Mingling in Malacca

 “The best laid plans o’ mice an’men, Gang aft aglay” wrote the famous bard Robbie Burns. How true he was. This detour through Malaysia was decided and organised at very short notice. I often spend weeks checking transport links, bus time tables, train routes etc to ensure our transit is smooth and efficient. So far it has worked well and would have continued to do so had it not been for my complete oversight of Chinese New Year. It falls on the 21st of January which happens to be Dear old Crispy’s birthday. When arranging the bus from Johor to Malacca it never occurred to me that the holidays would start a few days early. On a normal day 297 buses, yes that’s not a mistake, 297 buses leave Johor to Malacca. Enough you would think to ensure two seats were available for me and Crispy. Today 297 buses were leaving for Malacca but every seat had been booked. I didn’t think to pre book our places due to the amount of seats available on a normal day. The problem was it wasn’t a normal day it was the first public holiday of the new year and Everyone it seems was going to Malacca. We caught the bus from Johor Sentral to Johor Larkin without a hitch. The bus was waiting as we entered the downtown terminal and the equivalent of ninth pennies saw us out of the city to the interstate terminus at Larkin. It was carnage. Thousands of happy travellers hogging every single ticket machine and by the time we got to a machine every ticket for the next two days had been sold. 

There was no way we were going to get a bus. It’s 297 km to Malacca from Johor and tickets on an ac bus, essential on long journeys should have cost 50 ringit each. That equates to around ten pounds Sterling. Our only option now was a taxi who were well aware of the situation and had their game faces on.

I found a kindly looking old driver who after a little bartering agreed to take us the two and a half hour trip for 500 ringit. He showed us the fare chart and wasn’t charging more even though it was a public holiday but it was still a lot more than we expected. My heart sank at the huge amount but we were left no other option. Just as we were about to board the taxi I spotted a lone young European traveller with a similar pained expression to mine and was obviously in the same situation as us. I jumped out of the car and beckoned him. He was a young Portuguese lad who was travelling Asia for the next 3 months. I explained the situation to him and asked if he wanted to share our ride. He agreed as he faced the prospect of paying the full 500 on his own if he could find an honest taxi driver such as we had been lucky enough to find. That meant he got a cheap ride but importantly our outlay was cut by a third. 

Thanks be to the Chinese gods of fortune. I must make a point of nipping into a temple at some point to say hi and thanks for the assistance.

It turns out the young travellers name is Antonio and he has just qualified as a vet specialising in exotic animals. He is making his way overland through Asia before going to Thailand to volunteer his services working with rescued Elephants. A nice young chap and we were happy to help him out. I was even happier that he cut our taxi fare by a third. The other bonus was he had data on his phone so his google maps led us direct to our lodgings on the river without me having to use mine. 

Malacca is a world heritage city and the biggest tourist destination in Malaysia. We are here for three nights and are really looking forward to it. We will be here for Chinese New Year and Crispy’s birthday so it should be amazing. We were lucky enough to witness Chinese New Year in Penang just as the COVID outbreak started. It was then known as the Wuhan virus and we heard about it days after the virus was first discovered whilst sat on the roof of our hotel. Little did we know then that this insignificant little bug would change the world forever. 

All the shops and streets are dressed for the new year celebrations and the temples have the lion dancers costumes laid out ready for the main event. I’ll try and take some pics of the chaos that we know will unfold. It’s going to be fantastic and a great way to celebrate Crispy’s birthday.

More pics to follow. It’s a little cloudy today but the temp is in the mid thirties. It’s getting hotter by the day.

Bare and Crispy signing off Malacca, Malaysia