First Day in Malaysia

So after a day and a bit of hanging out with Kelly in Singapore, I finally gathered all my stuff together and got on a bus for Malaysia.  I decided just to take public transit to Johor Bahru, which is just over the causeway and in Malaysia.  It all went fairly smoothly on the Singapore side, but the Malaysia border took forever- about 200 people all jammed together trying to clear customs.  In the end I managed to get through, albeit 5 lbs lighter from sweating so much while waiting in line.  While there were fans, they weren't doing much good.  Fortunately I was able to get on my nice A/C bus and was deposited at the big bus terminal a short time later.

One thing about Malaysians-- they're so helpful.  It kind of reminds me of Egyptians (apparently a continuing theme of this trip so far).  The bus driver pretty much walked me over to the ticket booth and I was able to get a ticket on the next bus leaving for Melaka (approximately 3 hours away).  The bus ride was really comfortable, but thankfully I had my sweater with me because the A/C was pretty intense.  I'm currently staying at a nice little guesthouse quite close to the main part of town.  The woman running it is an ideal host (I got tea and noodles for breakfast this morning).  Funny sidenote:  I'm so used to European hostels that I was quite surprised to see that my dorm-mates were older Indonesian men, not the typically young European/ North American backpacker.  Furthermore, there were no places to lock up packs.  So far, so good though.  And provided none of my stuff gets stolen, I'll be a happy camper at $3 a night. 

I was so exhausted last night that I went to bed at 7pm so today is my first day exploring Melaka.  So far I've just wandered around, taking in the sights and sounds.  I'm currently in Little India and hope to make my way over to Chinatown after I'm done here.  Melaka's Chinatown is supposed to be well-preserved and fantastic to see (with really fantastic and cheap food).  I'm likely leaving sometime early tomorrow afternoon for Kuala Lumpur where I'm meeting up with Katherine and Kymm.   

More later,

Katie