Day 715 - Satay and souvenirs

As we get closer to home, country by country, we slip into the souvenir mode more and more - and so today despite the trickiness of finding a uniquely Malaysian souvenir in such a multi-cultural country we set off to Jonker St famed for its antique stores. Here we spent an hour or so browsing at all kinds of knick-knacks, many of which flooded us with Chinese memories, but eventually we settled on a couple of gorgeous batik Malaysian masks from the tribal area of Malaysian Borneo.

While snacking on samosas and icy coconut juice again we spotted a gigantic (at least 2m long) monitor lizard swimming its way through the river that flows through the centre of Malaka - crazy to see such wild life in such a populated, urban area!!

Next we went to educate ourselves about Islam at the Malaysian Islamic Museum, where we learnt a lot about the religion that over 50% of the population of Malaysia follow. Most interesting was the art section that included a replica of the first Quran, and a vase painted with the gorgeous script of Arabic covering its belly.

We stopped off for a meal at Capitol Satay - a restaurant where you choose sticks of veges, egg, tofu, and meat that you dip into a boiling pot of peanut satay sauce on your table. If you ignore the boiling hot sauce splattering onto your arms and show some patience between removing the stick and eating (ouch!) then you're in for a totally enjoyable evening of peanut fun!!! We jumped on a bus to take us to the bus station, though we made a detour to a tesco supermarket on the way to stock up on snacks for our Borneo adventure that begins tomorrow. At the supermarket we got quite a few strange stares due to the fact Adam was pushing around a trolley full of our packs and we almost lost Liv to the chocolate cakes!! At the bus station we had a few hours of waiting before the express bus to the airport (travellers note: there are 5 daily buses between Malaka and KLIA and LCCT airports for RM17).
Once at the airport we stopped of at McDs for some refill coffee - a true bargain when you're staying at the airport for 8 hours and share one cup between two coffee-holics!!!

We then tried to settle in for the night ... sleeping at airports is the best punishment for taking such environmentally unfriendly, bank-robbing transport.

Adlibing it to the airport.