PORT KELANG, MALAYSIA GATEWAY TO KUALA LUMPUR (3/20/2007)

From: Sherman Rootberg (BiggiRoot)
Date: Mar 20, 2007 9:55 AM
Subject: Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

PORT KELANG, MALAYSIA

GATEWAY TO KUALA LUMPUR

Last night we had some really good thunderstorms. They have to be big and close to be able to hear them through the steel walls and thick glass of a ship. This morning it was still raining, but just rain, no violent storms.

We had to get up early, about 6:00 for an 8:30 tour this morning. Port Kelang is nothing more then a port for a major city. The city of Kuala Lumpur is about forty miles away. They call it K. L. here.

It was still sprinkling out when we had to leave the ship but it was not oppressively hot yet. We are only about 2 degrees from the equator. We usually leave from the third or fourth floor of the ship, depending on the height of the dock or ship side ramps. This time it was all the way up to the sixth floor. On the sixth floor we would have to walk through the beauty parlor to exit. Only those who could not walk up a flight of stairs were let out there and the rest of us walked out on deck on the fifth floor and walked a flight of stairs to the sixth floor. At that point there was a very new covered ramp connecting us to a bridge. Not at all what we expected in a third world country.

We were docked at what looked like a very wide river but on a map it looks like a long body of water separating an island from the mainland. At any rate, the bridge we had to walk across, to get to the shore was, about ten miles long. Well, it looked like it at 8:15 in the morning. Bobbi says it was only about two blocks. The bridge was all covered and on the shore side was a new modern building with escalators. This was a very fancy cruise ship dock and not a freight dock as we had seen in most places. Especially in third world countries.

Just outside the dock building, buses were waiting for us. They were all Mercedes buses. They are always awful. Aisles are too narrow, seats are hard and uncomfortable and it feels like you are riding on a rock. They bounce and knock you continually, and these were no exception.

The roads to town were modern US highway type. As we drove along things got stranger and stranger. Then as we started to get into the city we knew something was wrong. This was not at all what we expected. This was no back water little town carved out of the jungle. There were modern high rise buildings everywhere. We did see a few shacks here and there but almost everything was new modern houses, apartments and condos. Down town there were many sky scrapers.

First we went to see their, they say, famous Blue Mosque. It was very pretty but nothing much compared to some we have seen. They claim the 470 foot minarets, the towers around the main building, are the highest in the world. We did not go in.

Our guide looked Chinese but spoke perfect English and even pronounced most things like an American. We asked if non Muslims could go into the Mosque? He danced around the question. His first answer was that Muslims welcome people of other religions. They want them to learn about misconceptions some have. The next questions is, then why aren’t we going in? People can go in but not during certain hours when it is prayer time. The questions continue. Is it prayer time now? His answer is, uh uh no. Can we ever go in? Of course. You can always go in the outer building. Outer building means the overhang around the building. Finally the direct question comes. Can we ever go into the prayer area? He answers, NO.

They have 4.5% unemployment and the menial work is done by foreigners. Almost everything they do is much like Singapore. They fabricate high tech goods, autos and appliances among other things. We saw more huge and very fancy Mercedes and BMW dealers then any where else we have ever been.

The people are 60% Muslim and that is the national religion. The guide says they are Sunni and follow Saddam Hussein. We saw a local bus next to us and the three women we could see riding it wore no Muslim type dress. We saw signs welcoming tourism with women wearing normal western clothing. We see some women with a rag around their head and open shoulder clothing and tight jeans. People seemed friendly enough here but not the always warm smiling faces we had seen in Thailand and the Philippines.

Next we went to the king’s palace. There had to be several hundred people in a very small area. You could not go in. Just take pictures of guards and horseman and the Building far behind the fence. Wow. What a thrill.

After that we didn’t go to the museum they said we should being going to. The guide said it was closed so they were going to figure out something else. Of course our tour description says nothing about a museum. We are then told they will take us to the Thean Hou Temple. That is on our tour description.

It was still sprinkling out a little when we got to that Chinese Temple. It was a huge 6 tiered building looking very Chinese with the up turned roof corners. Six floors of temple I was not climbing. It was pretty outside and the place was surrounded with colorful life size figures made of what looked like paper machete but was really baked clay. I did find a unique back scratcher in the lower level.

Next was the ride to the national monument. It was built of bronze in 1966 by an American sculptor. This was the same guy that made the Iwa Jima Memorial. That’s the popular one with the soldiers hoisting the American flag. This one is of seven soldiers hoisting the Malaysian Flag. If you get close, the faces are all American rather then Malaysian.

Lastly we went to the Petronas Twin Towers. You can’t go in or get a ride up. Just walk around and take pictures. They say they are 1,483 feet high. That would put them as Number two for height in the world but the viewing platform at Sears Tower is higher.

That was it and we went back to the ship.