Malacca

The next morning I got up very early to go to Malacca. It was an organised tourist tour but there were only 6 others with me in the bus so it was not too bad. Malacca is a historic town in Malaysia, just 3h form the southern border. So the procedure to leave Singapore and to enter Malaysia is as follows:
Everyone has to get out of the bus before crossing the bridge to Malaysia, queue up, present their passport and stamp-out. Meanwhile the bus and the bus driver are checked as well (death for drug traffickers!). So we get into the bus again at the other side of the building. After crossing the bridge the same procedure again – everyone out of the bus, through passport control and into the bus again. The same actually holds for every passenger on any bus or train. It is really quite funny to see the crowds leaving and entering the bus at the borders :-)

The first thing we visited was a traditional, family run tin factory where they showed us how to make all sorts of things out of tin. But it was more like one of these typical tourist stops where they chase you through shops expecting you to buy all this crap.
On the way to Malacca we drove through huge palm plantations. They produce palm oil for cosmetic products or cooking.
In Malacca we walked through the old city and visited temples. We watched people praying, sacrificing incense sticks and this paper money. They burn special sheets of paper and by this they send this money into the next world to deceased. But you can also buy big paper cars, paper houses, paper “hell passports”, paper visa cards,… every you might need in the next world :-)
The whole time we were pretty lucky with the weather because the wet season just started. And the rain started as soon as we entered the bus to drive back to Singapore. It actually poured down!! And we say flooded areas and people trying to get to their houses.