We woke early this morning and enjoyed another nice workout in the Fitness Center. When Keith arrived to the center one man was finishing his workout and likely was up early with jetlag. A little while later other regulars such as Mary and John arrived and Anne Marie arrived a short while later. During our workout, we saw the other Crystal Serenity Captain (Captain Otto) who was our captain during last years World Cruise. He is here to participate in the meetings with the other executives from Crystal who are also on board the ship.
The Fitness Center was fairly busy today as it usually is the first full day of a new segment.
We docked in Port Kelang, Malaysia a little before 8:00 AM. This is our first visit to Malaysia.. We did not take a formal tour today. since we have recently taken a fair number of tours and have several others coming up throughout this segment. In addition, most of the tours were about eight hours in length, involving a round trip bus ride of over 3 hours just to get to the places that most of the tours were visiting and given the length of these tours all but one included lunch. If we were only on for this segment of the World Cruise we likely would have selected a tour but we try to pace ourselves given the length of the cruise. It is just not realistic to take long tours in each port of call so we try to balance our selection of tours.
This port of call is the gateway to Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia. The city was established in 1857 and began as a mining town. As the city developed, many colonial style buildings were erected. Many of these buildings exist today along with a variety of other buildings from traditional style buildings to very modern buildings. Some of the main attractions include;
The Central Market, which was built in 1936. While it was originally built as a wet market, today it is used to sell various items from antiques to crafts.
The Jame Mosque, which was built in 1909 and is styled in the tradition of an Indian Muslim design.
The Railway station, which was built in 1910, and it known for its Moorish architecture.
Chinatown, which also includes a variety of shopping involving lots of bargaining.
The Petronas twin towers, which total 88 stories. These towers were completed in 1998 and at the time of their completion became the tallest buildings in the world. While there are now taller buildings, the towers remain the tallest twin buildings in the world.
This city combines Western, Asian, along with traditional and modern architecture all in one place.
After our workout at the Fitness Center we enjoyed a nice breakfast in our room. We walked around the dock area for a little while and decided we would take the complimentary shuttle to the downtown area of Port Kelang where the shuttle dropped passengers near the Bukit Tinggi Shopping Mall. We were told that the ride would take approximately 45 minutes each way but the good news is that the drive was only 20 minutes each way. The mall was just opened six months ago and therefore was sparkling clean. It was very Western in its appearance and in the merchandise and food items that was sold there. For example, there was a section of restaurants/cafes that included McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Kenny Rogers Chicken and the Manhattan Seafood Company along with several other eateries. Some stores played music and the songs were Western. There was a large food store and again the brand names and the layout of the store was very Western. With the temperature quite hot outside, we walked the multi-level Mall several times to see what was there and to also exercise.
For those buyers who like to bargain, better prices and be negotiated in most of the stores. Unlike many countries we have visited of late, USA currency is not accepted in most stores within Malaysia.
We did speak with several employees who we found to be very friendly and they all spoke English well. On the drive to and from the ship we passed mostly apartment buildings and the cars and trucks on the road were rather plain looking.
Back on board the ship we enjoyed a nice Salad Entrée in the Main Dining Room. We were served by our nighttime Senior Waiter, Pablo. On our way out of the dining room, we spoke with the Restaurant Maitre D for a few minutes.
This evening we attended Friday Night Services before dinner. During the service we said prayers for two couples that we know from cruising.
After the services, we enjoyed a very nice dinner in the main dining room. The food and service were wonderful.
After dinner we stopped by the Crystal Cove to say hello to some fellow passengers and we saw Captain Otto. It was wonderful to talk with him.
Tomorrow, we have a sea day as we sail to yet another port in Thailand.
Keith & Anne Marie
