Melaka was marvellous but Machap was not

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Fly from Flies At Machap
We hired a car in Singapore, drove up the motorway, stopping to pay the tolls. We drove past the first stop for food point, wanting to get on our way. We stopped for lunch, at the second stop, giving our visitors a glimpse of old days, old ways, Malaysia at Machap. a dire motorway side stop. A food court above the shops. A good place to buy a hat. Not so good upstairs for food and toilets.

Toilets
First the good news. The ladies was easy to find. In the ladies, cubicles were plentiful.

Most of the toilet cubicles were the hole in the ground type. Only after I managed to use one of those, did I discover a door showed a picture of a regular modern toilet.

Now the bad news. The toilets were full of flies. Victorian England, where the outside toilet was at the back of the house behind the kitchen, established a building regulation requiring two doors between a toilet and a kitchen, as a fly trap, to prevent flies zooming from - you can work it out. From toilet to table.

Upstairs at Machap the food court tables were full of flies. I wished I had brought the fly spray from home (Singapore).

The people at Machap, were lovely, so sorry for them having to work amid the flies. The girls covered head to foot in what was traditional garb had another advantage - the girls were in what turned out to be fly-protective clothing, with their hair pushed into headscarves.

I felt conspicuous. I stuffed my blonde hair inside my baseball cap.

I considered a making a badge saying: To answer your question, I'm from London, England.

The wrapped up girls were no different to the conservative Malays in Singapore, all smiling and helpful. A white haired toothless man by a kiosk smiled and when I asked aloud, 'Can anybody speak English. Can anybody translate? I want chicken, ayam, and potato - what's that in Malay?' he was only to keen to help translate.

I ordered chicken, a generous portion of halal meat on the chicken wing, and potato. The rice which I had not asked for came automatically. All on a piece of green banana leaf.

Our visitors from England wanted non-spicy food, preferably vegetarian. I saw Chinese dumplings with filled with dates and other fillings, maybe savoury, maybe sweet, behind glass which saved the cabinet contents from the flies.

We sat down and ate fast, waving flies off our plates. The people were friendly, the flies over-friendly. I counted 16 on the floor and did not count those on the table because I was too busy swatting the ones on the table.

I muttered, 'Why doesn't somebody invest in fly killing machines and daily fogging? Maybe they do.'

We bought wrapped fruit, and canned drinks including Nescafe from a machine to drink in the car.

After Machap, I was so glad to reach Melaka.

Two days later, when we got back to Singapore, my biking family members told me: "As you drive on towards the capital, KL, the standard of motorway stops improves."

Useful Websites
https://www.malaysia.travel/en/sg

About the https://www.malaysia.travel/en/sg
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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