Happy Wanderers: February 14, 2019 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

February 14, 2019 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Thursday, Day 39

We arrived in Port Kelang, Malaysia ontime. Our tour, Best of Kuala Lumpur, departed at 9:00. This was 30 minutes late due to a delay by officials in clearing in our ship. Kuala Lumpur is know locally as KL. I will use that shorthand for the rest of this post.

That is a 4,000 passenger Chinese cruise ship docked across from us.

Our first stop was at the Palace of the King. This is a ceremonial palace, and is not the actual residence. It is very picturesque and makes a great photo stop and restroom stop for tourists who have just ridden an hour and a half from the port.

That ride was very interesting. We passed through what can best be described as very large urban sprawl. Single family homes are few and far between, but high rise apartments and condos abound. Retail establishments in support of this populated are seem to appear in every block. Interwoven are many small restaurants. It is rather like taking a central market and spreading it throughout a neighborhood. We found it fascinating.

From the palace we drove to the Royal Selangor Factory. Royal Selangor is a brand of pewter founded in KL in 1942. It is still owned by the same family today, and has achieved high status among the finest pewter makers of the world. We were treated to a tour of the company’s visitor center where we got to see several of the steps of the production process. This was fascinating.

Of course no tour of a factory is complete without passing through the factory store. This was no exception, and we loved it. Alice and I have always been attracted to pewter. We have acquired some nice pieces in Scandinavia We were very impressed with the designs we saw here. Our favorite turned out to be a pair of Batik Tumblers. Here is the catalog description:

Alternating bands of Peranakan flowers, ceplok squares, dotted line work and sinuous parang run up the sides of a tumbler to fill with writing instruments, make-up brushes or an iced beverage.

These will become our new wine goblets

Back in the city center we stopped at park across from Petronas Towers. These are the tallest tin towers in the world. From 1998 to 2004 they were the tallest buildings in the world. They were built with the intent of putting KL on the world map. They succeeded in grand style. Tourism is a great business here. This is a bustling city with new construction everywhere. commercial and residential buildings are going up everywhere. We have never seen so many tower cranes.

Some of these cranes are currently idle. The government changed in the last year and the new administration has halted some projects in order to divert resources to more favored buildings.

From the towers we went to Chinatown. Here we visited a Hindu Temple and a Buddhist Temple. Between the two we were able to shop by eye. No stopping was allowed.

Even the Temple Needs Protection

Moving right along we arrived at Independence for a sumptuous buffet lunch on the 14th floor. A highlight after lunch was the ability to use clean and free western toilets. Squatty Potties were not scoring well with western tourists.

After stopping at Independence square we headed back to Port Kelang. Our guide, Zee, stopped her narration for most of the hour and a half ride to allow for sleeping off lunch. Alice and I chose to watch the congested world pass by. How different this part of the world is from what we know.