Malacca: Getting There

R in the taxi: no seatbelts required

After taking my parents around Singapore, the five of us traveled to Malacca, which is a historic city in Malaysia (once a sultanate, then conquered by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British in succession, it came under Asian leadership again with Malaysia's independence in the 1950s). We took a taxi there.

Wait, what? Yes, because Singapore is tiny, you can actually hire a taxi to drive you to another country: I was told it is the only place in the world where this is true. We thought about taking a bus, but the taxi was both cheaper (given that we had four adults in our party) and more convenient (most of the buses leave early in the morning, which given B and my night-owl tendencies, was NOT going to happen).

It's really easy: you order the taxi over the phone (not all taxis are allowed to cross borders, so you can't flag one down on the street), they pick you up at your house, and then drive you across the border to a grubby bus station/transit center. There you catch another taxi to anywhere in Malaysia that you feel like going. In Singapore, there is no problem with haggling or cheating (since it's Singapore); in Malaysia, it's slightly more complicated and using the meter might not be possible. It's still really easy though: for instance, all the taxi drivers have at least basic English. (Malaysia is very similar to Mexico, with better English, to give North Americans an idea of its development level.)

My mom loves her first grandchild

The taxi ride was around 5 hours, which was slightly unpleasant due to R's dislike of sitting still. But since it was our own private transportation, and there were four adults to amuse her, it was mostly pretty pleasant. The main issue was the taxi within Malaysia, which seemed to be on its last legs. I was worried it would break down before we got there. Luckily this didn't happen.

R hug! (she's not really that cuddly in general, sadly)

We arrived late at night (around 9 pm), so proceeded directly to the hotel, checked in, and then ate nearby (I was worried about R's bedtime). Sadly the restaurant was designed to serve large groups of Asian tourists, so the food was not good. But with an exhausted baby your options are limited. Oh well, at least the rest of the food on the trip was delicious.