Ringo's Foyer

Melaka is a large town in the south of peninsular Malaysia. Historically it was a small fishing village which was transformed into an international trading port by various European colonists; today however it is a mainly a tourist destination, and a lovely one at that!

There aren't many 'sights' in Melaka, but it's a great town to wander around and explore the myriad of back streets. It has a really chilled vibe here, and the weather has been gorgeous, so I have spent a fair bit of time soaking up the sun and watching the world go by. Melaka also has fantastic food which is INCREDIBLY cheap, so I have been tasting local cuisine at roughly 1.50 per meal!

The real highlight of my time here though has been my hostel, Ringo's Foyer. The owner is a Malaysian man called Howard, who is really friendly and keen to create a social atmosphere. He takes the guests out for a group dinner every night, or hosts a BBQ on the roof terrace. On my first night we borrowed his bicycles, and rode out to a hawker centre just out of town. It was so nice to be on a bike, although slightly scary trying to merge through busy traffic!! The hawker centre we ate at was open air, and had an array of incredibly tasty local food to sample. I settled on 'Popiah' which is a spring roll stuffed with carrots, garlic, prawns, chili and more, and chicken satay with a yummy peanut sauce. On the way back to the hostel, Howard took us the long route home and gave us an informal tour of the town. After the meal everyone was fully acquainted, and so we continued chatting away over a few beers on the roof terrace.

On my second night, Howard took us out for dinner at an Indian restaurant. Indian food is the one cuisine that I avoid; I really don't like spicy food and so generally find it easier to stay well clear! However, it has become clear that when in Asia this is a dislike I'm going to have to overcome. I told Howard that he could order for me, as I had no idea what anything on the menu was. When my meal came, it was thin bread filled with potato and vegetables (similar to a large samosa), that you dip into various sauces... and to my suprise and delight it was really YUMMY! Again, after dinner, everyone congregated in the common area to watch Toy Story 3 with beer.

My stay in Ringo's Foyer highlights the a difference that a good hostel makes to a trip. As Melaka is a quiet town it would have been easy to dismiss it as boring, but with a great host showing us around and a good group to while away the evenings with, my time in Melaka has been far from boring!

From A to B

As I am travelling overland through the first 6 countries on my itinerary, long distance buses are going to be my main mode of transport and will be quite uncomfortable and tiresome journeys if guidebooks and backpacker stories are to be believed. However, as with everything else I have experienced in Singapore, my journey over the border to Melaka was a very straight forward and pleasant experience!

After initial problems finding the bus station, I easily obtained a ticket from one of the many travel agencies there and only had to wait 20 mins until departure. The bus itself was a huge surprise, it was an 'executive' coach with huge seats that had massage facilities, leg rests and a generous recline; not necessary for the 4 hour journey but much appreciated all the same!

As the journey involved crossing the Singapore-Malaysia border there were two stops at immigration, one to get out of Singapore and one to get into Malaysia. This was a very straight forward process, and the immigration officer at the Malaysia border was very chatty and amiable which makes a refreshing change from the stern demeanor of most border officials.

A few hours into the journey there was a toilet/ refreshment stop, and so I decided to be sensible and use the toilet while I had the opportunity. After quite a long queue I eventually got into a cubicle, and discovered to my horror that it was a squat toilet! I considered heading straight back out again, but as it was quite a clean toilet I decided to get stuck into the S.E.Asian experience and go for it!

Just a short while later we arrived in Melaka Sentral which is the main bus station in Melaka. I needed to catch a local bus from the station to my guesthouse, and had rough instructions to catch any bus that was headed to 'ocean' which is a large shopping mall close to my hostel. I quickly found a rickety old bus heading to 'ocean', and although I had no idea what I was doing I decided to get on the bus and hope for the best! The driver was a frail old man who spoke no English and was obviously not going to leave until his bus was full, so we sat there for around 10 mins while he beeped his horn and yelled 'ocean' trying to round up passengers. Everyone that got on the bus seemed to find the sight of me and my huge backpack quite interesting, but they left me alone and happily chattered among themselves. The journey was quite short and the driver smoked the entire time regardless of the 'No Smoking' sign directly above his head. Our arrival at 'Ocean' was quite obvious as the entire bus got off, and I duly joined them. I had some rough directions to get to my hostel, none of which made any sense, but after asking a few locals, and roughly half an hour wandering around in the midday sun with my heavy pack on I eventually arrived at 'Ringos Foyer' and was greeted by the exceptionally friendly owner called 'Howard'.