Back In Mersing

With our feet firmly back on the mainland we found ourselves Back in Mersing, faced with another night in the town with nothing to do or see, before our bus to Melaka the next morning. Not to worry, we were practiced at getting the most out of this place…

Our hotel, one of the cheapest of its kind in town was a bit of a hub for travellers going to and from Tioman and we were able to while away the hours chatting to people that were having some pretty impressive adventures; a lot of which seemed to involve cycling everywhere.

Although we were secretly impressed and possibly a touch envious of their achievements we will stick to coach travel (or trains or planes or walking) for now…

We are happy to be leaving Mersing & heading back to Melaka

Whilst mulling over whether in fact we should be cycling the world over a few cold beers, we met Sam and Eric from Plotting the Course. Ideas of cycling anywhere were put to one side as we heard about their epic adventure where they have been on the road 16 months so far.

After our success of finding the delicious char kway teow in Mersing last time around, we convinced our lovely new friends to come and eat with us at the same restaurant. Typically, the food we were presented with was shockingly bad and nothing like our previous experience. In fact, it was possible the worst eating experience of the Vegan Food Quest to date, with the plate of MSG laden plain rice being particularly awful. We hate it when this happens because not only does it mean that we don’t eat well, but it’s a very misleading picture of the vegan lifestyle.

Successful vegan eating was reinstated the next morning when we found a good Indian-Malay nasi campur restaurant which had a huge variety of dishes to choose from. In Malaysia, a lot of people eat nasi campur which means ‘mixed rice’. You can see what’s on offer by looking at the buffet where it’s all being kept and just choose what you want to eat. The dishes are mainly meat and fish curries and a selection of vegetable dishes but it’s normally possible to find a few vegan offerings by checking for hidden ingredients like dried shrimp, shrimp paste, fish sauce etc.

Nasi Campur: Happy to be eating delicious vegan food again!

We have decided that after constant travelling for nearly 5 months, that it’s time to have a bit of a rest and stay in one place for a while so we have rented an apartment in Ujong Pasir, a suburb of Melaka right next to the Portugese Settlement.

Our last visit proved that we loved Melaka with its friendly people and great food, so we thought it’d be a nice place to get immersed in local life for a bit. Last time we were there we met loads of people, locals and fellow travellers and had a lot of fun so what better place to spend 6 weeks?

In Melaka with Natalie after a chance meeting, hours of talking and an adventure to this beautiful mosque with her and Ross

We should mention that Ross was behind the camera and took the last photo and also the next one (beautiful isn’t it?) We wished we’d had more time to hang out together but such is the travelling life and they had to jet off to their next destination.

This has to be the most beautiful mosque in Melaka (thank you Ross and Natalie for the picture)

Anyway, aside from the fact that we were looking forward to meeting more people and having a rest, one of the best things about our new apartment is that it has a kitchen.

We love cooking and have been inspired by our travels so far. Expect lots of pictures of home cooked creations in our next posts!