Friday April 8, 2016 – Overnight we sailed up the West coast of Malaysia from Singapore and arrived (Starboard to Dock) early at Port Kelang (aka Klang) for a day in Malaysia’s largest city and Capital – Kuala Lumpur (KL to the locals). We were all excited, Tachy and I had been here twice last year, but even though the second time we were here for over 8 hours, we never made it out of the airport. Unfortunately “Third time’s a Charm” didn’t work for Tachy, as she was getting ready to go, she threw her back out and had to remain in bed all day. Roger, Diana and Nelson proceeded with the tour, although Roger felt poorly and had developed a sore throat and a temperature. Had it not been the excursion and the chance to see a new place, perhaps the day should have been spent resting. Nevertheless, it was a very exciting and fun filled day. This is our second of three ports in Malaysia (Kota Kinabalu on Borneo being the first and tomorrow the island of Langkawi).
The earliest settlers were here about 5000 years ago, with a strong Hindu-Buddhist society by about the turn of BC to AD. Islam became the dominant religion by the 14th century. The Portuguese controlled Malaysia from 1511 for 138 years, then the Dutch from 1641 and the British from 1824 all played their part in the history of Malaysia, with the British maintaining control of most of Malaysia through WWII when it fell under Japanese rule. In 1957, The Fereration of Malaysian States (14) (population 30.1 Million) gained its independence from Britain and formed an independent nation with 9 Sultans, 4 governorships (Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo for example) also briefly Singapore and the Federal Territory of KL. KL has a weekday population of 3.1 Million, dropping to 2 Million at the week-end. The Sultans (regional monarchs) select amongst themselves, one to act for 5 years as the overall King of the country. This then is passed by rotation among the others so any one ruling family is the country monarch every 45 years (9 X 5 years). It is a parliamentary democracy with a monarchy, and follows many British customs – Driving on the Left, Educational System etc. The flag borrows designation from the USA flag, namely 14 strips representing the 14 states and a star & crescent denominatng the principal religion – moderate Islam. However Islam is predominant in the Malay population with the Chinese and Indians bringing Buddhism, Taoism, Confucionism and Hinduism. the Chinese & Indians were originally brought to the country as labourers to help with the Tin mines and rubber plantations and clearing the bush. In both of these products, Malaysia was a world leader in the production. It is said that the best latex for condoms comes from Malaysia as it is Non-Porus!! Another major line of work affecting the economy is Electronic / Microchip production. Chinese, Malay, Tamil and English are all spoken and up until relatively recently, schooling was conducted in English and Malay. Now, primary education can be in one’s ethinc language, but secondary and university in Malay with an ever increasing volume of retired teachers from the US and UK being imported to continue teaching English, due to its importance in international trade. The minimum salary is RM 1,500 (Malaysian Ringets roughly 4 to the US Dollar) but the minimum liveable wage is RM5,000 – 6,000 per month. Each state as well as the federal Government is run through a bi-cameral elected representatives with the Federal having 222 House seats and 90 Senators presided over by a Prime Minister who holds the main gubarnamental power in the country, with the monarch being more ceremonial with limited authority.
