"Apa Caba"! This is "how are you" in Malaysian. I had to do some scrambling to research and write this information as we were originally not suppose to be calling on this port or tomorrow's port in Penang. But when they cancelled our 3 nights in Yangoon, Myanmar (used to be called Rangoon, Burma), these two Malaysian ports were added. They also added an overnight stay in Phuket, Thailand. We have been to all three of these ports previously.
BACKGROUND INFO:
“KL” or Kuala Lumpur is the capital and largest city in Malaysia with a population of 1.6 million but the entire metro area has over 7 million. The country has a population of over 30 million of which 55% are Muslim. In the past Malaysia was known as a major exporter of tin and rubber but tin is no longer mined that much. In addition nowadays, it manufactures electronics components, produces crude oil, is financial and insurance center, produces a lot of palm oil (which has a myriad of uses), and has a good tourism industry. Japanese car manufacturers have several assembly plants here for cars, trucks and buses. Unemployment is only 4%. I can tell how good the economy is by the number of cars on the roads. Not many motor bikes as in the other Southeast Asia countries!
Probably the most famous landmark in the city is the 1453 foot high Petronas Twin Towers, headquarters of the national oil company. When built, it beat out the Sears Tower in Chicago as the world’s tallest building but no longer holds this distinction. Malaysia has large offshore oil and gas reserves.
WHAT WE DID TODAY:
Port Klang is an hour and a half from Kuala Lumpur. The port is mainly industrial so nothing much to do there. We were suppose to do a "Kuala Lumpur Highlights" tour but cancelled it. Not sure why I booked it this time as we did the same tour back in 2013 or our Beijing to London cruise. I am putting those photos on this blog for you and know you will enjoy them. Here is that link:
https://goo.gl/photos/4tShCbqjBnkyU3RA6
I switched to another tour, "Kuala Lumpur Countryside & Handicrafts". Rebecca has decided to stay on the ship. I went to see the Batu Caves. It is a limestone hill that has a series of caves and cave temples. There are 3 main caves and a few smaller ones. The cave temples are one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India. It is a pilgrimage site for not only Malaysian Hindus but of Hindus from around the world. There are 272 steps to climb to get inside the caves. I did not even attempt to climb those stairs. Our guide warned us that there were very smart monkeys up there by the caves and not to feed or mess with them. Well, one lady on our tour was bitten on the arm by one of them. She was reluctant to have it attended to but there was a retired doctor on our bus who highly recommend she go back to the ship's doctor immediately if she did not want to go to a hospital here. They sent her back to the ship via a taxi. I assume the ship paid for it.
Our second stop was at the Royal Selangor pewter factory. A Chinese man started operations here back in 1885 and 3rd generation of that family still owns it. It is the largest maker of pewter ware in the world. We were shown how tin, antimony, and copper are melted together at 250C. We even got to make our own little pewter bowl. Of course, there was a very nice showroom where you could purchase something made of pewter. You will see in the photos what I made and what I bought.
Our last stop was a photo stop at the Petronas Twin Towers which are right in the downtown. Only problem is we were almost too close to get them in a photo. They were 1453 feet high with 86 floors. The Petronas Oil Company is housed in one of the towers and the other is leased out. There is a mall in the bottom 6 floors.
It was over an hour drive back to the ship so did not reboard it until after 3:00 pm. I have been trying to upload photos ever since. I hope to finish prior to dinner. We sail at 7:00 pm for Penang, Malaysia, where we will be docking tomorrow at noon.
Here is the link to today's photos. To view links you will have to copy, cut, and paste it to a "new tab" at top of your computer.
https://goo.gl/photos/2uSEga2YXxvr6PbU9
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