Melaka, Malaysia

After very nearly missing our bus from Singapore we arrived in Melaka late on the Tuesday evening. Our very helpful bus driver decided he would try and drive his huge bus into Chinatown to try and find our hostel but I still have no idea where he dropped us! Word of warning about Melaka - everything shuts around 10pm, all the shops, hostels, everything. So by the time we managed to find our hostel it was shut and (rather alarmingly) padlocked. Luckily we bumped into an English guy who recommended a good place to stay and we crashed there. In the morning we explored Chinatown, hands down the best Chinatown I've been to - there were so many cool antiquey shops where we spent way too much money! My rucksack is twice as heavy now. We also visited the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple which is the oldest Chinese Temple in Malaysia and absolutely stunning. 

After lunch we went up to St Paul's Church. It was built by the Portuguese and then used by the British as a battle station but its only ruins now. There were lots of people selling things up there and we bought some really cool paintings of Melaka from a guy with possibly the best t-shirt I've ever seen. 

We headed back to the hostel on one of our gaudy trishaws to drop off our souvenirs and headed back out for the Malaysian classic drink of Cendol - coconut milk and palm sugar. Malaysia has the best food! Laksa is one of the most amazing thing I've ever tasted.  

Next stop - Kuala Lumpur! x

Singapore

On Sunday we flew from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore for a few days before heading to Malaysia. We'd been looking forward to Singapore as a chance to recuperate a bit and feel a bit more in touch with the rest of the world.

As we had so little time in the city we became proper tourists for the day and blasted round the city being snap happy - Becca and Kate had both been to Singapore before so they were our tour guides. We ate the most incredible food in Little India and I finally bought one of those strings of stuffed elephants with the bells. In the afternoon we browsed all the shopping malls on Orchard Road (some serious restraint was shown, a particular Celine bag was calling my name - I think that could be my first payday treat when I land that incredible job). 

Both our evenings we spent in Clarke Quay - as it was a Sunday and Monday night places weren't that busy but the bars still had an atmosphere. 

I wish we'd managed to make it up Marina Bay Sands and night because the views would have been stunning but we didn't have time - the huge boat stretched across the top of the three towers is still very impressive in the day time.

Becca and Kate flew back to the UK on Tuesday evening and Kat and I caught a bus to Melaka in Malaysia. I'm halfway through my trip now and can't believe it's going so quickly! These next three weeks are going to fly by. xx

Ubud & Java, Indonesia

Ubud - On Sunday we sadly had to hop a boat back to Bali from the Gili Islands :( we stopped in the port of Padangbai and then got a transfer to Ubud which is just north of Bali's capital Denpasar. Ubud is the other half of Bali's tourism duopoly, perched on the slopes of the central mountains it is more focused on Balinese culture. We only had one full day here so of course had to visit the monkey sanctuary!

Yogyakarta - a very last minute decision, we booked a plane to Yogyakarta in Java which is the much larger island to the left of Bali where Jakarta is. We arrived early on Tuesday morning and headed to the Edu Hostel where we were staying, (word of warning, my friend Kate was eaten alive by bedbugs and the rest of us by mosquito's which hasn't happened anywhere else so please steer clear!). Yogyakarta is such an interesting city, not really what I expected as its not that modem. There is a lots of stunning graffiti - I love graffiti, I feel like it can really define a city, London has som amazing stuff if you know where to look. 

On our only full day in Java we visited the temples of Prambanan and Borobudur and Buddhist monastery Mendut. It was an early start again so we could see the sunrise over the mountains near Borobudur. We met these really sweet Indonesian girls at Prambanan who gave us a free tour of the Hindu temple as part of a class project thy were doing. On our second night we stayed at the much nicer Delta Homestay and had the most amazing meal I've had so far at Hani's Restaurant and Bakery. 

Mt. Bromo - an 11 hour, surprisingly comfortable bus journey away from Yogyakarta is Gunung Bromo, an active volcano. We stayed in the small town of Cemoro Lewang at the base of the volcano and at 4am (another early start, don't think I've ever done more in one week!) we jumped in a jeep and headed up to Love Hill, the main view point for seeing the sunrise over Bromo. 

We then jumped back in the jeep and headed to the bottom of the volcano where we transferred to ponies (yay!) and trekked up to the top. The volcano and views from the top were absolutely breathtaking.

Today we head to Singapore for a few days and then Becca and Kate fly home and Kat and I head on to Malaysia and Thailand for 3 weeks. xx