Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We docked in Port Klang, one of the main ports in Malaysia.  It is hot and humid in the 90s and we are lucky because the thunderstorms hold off.  Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia and is approximately 57K or 35 miles from this port.

I was not on a ship’s tour here, and so Kat, Suzanne and I negotiated a cab for the day with a stop at the Batu Caves, a limestone hill that is home to a series of caves and cave temples.  It is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India.

However, one must climb up over 200 steps to get there.  Not easy at the best of times, but uncomfortable with the high temperatures and humidity, and you have to watch out for the monkeys who look at you as a food source.  Cute, but they growl if you don’t offer them something.  I saw a monkey grab a bag of potato chips from one unwary passerby.  The caves were massive and unique with a Hindu shrine inside.

We continued on, and as we near the city, the Petronas Twin Towers could be seen dominating the city skyline.   They are the tallest buildings in the world and up close are really beautiful art deco structures.  Note the many cranes also on the headline photo.  Wherever we have been throughout this area there is lots of building going on.  KL has a population of almost two million made up of Malay, Chinese and Indian in that order.

We had our driver drop us off in Chinatown, where we shopped around for awhile and then found a good Chinese restaurant for lunch, recommended by many of the local vendors in the area.  We were the only non Chinese in there, and  the other diners were quite interested to see us there.  Food was very good as was the beer.

The country was under British rule in the late 1800s (as so many of our ports/countries have been), but in 1942 it was captured by the Japanese and they remained there until August 1945.  Then, following the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese surrendered to the British and they were under British rule until 1957 when Malaya gained its independence.

Tourism plays a big role in he economy here with almost nine millions visitors per year.  It is the 6th most visited city in the world.