During my stay in Singapore, I decided to do a short solo ‘city trip’ to the lovely Malaysian UNESCO-ranked city of Malacca for the weekend.
To go there, I booked a bus from a company called Delima. It costs 21 dollars (same price on the spot) and it leaves from the City Square, a kind of ghost shopping centre near Paya Lebr MRT station. I was alone in the bus with a nice French couple visiting Singapore and Malaysia too.
After 50 minutes of travelling, we reached the Singaporean border and a funny thing happened to me. In the queue, a young statistician on his way to Legoland starting chatting with me:
Thai guy: ‘Are you Spanish?’ (I’m blond by the way…)
Me: ‘No I’m Belgian!’
Thai guy: ‘Oh yeah Belgium! From Flanders or Wallonia?’ (wtf, even our French neighbours do not the names of our 2 regions)
Me: ‘Brussels!’
Thai guy: ‘In Belgium you speak 3 languages: French, Dutch and German and your king is a Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha’ (wtf*2, even Belgian people don’t know that we have 3 national languages…)
Me: ‘ My god… How do you know Belgium so well?!’
Thai guy: ‘I love Belgium! Because of Eden Hazard!’ (oooh football, that explains everything!)
Coming from a very small country, it was really funny meeting someone that knew so much about it without having ever actually even travelled to Europe… and all of this thanks to football!
From Singapore to Malacca:
Arriving at Singaporean border: 50minutes.
Reaching the control area: 1 hour (yep it takes one hour of queuing in the bus to reach to actual passport control… quite painful)
Malaysian border: 30minutes
Customs: A joke! (Nothing to worry, the customs guy are basically all staring at their feet and there’s no metal detector)
Border to Malacca: about 2hours and 30minutes (I saw an enoooormous varan crossing the motorway! I guess locals are used to it but I would have been so afraid if i had been driving!)
Bus from Malacca bus station to Malacca centre: 30minutes (Tip: take a taxi instead!)
You have a funny story while queuing at the customs? You met someone in love with your small country on the other side of the world? Or you traveled to Malacca from Singapore too? Let me know below!
Travel with Emilie 
What did you think of Malacca? I loved my visit there last year. I was lucky to visit during the week when it was a little bit less busy. By the way what is an varan?? I looked it up on google and said it was a monster from Tokyo?!?
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Thanks for your comment! I really liked Malacca too and especially the atmosphere of the evening market. I also had my first foot massage there (I should be writing a post about Malacca soon!). However a week-end is enough, it’s quite small.
I found another translation for varan: Asian water monitor! Look it’s enormous: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_water_monitor
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Oh my goodness!!! So it IS a big reptile! Wow, I would have been surprised too. Looking forward to your Malacca post. 🙂
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Wow! That was easy and what a beautiful view you got! Way to go.
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I haven’t been there! What did you think about it? I’d love to go!!! I used to have a teacher who told me it’s super pretty there it’s like a little Europe
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It was actually a very funny experience for me living in Belgium seeing signs written in Dutch in Asia! I will soon draft a post with more details and pictures of Malacca but yes, indeed, the main square feels like Europe!
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I just Googled and learned that Malaysia is visa free for South Africans. Malacca seems beautiful will definitely add it to my bucketlist
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I haven’t been to Malacca, though, I liked your encounter with Thai guy 😀 It’s amazing when people from far away know more about your country than you would expect))
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Football unites the world I suppose hahah…. nice post. We have been to Melaka, but from the opposite direction i.e – we drove from KL to Melaka. I loved the Unesco heritage town, so much history.
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I love your conversation with the local. It’s sort of crazy to see how sports can really bring to world together!
xoxo
Alaina | http://www.pumpsandpineapples.com
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hahahaha… I’ve just realised something, having lived in Southeast Asia, USA, and Europe. Everyone seems to be fascinated by cultures that are on opposite ends of the world. Guess the grass is always greener on the other side!
I visited Malacca with my closest friend a few years ago and the lines at the border weren’t that long! Wow! You must’ve caught rush hour. My favorite was the night market as well on Jonker street. So many choices for food!
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