Malacca Malaysia

My general plan for this break was certainly general: Go to Kuala Lumpur for Seth's birthday then see what happens. Spent about a week in KL, did a minuscule amount of research about Malaysia amounting to checking out Kieran's Facebook status about what he should do in Malaysia and copying and pasting the results onto my sticky notes on my computer. About a day or two before the guys were leaving KL for Indonesia and Burma, I asked them what I should do. Kieran: "Go to Malacca, I hear it's great." Done. Did a quick 10 min on Wikitravel then looked on hostelworld for a cheap place to stay and left on the Sunday. Malacca is a World Heritage Site, many temples, churches and museums that I can tell you I did not visit. I'm sure they are great though. 

My overall impression of Malacca was that I loved it. Fairly small town, very historic, interesting architecture, great weekend night markets, Chinatown, great for walking around, or taking one of these little devices that more often that not were playing Gangnam style:

It was a great place to walk around, got severely lost the first night (shocking) and is very safe. Malacca in my opinion is crazy romantic and would be a ideal place to go on a little getaway. They have a beautiful canal to walk along or take a small boat and tour the area at night. Lots of small little cafes and quaint restaurants. If I ever trick a girl into marrying me, I'd love to come back there.


This may seem insignificant to you but they have 2 movie theaters so I watched Taken 2 (7.5 out of 10) and Looper (7.89 out of 10), found a small little burger shop called Bert's Jr. Can you believe that?? 

So the first time I found this great little gem I of course ordered one lemonade, I love lemonade. Just before I was about to order, I thought to myself "Bert, don't tell them your name is Bert. They don't care. This is what your dad would have done and you would have been embarrassed. Keep your mouth shut, drink your lemonade, and walk away" 
"One lemonade please, oh and my name is Bert"
Employee: "Oh your name is Bert, ha",.....hands me my lemonade, "Thanks Bert!"
Made my night. I also went back the next day to have a cheeseburger and the girl is like you were here yesterday right? Bert? Then the guy in the back near the grill "Hi Bert" It's true that remembering peoples names is important. People love the sound of their own name. 

Stayed at a great little guesthouse on the canal called River View Guesthouse. Perfect for sleeping in and near this famous Chinese chicken and rice ball restaurant that made me pretty happy.

View from the guesthouse.

Spent three nights in Malacca, was a bit sad to leave but like leaving places a little early, wanting a bit more rather than overdoing it and being happy to leave. Last quick note about Malacca: 
Cab ride from bus terminal to my first hostel, which wasn't great.
Cab driver after about 10 minutes of silence:
"Where you from" 
Me: "Canada" 
Cab driver "I studied at York University in Toronto....they still have table dancers in Canada? 
Me: "Umm yep" 
Cab driver smiles: "I used to drink Blue Labatt"
Good to know Canada's reputation in Malacca Malaysia is table dancing and Labatt Blue. 


"Never let your memories be greater than your dreams."  Doug Ivister