The nicer part of my day today was a 40 minute guided river cruise in the afternoon. Most of it involved showing delapidated houses that were due for demolishment or radical repair as part of the government's plans to build a long walk along the river. That won't be done until 2010 at the earliest. Disappointing. I took a video of most of the cruise and probably won't get to upload it till I get home.
Disappointment didn't stop there. I was quite tired so I bought a 'blue line' hop-on-hop-off tour bus ticket instead of renting a bicycle. Turns out that the locals use it as a communal taxi service. Which means the buses don't go where they're supposed to. Frustrated, I rented a bicycle as originally intended. So it was 6 before I got to do any other touristy stuff. That invovled getting lost again before I made my way to the Portugese settlement. There is a catholic festival on so there was a live show, though it was nothing special. The Portugese square is nothing great but it is next to the coast and serves decent food. I finally got to try the famous red devil curry, which was good but not quite up to expectations.
I cycled to a fort which is meant to have a good view of the city. The entire lane and the summit were empty, which made me wonder why, so I left without having a look around. Better return in the day. On the way back to the hostel, found some live music (Soldier of Fortune is a huge improvement on Santana, that seems to play everywhere in Melaka). Malay pop sounds just like Chinese pop to me. Same rhythms and sentimental vocals. But I guess that goes for pop everywhere. Will deconstruct it properly when I have time.
Plan tomorrow is as follows. Go to the eye of Melaka and Portugese ship replica in the morning. Then pick up laundry. Then meet up with Wee Shen, who will drive me around. Then back to KL in the evening, to meet up and stay at Jonathan's.
A catholic priest in the Portugese settlement bringing around a flame to light candles in each house
Two girls lit green candles, which in turn lit white candles in each house
Gluttonous blue and white rice with a yellow sweet wrapped in banana leaves. Yummy!
My rented bike
Red devil curry
These shells were alive and wiggling about. Cooked to your fancy (grilled, steamed, boiled, etc) in front of you.
Alive
Its alive!
View of the sea from Portugese square
Another view
Statues of Mary and Jesus as well as crosses and other catholic ornaments up for sale
My tour boat
Delapidated houses
The square where the Dutch governor used to reside
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