Kuala Lumpur, Pride of Malaysia

 February 4

We had a whirlwind tour of Kuala Lumpur, even though it took a whole day. Port Klang, which is the commercial as well as the cruise port, is about 45 minutes away from the city itself, and there's lots of building going on between the two along the highway.

Our first stop in the city was at the Blue Mosque, a much easier name to remember than Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque. We were not able to go inside, but we had been in a large mosque in Istanbul last year and are familiar with the interior decor. This mosque holds as many as 12,500 worshippers and is the second largest in southeast Asia. All of the stained glass windows are tinted blue, so the interior also has a bluish tinge, which is another reason for the name.

The bulk of the population here is Islamic, with Buddhism being the second most practiced religion. This is due to the historically Chinese presence in this area.

Next up was the National Museum where we were given a ridiculously short amount of time to view the four galleries depicting different eras of the area's history. We chose to spend our time in the Malay gallery where we learned about the culture of the indigenous population going back to the time of the Jade Road. The museum has artefacts dating back as far as 1000 AD.

Entrance to the museum

In order to reach Malaysia, we had to sail through the Strait of Malacca, historically a very busy and important trade route dating back to around 2000 BC. This formed the 'Jade Road', part of the Spice Route that ran through the southeast Asian island nations to India, Turkey and into Europe. Judging by the maritime traffic, it has not lost any of its relevance, as we saw a phenomenal number of ships during our passage as we passed Singapore to reach Kuala Lumpur.

Model of a traditional outrigger boat.

Pottery showing the Islamic influence. Islam
was brough to this area around the 7th Century

Shadow Puppets, which were a form of entertainment used
to tell historical and religious stories. The puppets
are made from tightly strung and painted hides

This was the figurehead on the prow of a boat
belonging to Malay royalty over 100 years ago

After our brief but very interesting visit to the museum, we were taken to the Royal Palace. Malaysia is comprised of 13 states and 3 federal territories and is a constitutional monarchy. There are still hereditary rulers of 9 of the states, and the King of Malaysia, who has no unilateral powers, is elected once every 5 years by these rulers from among themselves. Otherwise the county has a 2 level parliamentary system with representatives elected by the population.

We were arriving just in time for the changing of the guard

The gate to the royal palace

The palace way back there. The king was
actually in residence

One of the guards. Note she is a Muslim
woman

As we drove around I noticed some very interesting architecture in the skyscrapers around the city. Here are a few photos:

Our next stop was at The Concorde Hotel for lunch. All of the various tours came here so it was rotating occupancy of the buffet and tables. The spread was excellent, with satays, spring rolls and fried chicken all having a place.

My plate from the buffet

With a large Chinese presence and long history, Chinese New Year celebrations were happening everywhere. The hotel lobby was decorated beautifully, and even had a display of the calendar with horoscopes for 2025 for each sign of the Chinese zodiac.

My 2025 horoscope

Larry's horoscope

Lunch was delicious, but we weren't done quite yet. We were only a couple of minutes away from a particularly good viewpoint for the Petronas Towers, the iconic symbol of Kuala Lumpur. The towers were built by the national oil company as office towers, but also to put KL on the world map. They were obviously quite successful. Tickets for the viewing area on the bridge between the towers sell out quickly.

Our guide took this one for us

We still had a couple of stops - see what I mean about whirlwind? - before returning to the ship. Our first one was at the National Monument and Cenotaph. Remembrance Day observances still happen at the Cenotaph, but the Warrior Day observations that used to happen at the National Monument have been moved elsewhere. Warrior Day is observed to remember the 11,000 people who died in the Malayan Emergency,  the fight for independence from Britain. At some point after it was erected, the government, which is very much Islamic, decided that having a monument in human form is against Islam doctrine, and Warrior Day is celebrated at a new monument in Putrajaya, the administrative capital of Malaysia.

The Cenotaph

The National Monument

Our final stop was at the Central Market. Whatever you might think it should look like, it was just a shopping mall of sorts. We don't buy souvenirs and had no reason to wander around for an hour and a half. With guidance from our guide, we headed to the food court on the upper level, got some interestingly flavoured ice tea and sat down. I had packed my small sketchbook and paints into my purse, so I spent the time catching up on my artwork.

We finally got to board the bus to head back to Port Klang and arrived right on the requested return time. It had been a long day, but interesting, and we now know what we might want to see if we are on a cruise in this area in the future.