Yesterday we spent the day around Malacca. I was feeling a lot better and the aches had disappeared. We had planned to walk around the streets but as luck would have it we found a rickshaw rider (or maybe he found us!!) and negotiated an hour tour around the town for RM35/5 pounds.

He rode us past the main square and round to Porta de Santiago which is an old ruin built by the Portugese in 1523, it is overshadowed by the remains of St Pauls Church sat up on the hill. There were 168 steps up to the ruin but you got a good view of the town from up there. The rain came down throughout the night but did hold off for our tour and the next stop after winding through the streets was St Francis Church built by the British then round to Kampung Kling Mosque. We got to go inside and look around as Asman used this mosque for worship so he gave us all the information we needed about the place.

After a bit more weaving around the streets and past the gold shop where the security guard stands outside with a shotgun as big as Mel we arrived at the shop that makes the tiny bound feet shoes that the Chinese ladies used to wear. Fortunately they are just for tourists to buy these days and are made to original patterns and design.

The hour went all too quickly and we asked to be dropped back in the main square so we could continue on our own. We did spend a couple of hours looking around the shops with a brief stop for lunch when it started raining. Things are so cheap here that we ended up buying allsorts but you can't help yourself once you get started!!!!!

To escape the humidity for a while we ducked into the Malacca History Museum to learn a little about the place. Malacca has been occupied by the Dutch,British and Japanese and only gained independence on August 31st 1957.

Had a good look through our bargain buys back at the hostel before going to the restaurant next door for dinner. The menu was in Malay and after a few translation problems we ended up with what we wanted a meal each and a drink for RM16/2 pound 30p!!!!

The rest of the evening was spent on the rooftop terrace chatting and watching the spectacular thunderstorm unfolding and the lightning lighting up the skies. The good thing about the wet season is most of the rain comes down through the night with just a little bit during the day.

Lots of Love

M & M

xx