After settling in to my hostel (top bunk again! I hardly ever have to take a top bunk, and here's two in a row! Fortunately, it's an easy one to climb.) and resting for a while, waiting for the heat of the day to hopefully dissipate (ha!), I set out to wander around a bit. As it was already about five in the evening, I figured I'd just look around the immediate Chinatown neighborhood (the cheap hostels are always in Chinatown...) and find dinner. Once I got to wandering, though, I ended up all over the historic district. The light held out, so I just kept going.
My day bag, which I bought especially for this trip after the zipper on my previous travel purse broke on the flight back from the U.S., only made it two days. The stitching on the loop that the strap is attached to on one side came undone. See if I ever buy a bag from the shops near the school gate again... anyhow, the hostel reception didn't have any needle and thread but told me about a cobbler up on the main road that could probably fix it, although they might already be closed at this time on a Saturday. Meanwhile, I held it together with rather overburdened safety pins--I knew they wouldn't be a permanent solution.
On my way up to the main street, I came out along the Malacca River, which is now lined with restaurants filling the old buildings. Over the roofs I could see the facade of the Church of St. Francis Xavier. As I strolled along the riverside sidewalk, boats filled with tourists passed under the bridge, going up and down the river. Maybe I'll do that sometime tomorrow...depends on how expensive it is.
Unfortunately, the cobbler was in fact already closed for the day (for the weekend, as it would turn out--I tried again on Sunday, but no luck), so I headed down the main street towards the most famous scene in Malacca--Dutch Square.
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