Melaka sightseeing

Today we got up late and decided to go for the famous chicken and rice balls. Every day there has been a long queue outside the resteraunt so we went early as once they run out they close.

You get a plate of steamed chicken in the middle to share, a pot of hot chilli sauce and you each get a place of rice balls. The man just told us the price and decided for us as all the signs were in chineese but it was delicious. The chicken was juicy and the rice balls were surprisingly really nice especially dipped in the chilli sauce. We were glad we practiced our chop stick skills before setting off on our travels as getting chicken off the bone with only chop sticks for us novices was a challenge. No doubt we gave the locals a few laughs though especially when Chelsea embarrassingly realised her chopsticks were upside down. Whilst we were waiting for our meal a really cute young Malaysian child came over and spoke to us but we had no idea what she was asking. After a few minutes of 'pardon' and some laughing from the locals we realised she was asking us if we wanted a lime juice with our meal. We both said yes please and it was really refreshing. The limes here are really tiny (about the size of a large grape) and sweet.

After our chicken ball brunch we went to the post office and decided to walk down the river to Kampung Morton, a protected area of Meleka with traditional Malay houses. It was quite a walk in the midday sun down the river but was interesting if not a little bit touristy. The wooden houses are on stilts with narrow balconies and steps leading up. There were lots of home stay signs for people wanting to stay somewhere a little bit different other than in town.

After a long walk back it was time for the obligatory midday iced juice stop as we were extremely hot. Today Chelsea had mango and sour plum and Liam had apple and sour plum. We then decided to have a look at the temple, Tokong Chen Hoon. It is really beautifully carved and quite large. Inside there are several temples which house hundreds of plaques with people's name and photos on. People can go there and say a prayer for there loved ones and light an insense stick.

We then decided to walk to St Paul's church. On the way we walked down the river past the big water wheel and the giant Portuguese ship museum. It is still really busy so we think it might be school holidays as there are lots of children not at school and families on holiday. St Paul's is up a big hill with lots of steps but the views from the top over Melaka are good. The church itself was a little surreal. The tower has been renovated but the main part is partly a ruin and the grave stones are inside the building propped up against the walls. Inside there were stalls and a man playing a guitar singing a barely recognisable version of Impossible Dream- "To dream the impossible dream, To fight the unbeatable foe" which was a bit weird and made us laugh.

We then went back and showered and tried unsuccessfully to book somewhere to stay for Christmas. For dinner we decided to go to Little India and had tandoori chicken and naan bread which was really good. They cook it there and then in front of you and the naan bread especially was delicious. We have decided to go back for breakfast as they do breakfast roti for 1 ringitt (20p). We went for a stroll round the streets after dinner and went into a coffee house for an hour for a lazy drink as it poured with rain. It did all sorts of speciality coffees and we sat for ages deciding what to do over Christmas and new year. We will keep you posted as we still don't know.