For a while, I have had Melaka planned for Christmas as I have heard it is a wonderful place. The Portuguese settlement is full of Christian families who celebrate Christmas and are warm and welcoming. They celebrate it pretty much as if it is New Years. Boy did Melaka live up to its Christmas expectation!
Arriving in Melaka, my CS host was Robert. Again, I arrived bright and early at 7am and he was there to pick me up. Oh these amazing hosts! He plays Futbol (soccer) in Melaka and he is originally from Nigeria. Immediately, we hit it off (please do not misunderstand I mean in a platonic way.) He educates me on Nigeria, the tribes, the religions, and the superstitions. He grew up witnessing all these superstitious acts amongst religious members in his community. It is enlightening to learn about how he grew up and his religious background.
It is raining outside, but I still decide to do some sightseeing. I tell him I can just take the bus, but he says he does not mind dropping me off and picking me up from places. What a host and what a guy really.
Melaka is a historical place so the museums are an absoulute must see for me. They are super educational with different sections of history, education, folklore, and traditions. Usually I like to sit and read 90 percent of the little descriptions, but this time it was overwhelming. As I walked through the educational sections, it was like a ghost town as most people just glance and keep moving. I admit that I did the same thing as I really was not in the mood to do a lot of reading with only a couple hours of sleep on the bus and heavy rain outside. 
Each museum is next to one another and it then leads to St. Paul’s Chapel, which has a beautiful hill top view. Inside St. Paul’s Chapels there are street vendors selling and a man playing the flute with a bird on top of his head. On the way, I see many bikes all decorated, which I thought was for Christmas, but it turns out that they are always decorated like this.
Going off to the Bazaar and mall next door, I stumbled upon the cutest Christmas performance. It was for the kids, but the adults definitely were enjoying it as well. It made it feel like Christmas and I loved it.
Of course having to eat, I went for another amazing $2.00 lunch with crab legs, fish, shrimp, and amazing veg dishes. I just love the buffet style cuisine where it has fresh, homemade and I can visually choose because I never know the name for the dishes.
After pouring rain, I decide I can make it on the Riverboat Cruise. The city center was nice, but this cruise showed the true beauty behind this city. After my cruise, my host kindly picked me up and our night began
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