From East to West
It was hard to say goodbye to Tioman and Air Batang. We could have easily stayed longer but curiosity to see more of Malaysia was stronger so we boarded the ferry back to Mersing on a Wednesday morning. Back in the terminal we went looking for bus tickets to Melaka on the West coast which led to huge disappointment. According to the huge woman behind the tiny counter the 13h00 bus to Melaka was full, only tickets for the last one at 17h30 were available. This meant waiting for 5 hours and arriving only at 22h00 in Melaka. What to do? A taxi would be too expensive. Only alternatives were taking a bus to Kluang, somewhere in the interior and hoping for a bus to Melaka or change plans and stay on the East coast travelling north to Kuantan. I made one last round through the building until I spotted an Indian man in a FC Barcelona T-shirt. Big Barça football fan I am myself I thought this must be ok and we started to talk about last season’s bad results and what should change. We both concluded the current exodus of the big stars is the only way forward and he asked where I was heading for. He walked me to a tiny hole in the outside wall which turned out to be the national bus company counter where tickets for the 13h00 bus where available. As the bus took off shortly after we counted only 16 occupied seats! Lesson learned, never take the first answer for granted but shop for second opinions.
Sara was excited about the bus ride, especially since she was on the front row and had great views on the landscape. After an hour driving through mainly palm tree plantations she dozed off into a deep sleep. I counted 3 monkeys as road kill and saw 2 warning signs for crossing elephants. As with every public transport hub you were harassed by the taxi mafia the moment you stepped out of the bus. Amazing how they all agree among each other on asking the same high fare for the relatively short ride to the city centre. When we walked away pretending to be angry about the price a discount was all of sudden possible. As all the mentioned guesthouses and hotels in our Rough Guide were booked we pre-booked an unknown hotel that was described on Internet as a cosy hotel for families near the city centre run by a hospitable Portuguese family. When we arrived we looked at each other with horror. A run-down neighbourhood with burned down warehouses on one side and a large building with flickering red lights in the middle: Hotel Portugis. Although the occupancy was very low we still had to wait for our room to be cleaned by a small Malaysian transvestite with pony tail and a stuffed bra. The room was small but ok although it only had a very small window. We decided to walk to city centre to find a room for the days to come but after strolling the pavements for more than half an hour we found ourselves only halfway to the centre. With the hotel experience still in mind, this was too much Brigitte and she started to cry. As we arrived back at the hotel there was load music from speakers outside the restaurant next to the hotel and a barely dressed woman on high heels stood outside looking at us with a-what-on-earth are-you-doing-here-face. Hotel Portugis was definitely not a family hotel but cosy alright if you liked karaoke and hookers as it was a Chinese run hotel annex brothel. We checked out and of course did not get a refund. From John and Christine Johnstone, an English couple who lived in Melaka and we met on Tioman we still remembered they lived next to hotel Lisbon so we took a taxi and headed to the Portuguese Settlement. Hotel Lisbon faces the Strait of Melaka and had comfortable, quiet rooms surrounding a big fountain in the patio. Later that evening we met up with the Johnstones and Mark and Laura with their 2 year old daughter Madeleine. We met then on Tioman and they were on a round the world trip as well. We all had a good laugh about the hotel adventure, lost money but gained a good story.
Hotel Lisbon is next to the Portuguese Settlement, an attempt to rebuild an old Portuguese square on the exact spot where the original Portuguese immigrants lived in the 17th century. Around the square live a couple of thousand fishermen with their families today, most of them descendants from the original inhabitants. While we were there the yearly Festa de San Pedro was celebrated. The whole block was shut off for traffic, all kinds of Portuguese food stalls were set up and there was singing and dancing. We met at the Festa again with John, Christine and a couple of their Malaysian friends. Mark, Laura and Madeleine also joined as they were staying with the Johnstones for a couple of days. The day after we visited John and Christine in their apartment close to hotel Lisbon, which has a swimming pool so Sara and Madeleine could play around in the water. John and Christine are 60+ and very nice people. Despite their age there are passionate about diving and go regularly to the East coast where diving seems to be better than the West coast. John likes his pint at the end of the day so that’s probably why he settled on the West coast instead of the more or less alcohol free East coast. They are both crazy with Madeleine and Sara, despite the language barrier. Looks like they are ready for grandchildren.
