Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang) Malaysia

March 15, 2024 - We had very nice weather again for our first day in Malaysia. We docked on the island of Klang, which is on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. It was about a 90 minute drive to the city, so our tour was for 5 hours. We learned just as we were heading out that one of our stops, the City Gallery, was closed but we proceeded anyway. We had a really great guide, who was both funny and informative and gave us great information and personal stories as we drove to KL. When we arrived, we were supposed to just explore the Textile Museum on our own, but the guide walked us through each of the four rooms and gave us great commentary on the textiles over the years. The workmanship was incredible. We saw the hand-beaded shoes and all the fabric that was weaved to include gold and silver threads as well as other metals over the years. After the textile museum, we drove around the city past many of the temples and mosques as well as the skyscrapers that make up much of the financial district for KL, including their “twin towers:, the Petronas towers. Our second stop was at the KL tower, which is a tower, much like the Seattle space needle, used just for observations. We enjoyed great views across the city scape, although the humidity make it a bit hazy. It was really interesting that the KL tower is nestled right in the middle of some very old trees. When they were planning the building, people protested to removal of the rubber trees in that area, which have strong spiritual value to the locals. So they preserved all of the trees immediately surrounding the base of the tower. We enjoyed a quieter, slightly quicker bus ride back to our ship to get ready to sail off for another Malaysian port tomorrow (Langkawi). Today was our first of four different port days in a row —— after which I’m sure the two following sea days will be welcome.