Wednesday 11^th February 2015 – Penang, Malaysia.

 

We hadn’t known what to expect in Penang – but it turned out to be a little gem. We very much enjoyed our tour, which took in most of the north of the island. There is much more money here than in Thailand and the “Brits” have left some fine architecture. It’s really hot though…

 

After a shower and a cool down we decided to give the “sail away” party a miss as it couldn’t live up to yesterday. Several passengers have commented that it looked as if we were enjoying ourselves, although we did notice some of the “posher” passengers looking down on the frolics. Nesta said it felt a bit like being on the Titanic (although hopefully not too much) as all the best parties were in steerage!

 

At 7-30pm we went down to meet Helen and Mike for pre-dinner drinks before going on to the “Lotus” restaurant for a “Chinese/Asian food experience” Unfortunately Mike has finally succumbed to the Cunard Cough and couldn’t make the meal. It was interesting - with a taster menu including lots of different dishes but we preferred the Indian “coriander” night we went to last week.

 

Helen and Mike get off on Friday – so we booked a farewell drink with them tomorrow night in the Chart Room.

 

 

Thursday 12^th February 2015 – Port Kelang, Malaysia.

 

We slept well and were up in time to drink orange juice and make bacon and cheese rolls for brunch - and then it was off to Kuala Lumpur. Again, we weren’t expecting much but were pleasantly surprised.

 

Port Kelang (or Klang, as the locals say) is just over an hour away from Kuala Lumpur (or KL, as the locals say!) The roads were busy but not as hectic as Cochin. Malaysia has an elected King and the present one had a new palace built about two years ago so our first stop was there. It has a number of domes, is very striking and even has “Buckingham Palace” type guards both on foot and horseback. We then went to the National Memorial which stands in beautifully landscaped gardens and commemorates not only the dead from the two world wars but also the fight against the communists in the 1950’s. It was designed by the same person who did the “Iwo Jima” memorial - but when it was completed, it had to be “amended” as the faces on the soldiers weren’t Asian!

 

We were then taken to Independence Square. Again, we were expecting something along the lines of the massive square we’d seen in Havana – but this was a grass square surrounded by lovely colonial buildings and it even had a cricket pitch laid out in the middle!  

The oldest mosque is just off the square and this was actually built on the confluence of the two rivers that KL was founded on. All in all, it was a fascinating trip.

 

We had a final photo-stop at the Petronas Twin Towers - which were impressive – but when you’ve seen the tallest building in the world, you’re not going to be too impressed with the building that used to be! Seriously though, they are amazing. Tower No.1 is fully filled with the offices of the oil company Petronas and Tower 2 is rented out to the businesses who can afford the “best address in Asia.”

 

We arrived back at the ship in time to cool down and prepare for this evening’s festivities.