We boarded the coaches and were introduced to the driver Apu and guide Narin (average quality, good English, poor group management and little explanation at sites) who filled us with facts, figures and opinions (eg government corruption) for the 86 Km (53 mile) 1 1/2 hour journey to Kuala Lumpur (Muddy River). It was interesting to see that the coaches had carpeting on the roof, we soon found out why – to cushion the blows by tall westerners (me) hitting their heads repeatedly on the low roof!! Our first stop was at the Negara / National Museum, which had very good displays of early history, colonial and modern history, well depicted, including vintage cars and trains. It would have been useful to have the guide, take us around as opposed to dropping us at the door and told us what time to return, but it was in general a good museum and a good introduction to the culture. The next stop was at the Post Office which had the appearance of a Mosque with its many minarets. A beautiful building opposite the also stunning Telecommunication Building, with it’s Keyhole doors and balconies. We eventually reached the National Mosque (Masjid Negara), which at that time was fairly empty. I say this as we drove past later and the whole complex was packed with people, motorcycles, cars, traffic as it was Friday, the service had just let out. All corporations give their employees 2 hours off to go to noon prayers on Friday. Some indeed do go, whereas others go and shop or meet with friends – sounds like any Christian country on a Sunday. They seem to despise and the guide made a big issue distancing themselves from the ISIS radical Islam, denouncing their tactics as non Islamist. The 13 Acre Mosque is ultra modern (opened August 27, 1965 and upgraded in 2003), very large structure accommodating 15,000 worshippers at any one time. It’s roof is an 18 point blue umbrella (the Louvre Pyramid in Paris came to mind) representing the 13 Malaysian States (KL is a territory) and the 5 pillars of Islam. The minaret standing 240 feet above the street, resembled a hand in which all 5 fingers are extended and meeting at a point out of which came a long pencil like structure. This is one of the few Mosques that allows non Muslims to enter if properly attired. Unfortunately time did not permit either visiting the Mosque or seeing the Islamic Art museum located within the building. Our next stop was the area central to British rule. One building, built in 1910 and renovated in 1986 was the railway station and is now the National Textile Museum was impressive with its horizontal striped brown and white stone moorish style. We stopped for photos and then wandered up the road to the other vestiges of British rule – a mansion, now the Music Museum, a giant flagpole and the cricket pitch and Tudor style club house located in the Center of town. It was a bit surprising to see the grass being irrigated in the noon 100 F (38C) humid sunny heat, but the green looked well kept. Indeed this area was the centre of British rule and has a British Colonial feel. One building under construction nearby had a bright red and white sign at the entrance “This Building is AEDES Free” in English. We were somewhat surprised that a workplace in a Muslim country should be so open about the behaviour of individuals, however upon inquiry we learned that it referred to Malaria not AIDS!
KLCC (KL City Center) is THE fashionable address to have in KL and is the location of the famed Petronas Twin Towers with the joining bridge, so we stopped to take the “must have” picture, getting to the top is on a ticket basis with only a limited number being sold each day. Additionally the bridge floor was closed for repair, so for our next stop, we went up the KL tower (a free standing communication tower (much like the CN tower in Toronto), which is located on the tallest hill (125 meters / 410 Ft) above the rest of the city so gives the impression of being taller that the twin towers. For comparison, The KL tower is 421 meters (1381 feet) high, whereas the Toronto CN is 553.3 meters (1815 Ft), with the tallest one in Tokyo at 634 meters (2080 ft) followed by the Guangzhou, China one at 600 meters (1968 ft). Entering the complex, with its many shops, aquarium, zoo etc, we were quickly zoomeded up on the fast lifts / elevators (58 seconds) to the top observation floor for a 360 degree great view, albeit a bit misty, of the city and indeed of the (452 Meter / 1483 Ft) Petronas Towers which was our next stop for photos. They are as impressive in person as they are in the many pictures. I found it interesting that Tower 1 was built by a Japanese construction company, whereas the Tower 2 was built by a Korean company. They were opened in 1997 and have 88 floors (double prosperity as 8 in Chinese culture represents prosperity). We had a nice buffet lunch at the Saloma Theatre Restaraunr within the Malaysia Tourism Centre grounds. The outside area was very pleasant and was originally the home of a wealthy tin merchant. We lunched in a hall, accompanied by a 4 piece band singing Western songs (Beatles, O Sole Mio and even some Mexican songs) – Very well done, but gave one the impression that we could have been anywhere in the world. The afternoon was a bit more of a drive around town (Hamley’s Toy shop, 7-11 convenience shops and many other western shops of renown) a mid the skyscrapers, ending up at the Central Market which was established in 1888 and is now a handicraft market, where all the different Malaysian handicrafts are displayed and sold. As always in these cases, we barely got a chance to see a part of it before it was time to leave, and return to the ship, this time taking a little more than the 1 1/2 hours as it was Friday after prayers.
A fun long day in an amazing place, really need a lot more time to get to know the place and a good guide would have helped, but he was adequate. back on the ship, I, feeling poorly retired to bed, Tachy felt better having rested all day and Nelson and Diana opted for dinner in their room. A great second Malaysuian port of call.
Roger & Anne Travels 