Please, what ever you do, do not stay here. I stayed 3 nights, and at first I liked it. It was pretty run down, but there were lots of friendly people there. Travelling alone, that was important to me. After the first day most people checked out. There was a man that worked there, who at first I though was friendly, but then he started to pester me, until finally he came into my room and propersitioned me. I did not feel safe and did not know where to turn. The room I was staying in only locked from the outside so I could not lock it when I was in the room on my own. I sent him away, but he continued to hassle me at any opportunity. Luckily, there was an Australian guy also staying, who I confided in and he stuck with me and kept me safe.

On top of this, I started to notice bites. Only a few at first, but on my last night there I woke up to find I had been bitten from head to toe by bed bugs. The whole place is infested. You can identify bedbug bites as they bite in lines.

By the time I left for my flight I was almost hysterical. It was the worst experperiance of my life. Also, randomly I met a girl in New Zealand, and I was retelling my story. She commented that she had a very similar experiance. When we narrowed it down, we realised it was at the same hostel. The same guy had slowly started to act inappropriately towards her, but luckily she had friends who protected her. A word of warning - in Malaysia men should NEVER touch women, even on the arm. So if a man starts touching you, do not think it is a friendly gesture as it may turn into something else.

DO NOT STAY HERE!!!
We thought the hosts were nice people but we were wrong. Upon arrival, the host was gracious and helpful. We went to bed, popped in a movie and began to itch. We though maybe mosquitoes until my husband felt something run across his forehead. We flicked on the lights, pulled back the sheets to investigate and saw 5 bed bugs (after internet research did we find out) tucked in the corners of the bed. Exhausted, we had no choice but to try to sleep with the critters. The next day we ran out to look for a new place and came back around 4pm (Valentines Day weekend-busy and booked) and told the owners they had bed bugs. We tried to tell them discreetly as to not ruin their name and they could fix the problem fast. Because we had told them after the 12pm check out time they were not very happy. We scoffed it off and went to the room to pack but when we came back down the hosts had looked the gate. Our once gracious host turned into a monster and proceeded to tell us that we were liars and he still wanted his money for a night we weren't going to stay. We told him it wasn't fair and maybe can we work something out. We understood the check out time and we will pay half for OUR MISTAKE, but no, he wanted full payment. What were we to do while locked in? Scared, my husband turned to the other guests and told them we were locked in. The host lost it and punched my husband in the head a few times and the other host kicked him from behind. We ran to the gate, screamed for them to unlock the door but they still wanted their money. They finally unlocked it and we threw the money at them and ran for it.
We have been traveling for quite some time now and never have we had an experience like this. Please watch out for this place.

Arriving in Melaka by bus from Singapore, I was whisked off in a taxi to the main backpacker area. The hostel that I had wanted to look at first was closed as the owner had apprently recently died, and the number 2 hostel in the Lonely Planet was fuklly booked, so my taxi driver suggested Sunny's Inn. "Oh yeah" I thought "how much commision are you going to get?"! But actually, when I got to the hostel it seemed nice and friendly with good communal spaces, a kitchen and the dorm room, although a bit hot and dingy, was miles better than some fleabags I have stayed in! At only 10 ringgit per night, I thought it would do for my two night stay in Melaka.

The hostel I had previously stayed in in Singapore had had a case of bedbugs (makes my skin itch just thinking about it!) so the first thing I did when I checked in was check my mattress for the blood sucking little beasties. Unfortunately, I did indeed find a few bed bugs (glad I checked before I slept in it!)! I told the owner and he couldn't have been more apologetic. He immediately changed the mattress to a clean one and sprayed the room with insect repellent. After that, he couldn't have been more friendly and did everything he possibly could think of to make my stay comfortable...to the point of being really annoying and a little bit creepy!! I'll explain...

It started off fairly inoccuosly. I went shopping for food and he insisted on putting it away for me. I cooked some dinner in the kitchen and he hovered around fetching me water, oil etc and trying to help in any way he could. Pretty nice really. It started getting a little bit over the top when he smelled my arm and told me I smelled nice after I had a shower, and then later on when it was time for the nightly 10pm movie (which he said I could choose), he came into my room without knocking (actually he did this several times) and started massaging my feet and rubbing my legs while talking to me! I said "No, I don't want a massage thank you" and he replied, "yes, massage! massage!". No thanks!!! He was harmless enough I suppose but as young single girl travelling on my own, I must admit to feeling a bit uncomfortable!

Aside from the slightly over familiar owner, the hostel has lots of good points, like it's super-cheap, has hot and cold water showers, laundry servive, a kitchen with fridge (although you have to pay to use the gas stove), heaps on information on the surrounding area and trips and tours on offer. The lounge area is a cool place to hang out and chat and watch a movie from the extensive (pirate) DVD collection, although if you don't like smoking you might find yourself watching the movie through a cloud of cigarette smoke!

As for Melaka itself, I must confess it didn't really endear itself to me too much. If you have the money to go shopping there are 2 huge shopping malls, and Jonker Street in Chinatown is a nice road to wander up and down and buy souvenirs and eat chinese food. There are loads of museums but I would only really visit if you have some vested interest in their subject matter and like reading a lot of panels of information! The Dutch influence on the city is pretty and quite interesting and the food is awesome, but there's just not that much to do except wander and eat!