposite the river that winds it's way through the city.

By 3 o'clock all of us were hungry and we stopped at Geography bar for lunch. The food was great, although not as good as in Yemen according to Fairoz.

Wanting a break from all the walking we took the boat trip upstream. The river is home to some big monitor lizards and mangrove trees have been planted to try and improve the habit for them. From the river we had a good view of the Melaka trees, after which the town was named, saw a traditional stilted village and many buildings painted with the history of the area.

At the end of the trip we decided to take a break and returned to the hostel for a game of chess and some delicious, homemade cake, courtesy of Raymond's wife.

Agreeing on an Indian for dinner, Raymond recommend a good Tandoori Restaurant across town. The curries were amazing with freshly made nanns cooked right before your eyes. We took a gently stroll back through town tasting sugar cane juice and sampling pineapple tarts.