B-day in Malacca

Today is H's 25th birthday! We started the day a bit later than usual, waking up at 8:15 without an alarm clock. By 10 am we were wandering around the old town again, taking in the Dutch architecture that is everywhere. We grabbed lunch at a cool food stall mall filled with traditional foods. After lunch we saw signs saying "Tour de Langkawi" and found out that there was a big bicycle race coming thru town at about 1:30. We were able to catch the racers from the balcony of our hostel; they were so fast!!  Later we walked through China Town looking for a place to exchange books- we finally found one a few hours later and were happy to trade in our old books for a new one. 

For dinner H was in the mood for cream sauce spaghetti, so we found a restaurant that we had passed by earlier with a bit spendy prices. We thought, meh, it's a b-day dinner so what the heck. Hwent with chicken alfredo while B had a local Malay-style pizza. Both dishes were tasty. After dinner we were letting our food digest when a Brit entered the bar area and was talking to the server. He mentioned that it was his b-day soon so he would like a drink. H said (rather quietly to B) "it's MY b-day TODAY"  The man over heard and came over to enquire whose bday it was. He insisted on buying us a round of drinks (not cheap since Malaysia is a Muslim country and alcohol is forbidden in that religion). After two drinks and a nice chat, we saw our new Dutch friends walking by. We knew that they were arriving in Malacca but hadn't seen them around town. They joined us for another drink and we discovered that they're going to Tioman Island in the morning. Our plan was to go to Singapore in the morn for a few days, and then end our trip on that same island. However, since there is a low monsoon season on the island now, we've heard that tourists can be "stranded" on the island for up to 4 days (not good since we have a plane to catch on the 18th). So it makes more sense to go there now and, if we do get stuck, we'll simply pass up SIngapore and head straight to the airport. Plus, now we'll get to travel with our new pals!!  Since we didn't buy our tix in advance, we're hoping there are 2 seats available for the 8am bus tomorrow. We're not sure if we'll have internet on the island or not, but we'll try our best!!