Tuesday, April 9, 2013

April 6, 2013 Kuala Lumpur 8:00a to 7:00p

I booked a private tour with local guide Loh Tiam Lee (Stanley) stanleylohtl@gmail.com who was recommended by Tim at Penang tour guides. http://www.penang-traveltips.com/penang-personal-guided-tour.htm We also had a driver named Frances. We are joined today by Rick & Janie, Jeff & Julie and Gary & Bev.

Today was a bit overcast and a bit cooler than yesterday, so it was a quite comfortable day.
We drove through Kelang where we stopped at the Blue Mosque for a photo op. It is the largest mosque in Southeast Asia with the tallest minarets in the world and can accommodate up to 16,000 worshippers. Very pretty mosque.



 



We then drove to Kuala Lumpur where we drove through Little India and various other neighborhoods on our way to the Presidential Palace. We had our picture taken with a guard and other photo ops of horses & guards and the palace. Very beautiful!














We visited the Batu Caves. The cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India. There were 272 steep steps and long tailed macaque monkeys to amuse us on the way up! The main temple cave has a ceiling over 100 meters overhead and features ornate Hindu Shrines. There is a huge gold statue at the base of the steps! It’s the world’s tallest Murugan statue. The cave was awesome and the shrines were beautiful. Many people were worshiping. The Temple is used once a year for a huge festival that lasts several days. The monkeys were a treat. Many with babies that were nursing or playing. There were also chickens and roosters up there.





















After the Cave we drove into town and saw Bukit Bintang, the town that never sleeps. However, since it was in the middle of the day not much action was going on. (so, I guess it does sleep sometime..) It’s definitely a place that comes alive at night.
From there we drove to the Petronas Twin Towers for a photo op.  Reaching over 1,400 feet into the air, this architectural wonder is the world’s tallest twin towers. A sky bridge rising 557 feet above street level connects the two at levels 41 and 42.




Our guide said it would take too long to wait for tickets for the Twin Towers and suggested we go to Kuala Lumpur Tower (KL Tower) for the city views instead. It was a good choice as he got us ahead of the tour groups and right up the elevator to the observation floor 276 meters above ground level for fantastic views of the city. The tower is a telecommunications tower and also has a revolving restaurant one floor above the observation deck.












For lunch we wanted “Hawker Food” and Stanley took us to a place where there were lots of food booths with every type of ethnic food available in Malaysia. We all got something different. Greg had Chicken Rice in a clay pot, I had Pork Meatball Porridge and we split a huge steamed bun with BBQ Pork in it. Afterwards, we stopped for some “ice cream”. The center had some great photo ops for food and people.










After lunch we went on a walking tour of the city. We visited their China Town Street which was the usual bustling shopping area. Then we went to the Central Market where there were a lot of Arts & Crafts, trinkets, food, clothing etc. I tried on this pretty turquoise skirt/pants thing (was kind of wrap around pants and then more material came around to make like a skirt over the pants..sounds weird, but it really was pretty). Anyway, one lady was helping me try it on and had it on backwards, then 2 other ladies came over and all of them were tying me into it. Finally I got in it and went to look in a mirror and decided it looked better on the hanger. Plus, I doubted those 3 sales ladies would be around every time I might want to wear it.

















 Stanley




fish pedicure

We then walked to Dataran Merdeka where Malaysia began as a country. We saw the Masjid Jamek Mosque which is situated at the confluence of the Gombak and Klang Rivers, where the early settlement of Kuala Lumpur began and is the oldest mosque in Kuala Lumpur.





We walked a little further and saw Independence Square which originally was the cricket field for the Royal Selangor Club, but today the site includes the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, St. Mary’s Anglican Cathedral and the National History Museum. We saw the mosaic pictures of various Prime Ministers. It was then time for the drive back to the ship.










 bathroom stop on the way back

We were back and on board in plenty of time. We missed dinner in the dining room, so we grabbed a bite from the buffet/pizza parlor upstairs. The show tonight didn’t feature any guest entertainers, but the woman that plays every night in the piano bar, so we skipped that to upload our pictures and get ready for our tour tomorrow in Penang, Malaysia. 
Much like Singapore, Malaysia has a mix of many different cultures that all seem to live in harmony. Colorful sikhs’ turbans mingle with black Muslims veils. Kuala Lumpur sounds “romantic”, but actually means “muddy esturary”. The modern skyscrapers and high end shopping malls intermingles with old minarets of mosques and ancient temples. It was a nice day and we enjoyed the tour very much.

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