Kuala Lumpur Day

We docked at Port Kelang, the port for the city of Kuala Lumpur about 9 am, a little earlier than the captain has said, he must have really put his marine foot down with a vengeance to make up a couple of hours which had been the last update the night before ! The heat was simmering into a hot soup by the time Green 1 coach party was called ! Our guide was a Mrs Julie Chang who was so concerned about our welfare she gave us each a card with her personal mobile number incase of emergencies, and asked us politely not to ring her in the evening whilst she was cooking dinner ! Either this says something about KL or about her care and control over the party of 33 , I suspect the latter.

The caring Julie !

The posh bus !

I had chosen the simplest of all the ship tours, and the cheapest - I spent my budget on the elephant tour, so this was simply the highlights of Kuala Lumpur. As it turned out it was as long and as I exhausting as the more expensive one, but obviously more citified !

We drove for an hour from the port to the city centre and our first stop was the National Museum. How beautifully done was this new building which was built on the sight of the colonial building from 1907 after a fire razed it to the ground after Independence. There was much mention by Julie in the coach of the British in Malaya and KL, all with a sense of affection which surprised me a little, and later when I asked her if the Malays dislike the British due to the colonisation she replied, definitely not, ‘the British brought everything’, ‘the people dislike the Chinese because of the Communist emergency after the war’. The Malays, it seems, never wanted to become a  communist country post war. After Independence, this left the country open to the Muslim growth and eventually after the King converted the people had to follow. However she told us that nowadays all three religions, Islam, Christianity and Buddhism largely live harmoniously together.......I have no idea if that is true. She was very clear about not wanting to use the title Islam State for Malaysia.

The National Museum

An early British Governer’s Rolls Royce

On a lighter, but hotter note, she told us we were just 1 degree from the equator and thus the temperature was about 28/30 degrees C the whole year round and only in the mountains did it reduce to about 25. Given the proximity to that centre line we none of us were surprised by that information! The economy is now no longer based on rubber as it was when the British were there, it is mostly Palm Oil, Petrol and a mix of IT and Finance. The rows of rubber trees were still to be seen in lots of the rural areas, and I felt quite strongly a sense of the life and landscape into which our dear Penny was born and lived, albeit in next door Burma.

The Rubber Tree Tappers, Penny must have seen this all year round.

Our second stop was the national gardens around Independence Square, again, like Bali, heaving with gorgeous palm trees and tropical flowers. I wondered what happened with the flowers - if it is constantly ‘summer’ do they ever stop flowering, or just go on ? The delicate, butterfly plants were my favourite, their long petal strands were just like the wings of tropical butterflies, quite exquisite.

The butterfly plants

Independence Square

The next stop was at the Selangor Cricket Club, complete with cricket field protected by their own  pretty awnings..... now that’s devotion I reckon, and shows how they value their cricket ! The buildings all around this area were colonial style and very beautiful, I had not expected this, I thought they may have been pulled down for modern skyscrapers but no, we were informed that they value all these beautiful parts of our history !! I loved the Cricket Clubhouse, it was reminiscent of every Far East prewar drama you could imagine - gin on the verandah anyone ?

Anyone for a Gin

The gun toting army ship (note the front gun, and there were more) docked directly next to us at Port Kelang !?!

Back on board it really was packing time, and although I had done most of it, there were all the last minute bits to do and then plonk my cases outside the cabin door for collection and leaving at the correct colour coded area. I decided to watch a film after I had finished and tonight it was Victoria and Abdul. Watch it if you get the chance, I’ve no idea about the accuracy, but Judi Dench is stellar and the film is a triumph of a wonderful period drama, combined with a moving storyline.

I went to bed, knowing I would wake up in one of the most, if not THE most sparkling, crime free and clean cities in the world, Singapore. The port gave away nothing of its beauty, but the taxi ride to my fabulous ‘boutique ‘ hotel certainly did.

It was a wonderful cruise, made all the more exciting because of swelling seas, salsa dancing winds and tropical temperatures. I will probably never do it again, but I really felt as if I more than just touched the Southern Hemisphere between Australia and Singapore. What a wonderful opportunity.