Melaka is the centre point for Malaysia's oldest empire. A port for pirates and Colonial conquer. Today, it's home to a mix of Chinese shop houses covered in Portuguese tiles, British mansions and blood red churches.

It's also home to possibly the best curry house we've ever visited - buckets of sauces sit on your table as dollops of veg, rice and chutneys are placed onto your banana leaf. Unbelievable and twice we stuffed ourselves silly for the princely sum of 2-3 quid!!

Melaka is also home to two enormous monitor lizards that cruise the river in the centre of town. The big one was 6-8ft, and we watched them for a few hours plodding along in the shallows outside Harpers Bar.