Chinese New Year - the festival of the closed

The flight from Singapore was great - Singapore Airlines' A380's rock! The in seat screens are huge and the service impeccable, we even got to Singapore half and hour early. Got the shuttle bus to the hostel all to myself - $9, certainly cheaper than a taxi. I was told the reason was Chinese New Year, something I would hear many times (and many times more in the next few days I'm sure). The hostel is a bit out of the way but the train system is so efficient that it's a matter of minutes between trains. In my one full day in the city I spent the morning wandering around. First stop, Chinatown. Empty, so empty. As was most of Singapore. At times I felt like I had wandered onto the set of 28 Days Later or Day of the Triffids - without the zombies or killer pot plants. It will be interesting to see the difference when I get back. After Chinatown and its empty hawker stalls I headed to Orchard Road, home of the mega mall. Again, pretty bereft of people. But then it was time to catch up with an old work mate of mine who recently moved here. We met near Arab Street and he showed me his favorite street, Haji Lane. He says it reminds him a little of Gertrude Street, lots of little boutiques. Alas, all closed. We then headed to Clarke Quay, one of the more touristy spots complete with outside air conditioning! Very odd. After a few beers and a catch up it was time to part. So nice to see a familiar face.

The following day I made an early start to cross the border to my next destination - Melaka. Now, those of you who followed my last adventure will know I don't do things the easy way. I start off with good intentions and it ends up taking twice as long than if I'd bought a ticket straight through. But with the local bus running near my hostel and my trusty ez link transport card (like myki but it actually works) I got on the 170 that goes over the border to the big bus station in Johor Bahru. It was a lot of getting on and off the bus between checkpoints, but I got there in the end. $6 later I was on my way to Melaka. Doing it this way saved me $20 which is almost half my daily budget. Despite my worries (and memories of bus trips in other parts of Asia) the bus left on time and didn't stop once. Got to Melaka, another local bus and I was at my guesthouse. Excuse all the details but no guide book really tells you how these things will be, so if I can help another traveler through the finer points of getting around so much the better.

So. Melaka. Not at all empty. Packed to the rafters (damn, that never used to be a loaded expression - now its a show on channel 7). But still half closed. In my first afternoon and evening I managed to knock over most of the sights. The old Portugese fort is quite atmospheric at dusk. As night falls you get to see the trishaws at their crazy best - decorated in lights, flowers and god knows what else, they travel through the streets blinking crazily and blasting out music - I did hear Justin Bieber at one point... The Jonker Night Market in Chinatown was shoulder to shoulder - lots of stalls selling useless crap - Facebook thongs (of the feet variety) anyone? Away from the action I had a banana leaf tali in Little India - remembered to eat with my right hand.

Day 2 was more wandering. I visited my first museum, the Customs Museum. Small, free, airconditioned. Lots of displays of confiscated goods - knives, animal skins, porn - the usual. Had a new food experience - fresh soy milk. Laced with sugar syrup and surprisingly refreshing and nothing like the stuff from the carton at home and cost 30c. I still haven't quite got into the food as most of the hawker centres are closed. I did try an assam laksa that was so spicy I couldn't finish it. But don't worry food lovers, food will feature more as the trip goes on. So tonight is the last official night of Chinese New Year and I was treated to a fireworks display from a local backyard across the road from my guesthouse. Ahh, the days when fireworks were legal... And that is probably a good place to leave you for now. Hope you're all well.