<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by LondonElite:
Interesting info...
I was in Melaka a few years back and was actually quite disappoined. Not by the city itself (which has a lot of interesting Dutch colonial buildings and a very good museum) but by the whole hyped-up experience......The guidebook I had couldn't say enough good things about the Majestic Hotel. 'Colonial charm', 'bygone era', 'sit on the varandah sipping a cold Tiger Beer', etc etc etc. It was a complete dump when I got there, the 'staff' were grumpy and reluctantly got off their butts to show me to a room. I took it but it was pretty disgusting. The mattress was stained and worn out, the bathroom had a family of cockroaches living in it.
The city itself was crawling with tourists and I pretty much saw the interesting Dutch colonial architecture within three or four hours.
I was keen to try out a Nonya restaurant that someone in Singapore had told me about. When I finally found it they told me they don't do tables for one. The restaurant looked empty so I said I'll have a table for two and order for two. They told me to leave.....
I agree! I had looked at asiatravel.com (I think that it what it was?) and found several Melaka (In SIN they spell it Melacca) hotels that sounded fabulous but I really wanted a more 'local' type experience. The hotels that were being offered (at @US$50/night) looked rundown and jaded when I walked past them in Melaka. The Marriott Rennaissance looked VERY NICE -maybe it is new- and the bell staff was very gracious and helpful even though I just wandered in asking questions. I asked at the FD if they had Marriott employee discounts avaiable and they did: US@$50/night. A very good price, I told her but more than I wanted to spend. (But I could use it as a fall back as I was having LOTS of trouble finding the guesthouse that was described to me!)
I was not interested in the architecture as much I was in the local flavors. I did walk through the historic area but it was at night after I walked through the night market. I was on my to the "Mahkota" Mall. I really was looking for a new cheap suitcase but it turned out to be great walk.. again no white faces and there were food stalls across the street where I had, like, 50 satay sticks. They were soooo good and I think 50 ringgits each (What is that 15 cents??). Also, during the day, I walked OUT of the busy streets and into what I think were their versions of the "suburbs". Bought chinese altar incense in one neighborhood and stuff like that. Just normal shops. On the boat tour I took, everyone was a tourist, of course. Out of 20 people I think half were caucasian. Otherwise I saw very few whites.
I saw virtually NONE around the bus terminal in Melaka. I got to my bus about an hour early. On the big corner there is a huge open air (read stifling hot) sort of cafe where everyone was eating or drinking something so they could sit and wait for their busses. I figured I would have something. At this point I could give a flying leap about
don't drink Diet Coke because it will label you as anAMERICAN. I had been chugging every diet coke I could get my hands on because they were always ICE-COLD. Yum. Well, this place, like most, did not have Diet Coke. So I asked about the "buffet". The 4'10", 250#, toothless man in the dirty shirt and barefeet who was in charge, apparently, of "freshening up " the buffet called an english speaking gal over and I asked for bottled water.
Hot water?
No, ICED. And Tea, please.
HOT?
NO... ICE, please. Oh and your english is so good! Where did you learn it?
**giggle, giggle*
In school!
University?
**more giggles and a smile...**
Noooo... just school.
So I made my way back(smugly, because now, I think, I am savvy enough to butter up the help!) to the buffet which was maybe 4 feet wide and 4 feet tall and stuffed with dishes. A few were vegetables or potatoes and a few were lamb or beef. The others were all fish parts. Really. The heads in this bowl, the middles in that bowl and the tails in this bowl. I don't eat fish anyway so made do with veggies, beef and rice and everything drowned in curry.
I get back to the table and there is a plastic cup with water with ice cubes and another plastic cup of what had to be the hottest tea I have ever seen in my life. Boiling hot. The brits I know would LOVE this tea it was so hot.
Now I love the heat. I love it, love it, love it. I LOVE all extremes in weather. But here I am inside a cafe with no air-con, no fan and piping hot tea. I have just walked a mile or two in the heat, drenched in sweat, with my backpack (I use it as a carry-on but it came in handy for a short over-nighter!) and am eating mouthfuls of HOT CURRY(albeit DELICIOUS hot curry). As I sat there, I just rained perspiration. Rained perspiration. It poured down my nose, my eyes, my shirt, my legs. The locals were raining perspiration and the help was raining perspiration. I figured, what the heck and just accepted it. I have to tell you it was a blast!
I am not a backpacker or a trekker so do not travel like this often. Certainly it is not for everyone. When I take my same-age female cousin to Melaka we will stay in the "Eastern Guesthouse" for a few night and then I will "let" her book us into the Marriott, too!
Joe
(Woops......just noticed this has become another trip report! Sorry!)
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