Kuala Lumpur is a fair bit inland, so the ship docked at the cruise terminal at Port Klang (which sounds like something out of Star Trek). Port Klang is very much an industrial port, so we jumped on buses and took the 90-minute ride to Kuala Lumpur, known as “KL” to the cool kids. Each port so far has needed an hour or so drive to get to the tour, but before it was a hour thru mostly crowded single-lane streets. Here we are on 3-lane proper highways.
Our first stop was the new royal palace, Istana Negara. This was opened over 10 years ago as the previous building was being swallowed up by the ever-growing KL city. This was just a quick photo-stop, and it was hard to see the building behind the gates and trees (I stole a picture from Wikipedia). However, I took a picture of the poor guards in their full fancy uniforms in such humidity and heat.
We then entered KL proper. We had a quick stop at Independence Square, a former cricket ground where Malaysia declared independence in 1957. But we then went to the true beginning. “Kuala Lumpur” translates to “muddy confluence” of two rivers, and the rivers still exist with the Jamek Mosque, one of the oldest in the city. The mist in the picture is for cooling the area down (quite hot today).
We then walked to the Taoist Sin Sze Si Ya temple. I’m never comfortable being a tourist in an active place of worship. As we shuffled around taking pictures there were people praying and lighting incense. Lots and LOTS of incense.
After a stroll thru the local Chinese street market we jumped on the bus and enjoyed a buffet lunch at the Pavilion hotel. The buffet was fine, but the dragon sculpture near the elevators are what grabbed my attention. I don’t know if it was 3D-printed or carved, but I loved the details.
After lunch we visited the Petronas Towers. I’ve seen then in movies and the like, but was still impressed.
There is a 4-story mall at the base of the towers. We had a whole lot of shopping opportunities this day.
One of my “you are now in Asia” indicators is the use of non-Latin text. In Phuket there was the flowing Thai script. Things like that. Not in Malaysia. One of my guides explained that when the Malay Peninsula was entering the modern era the indigenous people did not have any written language. So they just took the Latin script and shoved it into their spoken language.
“Jalan” means “road”. You will find Chinese characters in Chinese-majority areas and Arabic script in Islamic areas, but the standard is Latin. However, they do use a simplified form of spelling.
