Day 8: Crossing to Malaysia, visiting Malacca and arriving at Kuala Lumpur

Today in the morning, we boarded a bus to leave Singapore heading for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Our journey was in a few parts, first taking a bus from our hotel in Singapore to the Malaysia border, then taking a bus from the other side of Malaysia towards Kuala Lumpur via Malacca. The bus ride across Singapore took just 40 minutes and was uneventful. Our guide told us many interesting things about the efforts to prevent Singaporean residents from driving across the border to take advantage of the cheaper fuel prices in Malaysia. The authorities enforce vehicles crossing from the Singapore side to have at least 3 quarters of their fuel tank full, and there are agreements with the Malaysian government to prevent Singaporeans from using petrol stations in Malaysia within 20km of the border.

After the 40-minute drive, we arrived at the border. We passed through an automatic gate on the Singapore size, before crossing over the river dividing the countries and then continuing through a manual checkpoint on the Malaysia side. There is a distinct contrast on the two sides of the river.

Malacca

After entering Malaysia, we met our new guide and boarded the bus to Malacca. There was quite a lot of forest along the road to Malaysia as they have made a promise to the world to maintain at least 50% of the land mass as forest. After arriving in Malacca, we all had lunch together consisting of prawn laksa, fish, eggplant, and a local dessert. It was all delicious.

After this, we entered the main town area of Malacca, where every building is strikingly painted red. The first thing I noticed when I got off the bus was how hot it felt outside. We had a small tour around the town of Malacca and the church ruins on the hill. I took a photo of a street called Jonker Street, without realizing until later that it was the street that one of my friend’s favorite Malaysian restaurants in Melbourne is named after.

While walking around the church ruins, we were all standing in a group listening to the guide, when a Chinese tourist started talking to me and then asked to take a photo with me. While guarding my possessions, I took the photo with them. A lot of people in my study tour thought it was really funny and asked if I was a celebrity or something.

After the tour, we decided to cool off in a nearby McDonalds while waiting for the bus to arrive to pick us up again. I ordered a drink called the ‘Prosperity McFizz’ which was just carbonated orange juice despite the cool name.

Kuala Lumpur

After visiting Malacca, we drove to Kuala Lumpur. The journey took quite a while so by the time we arrived it was already around 7 PM. Arriving in Kuala Lumpur we were able to see the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur and the newly opened Merdeka 118 which is currently the second tallest building in the world.