Rift in Melaka

Finally, we had a long and peaceful night’s sleep without all the street noise. The breakfast included in our stay was a continental one, featuring juice, coffee, tea, and toast. We were up bright and early, ready to dive into preparations for the next leg of our trip. We managed to find an open travel agency, Marco Polo, even though they usually don’t open until 10 AM. We wanted to book tickets to Vietnam, which we were really looking forward to. We got tickets for July 9th from KL to Ho Chi Minh City. Each ticket cost 828 RM, and if we wanted to fly to Hanoi, it would be an extra 60 RM. Since we had a few days before we needed to leave, we decided to take the bus to Melaka, which is a bit south of KL. The bus station was quite chaotic. Once we figured out which little ticket counters sold tickets to Melaka, we were met by about 15 shouting girls, all waving their arms out of the ticket windows trying to lure customers over. It seemed like they were all selling tickets for express buses, so we bought a ticket for 9 RM each from the girl with the next departure. Upon arriving in Melaka, we were greeted by a huge crowd of eager people offering accommodation. Before we could decide on a hotel, we had to make a quick trip to the hospital. Honny had developed a large blister on the top of his foot that had become infected. It started to hurt terribly, so we thought it best to get it checked out at the emergency room and get something to clean it up. The doctors know that we tourists have money, so Honny received quite the treatment. First, he got an X-ray of his foot to see if there was anything foreign in the wound or under the skin. The doctor found nothing but sand in the wound, which had caused the infection. So, he cut the wound open to clean it out and stitched it back up. It looked like he was performing a major operation, with one doctor and two nurses present. Afterward, it took two of them to put a bandage on the wound. He was given some ointment for the wound and some antibiotics. The stitches will need to be removed in a week, which will be just in time for when we get to Vietnam. Close to the hospital was a hostel, Traveller’s Lodge, recommended in Lonely Planet. It cost 35 RM for a room with air conditioning. The bathroom and toilet were down the hall. There was a large common room filled with cushions where you could lounge around, a balcony with plenty of chairs to sit and chat with other backpackers, and a terrace with a view over the entire city. We headed into town to explore a bit, but there wasn’t much to see. Coming from a bustling metropolis, we were a little disappointed by the limited shops, most of which were pricey antique stores. There weren’t many restaurants or places to meet other travelers or chat with locals. On the bright side, we were staying in a really nice place where everyone gathered on the balcony in the evenings to hang out and chat. We met people from neighboring Sweden, Scotland, Switzerland, and Australia.