Through John we got the mobile number of Albert, his Indian friend the taxi driver. Albert is 60 but looks like he is 40 and provided in car entertainment for Sara with his various baby and animal sounds. He is also a master at imitating foreign accents with as highlight the stressed Japanese tourist who wants to see Melaka in 1 hour before he has to leave with the bus again. Apart from being a funny guy, having Albert saved us from dealing with the irritating taxi mafia. At the Hotel Lisbon we were trying to solve the mystery of the big green arrow above the bed labelled Arah Kiblat. We asked at check out and the arrow served as orientation guide for Arabs without sense of direction during prayer by pointing to the direction of Mekka.
We decided to stay one more night in Melaka to see Chinatown by night and booked a room at the Heeren Inn, located on the road that just to the Dutch Heeren Straat before it was changed into a Chinese name. After the Portuguese and before the British, the Dutch have rules over Melaka and this is still visible at certain landmarks in town. There is for example the Stadthuys, the Christ Church and the Dutch graveyard. Some are still trying to cash in on that period, like in the Dutch Harbour Club where they served Dutch ‘kroketten’ and Gouda cheese. We opted for local fare instead and Sara was craving for fresh fruit. The staff was all over Sara and her blonde hair and gave her all kinds of fruit with dragonfruit with vanilla ice as her favourite.
With the heat becoming really sticky we headed for the public swimming pool behind the Stadhuys. The man at the counter did not speak English but gestured straight away that he would like to see my swimming shorts. As I pulled them out of my bag he nodded fiercely no and took out a poster with all kinds of obscure small swimming pants. Contrary to normal clothes here which is a bit baggy, swimming attire needs to be really tight. Perverted life guards perhaps? The last time I walked around in tight Speedo’s was at primary school and frankly I rather stayed out in the heat than purchasing a few centimetres of swimming cloth in the next door shop. Brigitte wouldn’t have gotten in anyhow with bikini so we went to the cool park behind the pool which also had a small play garden so Sara didn’t mind the cancelled swim anymore.
Melaka’s Chinatown concentrates around Jalan Hang Jebat, Jonkers Straat in the old days. On Friday and Saturday the street is closed for traffic and hundreds of Chinese come out to sell food and all kinds of plastic stuff in small stalls. Very good atmosphere and paradise for Sara. She ran up and down the street looking for the one ultimate gift she was allowed to choose. She hesitated between a plastic singing bird and a jumping ball with lots of noise. In the end she chose the ball and made everyone smile as she tried to catch the jumping ball in the street. At Café EZ we bumped into John’s Indian friends again and had a few beers with them. There was also a Dutch John who turned to be from Roermond but now living in Melaka. He was 80 years old and still going strong having his daily pint at his favourite bar. Happy to be able to speak the Dutch Limburg dialect again he gave me his life story which in a nutshell boils down to enjoying life from his better than average Philips pension among friends in Melaka. Quite a difference compared to spending your days in an elder’s home in Holland counting the rainy days.
Melaka is a nice town to spend a couple of days but do go during the weekend as Chinatown is at its best. Unfortunately, spontaneous travel becomes more and more difficult so book ahead. During our stay most of the nice guesthouses (we found Puri, Heeren House and Baba House very ok) were booked solid during the weekend so we decided to leave for Kuala Lumpur on Saturday already.
Hotel Lisbon is suitable if you would like to be outside Melaka;s downtown hassle. There is always a nice cool breeze and next to it is a small play garden. You need to catch a taxi or bus to city centre as it is to far by foot. As a proper Muslim hotel they don’t serve alcohol but plenty of bars and restaurants in the neighbouring Portuguese Settlement to compensate.
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