Around Melaka on a bus

When we were recently in Melaka, we brought the children to sit on the Panorama bus, which went around Melaka. They have never sat in other vehicles other than a car, so they felt very excited to get to sit on a bus. We parked at the car park in front of the construction of a new hotel, in Taman Kota  Laksamana. It was RM3 per entry. Then we walked passed OCBC bank and across the bridge towards Malacca tourism outlet.
We took some pictures at the new "fort" with canons.

Standing in front of an ancient crane. 

The boys just wouldn't stay still and started jumping up and down when I tried to snap their picture. the Malacca Clock Tower and Stadhuys building - the red buildings. The boys were very excited.  They wanted to go aboard the bus immediately. We then crossed the road and headed towards the  the Malacca Clock Tower and Stadhuys building - the red buildings, which is the location for the bus stop. 

While waiting for the bus, this fire engine passed by blaring its siren. 

S loves fire engines. I snapped this photo so that I can later on refer on how a fire engine in Malaysia looks like when teaching him to draw. 

The Panorama bus was very slow in arriving. I think it took a good 30 minutes of waiting before it arrived. Most of the foreign visitors went aboard a normal non-airconditioned bus. While waiting a trishaw puller asked us if we would like to use his trishaw services. Most of them carried laminated A4 sized posters of places of attraction and pointed to the pictures, in order to communicate with tourists more effectively. 

On the bus at last!

We paid RM2 each for the adults. We were taken right up to Ujong Pasir, and then back through Melaka Raya and then towards Melaka Sentral Bus Station. It stopped at Melaka Sentral where everyone else alighted and new people got on board. The whole journey took us 1 hour and I was pretty surprised that the boys could sit still for that long. S asked why the bus wheels were squeaky and why the ride was bumpy. He observed more of the things inside the bus than outside.  

I was quite impressed with the comfortable environment in the Panorama bus. It was air-conditioned and relatively new, very different from those non-air conditioned old buses spewing black diesel smelling fumes going around Melaka. This Panorama bus had large windows, so we had a great view. It reminded me of the bus that I sat in Australia. What was missing was the announcement of places, so passengers onboard would need to know where they are. The cleanliness could do with some improvement though, although I guess it's still acceptable for Malaysian standards. I felt that they should have a proper schedule and adhere to their schedule.    

Having not sat in a bus for more than 2 decades, this bus ride showed me things that I've never noticed before in Melaka as the vantage point is different from being in a bus and in a car. It also relieved my childhood memories, as the bus passed by my old Convent school and to places that I've not been for a long time. The Panorama bus is red in colour, but I forgot to take a photo of the outside of the bus.