We left Kuala Lumpur early on day 22 for Melaka. By this point I was struggling to get up for another early start, but I knew that the coach journey was only short at 2 hours and I could relax once we arrived. Getting to the bus station meant another walk through the market with all our bags but luckily it was a lot quieter as it was still early. It started to rain though which I think was an omen for the day! I couldn't find my waterproof anywhere as it was the first time I had had to use it. We had to wait at Kuala Lumpur station for what seemd like ages. It didn't smell particuarly pleasant and there was more walking to be done with my backpack on. I will admit I wasn't in the best of moods!

When we arrived in Melaka we transferred straight to where we would be staying for the night. Up until now we had stayed in hotels for all of the sourthern part of our trip. Although this wasn't actually called a hostel, it was much more close to it. We had our own room, but had to share a bathroom and toilet. The place was quite personal compared to the hotels but not very modern. There was a nice garden area and terrace to sit out in and get bitten by mosquitos. Up until now I had literally only been bitten once, even through the jungle, but for some reason my legs seemed to get attacked here

There wasn't really much to do in Melaka just in an afternoon. It was more of a historical town, so you could go on a tour or look around the mosques and old buildings. Justin and myself, and some of the others weren't really in the mood for that so we just went to get some lunch. After too much takeaway food over the last few days the KFC I ate made me feel a bit sick, and I had the worst and most stressful cup of tea ever, so we decided to give up and go back to the guesthouse to play Uno for the rest of the afternoon. This cheered me up as it was funny to watch Justin try to cheat and still not get anywhere!

That evening we thought we would have a party for one of the guys in the group. Although it wasn't actually his birthday until early December, it was the nearest out of everone's and we wanted something to celebrate. Also his partner was going home to South Africa and he was carrying on travelling, so he may end up being on his own on the actual day. We got him two cakes, which no one really ended up eating, party poppers and horns, and we all wore face masks which was a bit random but still fun! He was really surprised when he came back, mainly as it wasn't actually his birthday, but he was really pleased too. After we gave him his presents and cards we all went out for a meal. Everyone decided to finish the bottle of tequila off before we left as it couldn't be taken to Singapore, but in hindsight this probably wasn't such a good idea as it set the tone for the rest of the evening!

The restaurant was really nice once we arrived. On the way Justin had tripped and fractured his toe so was in a foul mood and quite a lot of pain. Typically he refused to go home or see a doctor, so we carried on. The restaurant was all open and had a guitarist and singer who was really good and took requests. By the end of the night everyone joined in on the microphone. The other group who we kept bumping into where there too. They we actually staying upstairs and had a jacuzzi. So not fair! The food was cheap, as it is everywhere, but the alcohol was still quite expensive. Not that it stopped anyone from drinking. Johann, our guide, got completely hammered as usual and so was the birthday boy. People were drinking a cocktail which tasted like pure alcohol which was disgusting and some of the boys snuck in bottles of rum. As everyone was getting drunk the bar owner thought he would try and rip everone off by adding extra drinks to their bills but luckily we noticed. That didn't stop us from spending all our money!

Some of the others carried on to a dodgy nightclub afterwards, but as Justin's foot was still quite bad we decided to head back. We couldn't find a taxi anywhere, which was typical as they are always around when you don't want one, so we had to walk the whole way. We tried to find an ATM as we had spent all our money on food and alcohol and couldn't pay for breakfast in the morning but we couldn't find one. When we eventually did it was broken. This put us back in a bad mood for the second time that day. I decided that Melaka was rubbish and I couldn't wait to get to Singapore!