Malacca, Malaysia

The next day we decided to travel to Malacca. We ate brunch in Chinatown and bought fruit from a stall, pineapple, mango and two types of melon which came in plastic bags and with cocktail sticks to eat it with. Riding on the motorbike behind Jane was terrifying at first, but after a while a lot of fun, especially going round corners. There's a little speed freak in me somewhere. Jane said she would teach me how to drive it if we had time, but we never did which was a shame. I think I'd make an excellent biker chick! Haha~

We left the bike in a multistorey car park and caught a train, took a coach (where I watched Black Swan, one of the darkest and sexiest films I've seen in a while), and another bus to central Malacca. Jane took me to her favourite cafe, which serves a plethora of different coffees. She had a Malacca coffee and a Penang coffee (her hometown) and Baked Lemon cheesecake. I had a kiwi and yogurt smoothie (amazing) and White Chocolate cheesecake (equally amazing). The décor reminded me of many of the hostels I stayed in during my last trip to China, where the walls are always covered in colourful murals, humorous signs, and a quirky collection of postcards. After that, I went exploring on my own and found streets and streets of shops and stalls, with housing piled on top of course, and a street containing three or four different places of worship. For lunch I ate Dim Sum, kind of like Chinese vol au vents, six pieces for 30 pence. At twilight, we went on a riverboat trip. In the river, we saw a crocodile! The rainbow lights were dazzling and the wind in my face from the boat's movement cut through the heat. We took the night bus to Penang, where the seats recline and you can go to sleep in one city and wake up in another, which is ideal when the view is nothing but street lights and palm trees. The air conditioning was too cold though, it was like trying to sleep in a fridge. I dozed, waking up in nameless, dripping, brightly lit cities, one after the other.