We got up and had breakfast before walking through the Dutch Square to the Muzium Rakyat or the People's Museum. The ground floor of the museum was pretty dull as it explained, in a very dry sense, the development and success of Melaka during the last decade. The only noteworthy exhibit was the model of Melaka. The second floor housed traditional Malay kites as well as examples of kites from around the world. However, the presentation looked tired and in need of a lick of paint. We continued up to the third and final floor that housed the 'Museum of Enduring Beauty' where the word 'endure' clearly meant to suffer. The exhibits revealed the different ways in which people alter their appearance in the name of their culture. It was clear that many of the procedures would cause extreme pain, particularly the scarification process. This was even done to babies just over one week old, where they were literally cut, which was then left to form a scar. The exhibits also detailed tattooing, ear and lip stretching, head moulding, teeth filing and feet binding. The displays mainly portrayed Asian cultures, but it would have been nice to have Western ideals of beauty on display, such as Botox and all manner of cosmetic surgery. Our next stop was the Porta de Santiago, which was all that was left of the huge Portuguese/Dutch fort. The Porta de Santiago was a white-washed gate that still appeared to be crumbling away, albeit very slowly. It was disappointing to see a souvenir stall withing the gate itself! We then went to the Istana Kesultanan which was right next door to the Porta de Santiago. The dark timber palace was set within a neatly manicured 'Forbidden Garden', but it was a contemporary reconstruction. However, that did not retract from the fine detail of the building, as it reflected the traditional craftsmanship of 15th century Malaysia. The building housed a museum that depicted the history and culture of the Melaka Sultanate and had displays of weaponry, pottery, clothing, jewellery and art. We had a stroll around the 'Forbidden Garden' before making our way to Chinatown. 
 
It was a tough walk as it was so humid but we reached Chinatown and strolled up the narrow street running parallel to Jonker Street . There were quite a few nicely restored shophouses, particularly the Baba-Nonya Heritage Museum. We were wanting to get something to eat in one of the art cafes but they all seemed to be closed, so we had to cut through to Jonker Street and ate at the Geographer Cafe. The food was very good and the position, in an old corner shophouse, meant we could sit and watch the bustling activity taking place on Jonker Street. We spotted a bakery over the road so we went to buy a box of pineapple tarts, which looked awesome but weren't the best thing I have sampled whilst in Asia. I think it was due to the fact that they weren't that sweet! We continued walking down Jonker Street and stopped to have a peek inside an antique shop, but everything was ridiculously over priced and I wasn't convinced that every item was an antique as I had seen the exact same thing on a market in Thailand! We had a slow walk back to our guesthouse and watched a film before going over the road for a very cheap chicken and rice meal. However, Andrew was a little disappointed that they had ran out of duck. We grabbed a can of Carlsberg back at our guesthouse and watched another film until the thunder and lightening meant they we couldn't actually hear as it was deafening. Andrew even managed to capture the fork lightning, which was a little scary. We had a couple more cans of Carlsberg whilst catching up with Shaun, Amy and Oskar and then later Sam and Dean.