Melaka, Malaysia

Although the circumstances weren't ideal we wouldn't have rather been anywhere else!

Melaka reminded us, we were actually in Asia. With all the stress and concern for Eddies health, the reality hadn't hit us. But one night in Jonker Street and we became very aware that we had left behind island time and merino sheep for the vibrant and lively Malaysian culture.

What was originally meant to be a 3 day trip quickly turned into a week long stay.

We had planned a short stay in Melaka before continuing on to meet our friends in Kuala Lumpur. However Eddie's lip had other plans. We spent most of our week in and out of Melaka General Hospital and the rest of our time was spent exploring the doctors and nurses recommendation's.

Sightseeing in Melaka

You really only need 1 or 2 days to see Melaka properly however we managed to stretch our sightseeing across the week.

Jonker Street & Sungai River Walk

Jonker is the jewel of Melaka. Imagine a backstreet, downtown, packed with hundreds of stalls and thousands of people. Coloured lights coming from every direction, street vendors yelling their sales pitches, hello kitty tuk-tuks weaving their way through the crowd while blasting APT and on top of that, someone's Uncle is trying karaoke for the first time on the main stage. That's Jonker Street. Our favourite place out of all of our travels.

You will never be bored on Jonker, whether you visit during the night or day! I recommend doing both as each are unique and vastly different! The daytime is still hectic with cars lining the street and a symphony of horns encompass the chaos. In addition to the stalls at night there are shopfronts during the day so there is always something to buy or something to see.

If you want to escape the chaos for a minute, Sungai River is conveniently at the end of Jonker Street, if you cross the bridge you'll see Melaka's oldest building and the tourist spot, Dutch Square. However if you continue under the bridge you'll find the footpath down Sungai which takes you past restaurants and bars with very enthusiastic ushers and onto a peaceful riverside walk. Again this is enjoyable during the day or night with each experience being uniquely different.

Jonker Street is the must visit spot in Melaka and definitely worth a trip if you're in Malaysia!

Melaka Straights Mosque & Portuguese Settlement

Melaka is home to the world's only 'floating' Mosque! You don't need to spend too long here as its mostly a picture spot unless you'd like to enter. I didn't have a headscarf and Eddie was wearing shorts, therefore we were unable to enter, however if you walk 50 metres past the entrance you'll stumble across what looks like a dead end alleyway. This alleyway will take you to a small beach and if you brave the rock climb to the viewpoint you'll be able to view the mosque unobstructed and capture some pretty cool moments.

As a side note, we were shocked at how warm the sea water was and would've loved a swim here!

Only a short walk inland from the Mosque is the Portuguese Settlement which feels very out of place in Malaysia however we did learn about Melaka's history of colonisation; the reason you can find Portuguese tarts on every street corner. It is quite a unique place and definitely worth a look!

It is also worth mentioning there are night markets everywhere in Melaka even on the walk from the Mosque to the settlement.

Vintage Night Markets

A mix of authentic clothing and fake jewelry and good food, you can find pretty much anything here. I spent most of the night waiting for Eddie to look through all the retro football kits but the vendors occupied me with recommendations of where to go next and what to see in their beautiful country. If you like thrifting, this is the place for you!

We ate across the road from the markets at Restaurant Shaik Dawood Maju where we got all you can eat curries for $10 RM ($3.60 AUD) which we highly recommend!!

Melaka Hospital, Lobi Utama

I can't account for Eddie's experience but I can for mine:

As soon as we stepped off the bus at Melaka Sentral, we rushed to our saving grace, Melaka Hospital Lobi Utama.

We went to emergency where Eddie and I were swiftly separated.

Eddie was taken by the nurses and I was left in the ambulance bay with all of our luggage and no knowledge of what was going on. Naturally I became quite stressed as we hadn't yet purchased phone plans and had no way of contacting each other. I also had no idea of the hospital layout and I couldn't carry our luggage on my own.

Luckily I made friends with another lady waiting for her husband and used the time to learn about Malaysian life, language, culture and food.

After 2 hours of waiting and chatting with my new friend, a security guard stormed up to us, yelling in Malay.

Due to the language barrier, my friend pleaded my case to the guard explaining our separation and could not move. He took a moment, thought about it, and then began yelling 'get out' in English.

I'll be honest... I began to tear up. The stress of the last week had culminated, I had no idea if Eddie was ok or where he was, he wouldn't have been able to find me if I moved, we couldn't contact each other, I was holding everything we owned and I felt completely hopeless.

So yes, I couldn't stop myself from tearing up and pleading with the security guard to help me find Eddie or let me stay put. The last thing he wanted to se was a crying girl so he reluctantly helped me locate him and walked me to to a smiling Eddie which made me cry harder for some reason.

When I found Eddie he had only just had his bloods taken and his lip looked no better.

We spent another 4 hours in that waiting room before Eddie received medication and the all clear to leave for the night.

We had to return the next morning (6 hours after we left) for Eddie's procedure.

The surgery room was unlike anything I had seen before. 1 room, 4 beds, 20 doctors, nurses and specialists collaborating over every patients case.

The staff were fascinated by Eddies unique condition, every member contributed their opinions and watched his procedure at one point or another. I really admired the cooperative atmosphere of the clinic.

We went back the next day for a dressing change and were hoping to hear he was all better and ready to leave but Eddies lip had other plans. Unfortunately we were told we'd have to return again in two days time. Not the news we were hoping for but we've learnt to always prioritise health over travel and we loved Melaka so it wasn't all bad.

After the two days we returned again to be told it hadn't healed enough for them to stitch it and we had to wait another two days.

Thankfully Eddie was starting to feel better and could eat again so he could enjoy more of Malaysia's traditional cuisine.

On the day of our final visit we had planned to leave for Kuala Lumpur in the evening and finally meet up with our friends. The specialist cleared him, stitched him up and sent us on our way. We couldn't thank them enough for the time and care they devoted to Eddie we couldn't have asked for a better team!!

We were nervous about Hospital  treatments in other countries especially after our experiences in Bali and Singapore but we couldn't have gone anywhere better.

Eddie received the best care from an extremely thoughtful and patient medical team, now his lip is back to normal and he is pain free and well fed now.

Thankyou to Melaka Hospital staff!

Ed's Spread - Ed on Tour!

I was not planning on writing my usual cameo for the blog about our trip to Malacca, however after spending a week there I felt it was only right. 

First of all Malacca is a beautiful city in Malaysia which does not get anywhere near the recognition it deserves. It's bursting with colour, eateries, and super cool markets, not to mention Jonker street which encompasses all of this and is one of my favorite streets I’ve been to around the world!!

I won't go on about how amazing Malacca is purely because you should go and find out for yourself.

The main reason for writing my part is to say thank you to all the staff at the General Hospital. 

Other than when I was extremely young I’d never been to hospital.

I would say I am pretty unflappable in most situations, however going to hospital for the first time in a country I’d never been to and knew very little about, I was a little tense.

But within 10 minutes my nerves were settled and I knew I was in good hands. Other than the first day where it took a little while to see a doctor, (which I hear is standard in every country) I was attended to quickly and was well looked after and treated as if I was a local. All the staff were really friendly too, not to mention the facilities being super clean!

Unfortunately for you lot, just like a sugar coated Danny DeVito I’m keeping my part short and sweet. I just wanted to end on yet again a massive thank you to the super staff at the general hospital. We will definitely be coming back to Melaka!!