Hostelworld

Apa Kaba is a true family - staying here you will become a part of that.

The manager of Moon Tree hostel in Penang heard I was planning to visit Melaka/Malacca ad insisted I had to stay at Apa Kaba! He showed me the Hostelworld website info and staked his own reputation on how much I'd like being there. He was right.

We'd planned to be there for three days and stayed for seven. Highlights? probably a combination of the ducks wandering around the garden, all the guests being included in the birthday party for a four-year-old granddaughter and the manager (Kenny) taking us out for a late-night visit to a new sea-front non-alcoholic karaoke cafe(!) for two hours of Malaysian powerpop ballads the same day that he'd called his personal masseur to treat me after a flying stone (kicked up by a truck) had fired itself into the back of my calf.

Breakfast every morning, a shaded summer house for resting, local information and advice - Apa Kaba gets my highest possible recommendation on all counts