KUALA LUMPUR TO CANADA

KUALA LUMPUR:  The ship docked at Port Klang, a hard hour's drive from the capital city of Kuala Lumpur.  We had not arranged a tour with others, but had simply booked a bus tour from some on-line site.  When we walked off the ship there was no bus but rather a man holding a sign "Mr. Betty Johnson."  Apparently no one else had booked the bus tour so the company sent a car and a driver to give us a private 7-hour tour for a very, very small price.

Our first stop was at the King's Palace where we happened to be for the changing of the mounted guard.  By the way, the Malyasian King is elected every 5 years and must be one of the 9 regional Sultans.  The Palace and grounds were spectacular; sort of making Buckingham Palace seem like subsidized housing.

The crowds were mostly Chinese tourists who stood everywhere taking selfies.  At one point I was waiting for Betty outside the womens' washroon and a young woman took a selfie as she entered.   I hope she doesn't frame it.

Kuala Lumpur is a very beautiful city of 1.8 million with architecture that reminds me of Shanghai.  In addition to the Palace we visited the National War Memorial where they equate the 1948-1960 war against the Communists with WWI and WWII.

We also visited the National Mosque, where we had to don robes, and a Batik factory where all of the silk materials are hand-drawn and hand-painted.  The feature site in Kuala Lumpur is the Petronis Towers, the world's tallest twin towers.  They are very impressive.  We went into the shopping centre on the first 6 floors, but did not buy any Rolexes.  Rather we had a lunch of mystery things at the food court.

MEDICAL EMERGENCY:  Last Wednesday night during dinner the Captain announced that the ship would be stopping due to a medical emergency.  One of the guests, with whom Betty and I had had dinner a couple of nights earlier, was then transferred to a small police boat (we had sailed from Penang about 3 hours prior to this).  She was unconscious when placed on the open boat, and as she was alone on the cruise she was accompanied ashore by the ship's nurse.  I don't know her age but she is one of the younger passengers.

The next day the Captain announced that she was now "able to speak" and was expected to be released from the hospital in a few days.  Malaysia is a centre for medical tourism in southeast Asia and has many modern hospitals.  Perhaps it was good that her health crisis happened while we were travelling along the coast of Malaysia on our way to Singapore.

SINGAPORE:   Singapore cannot be described as particularly exotic; it can be described as particularly wealthy.  One out of five men, women and children is considered to be a millionaire.  Everything looks posh.  Perhaps in a country where possessing chewing gum is illegal and where possession of a small amount of heroin gets one the death penalty, making money is the most pleasurable pursuit.  The government discourages car ownership (costs more than $ 15,000. for a license to buy a car and there is a fee everytime one uses it).  Subsequently traffic is not what one might otherwise expect in a city/state of 5.8 million.

We visited the world heritage orchid gardens, walked through Chinatown, and took a ride to the top of the Sands Hotel for the views.

 At lunch we went into a random restaurant where we were given a laptop on which to order our meal.  I hit the Tiger beer icon a couple of times and a couple of other random buttons.  In less than a minute our cold beer and our steaming hot mystery meals arrived.

NOVA SCOTIA:  We left the ship at 8:30 a.m., took a tour of Singapore and were dropped off at the airport at 5:00 p.m. (being very sweaty after a day at 100% humidity and a temperature of 33).  Unfortunately our plane was delayed and we didn't depart until midnight.  An overnight flight took us to Seoul, Korea where we had to wait until 5:00 p.m. for our next flight.  We might have gone into the city for a tour, but it was snowing and I was wearing shorts.  A 12-hour flight took us to Toronto.  We got to Halifax at 11:00 p.m. and stayed overnight at an airport hotel.  It is now 59 hours since we left the ship and we still have to get to Antigonish.  Fortunately Colin is driving down to pick us up.
In any event, no more blogs until the next trip.  I do hope I have encouraged you to put Africa and Southeast Asia on your bucket list for places to travel.

                        COLOMBO, SRI LANKA TO PENANG, MALAYSIA

SRI LANKA:  After a two day sail we docked at what is by far the largest container terminal I have ever seen.  We and 12 others had pre-arranged to be picked up outside the pier and taken on a walking tour of the city of Colombo.  There was a slight glitch as we all got lost leaving the huge terminal.  However, that was eventually sorted out and we were first driven to the old colonial part of the city, where there are many beautiful buildings from the Dutch and British occupation eras.

We then walked to what our guide called the "Main Street" area where we traversed very crowded streets as we viewed temples, mosques and other landmarks.  Colombo is a clean city of 5.5 million and is now recovering from the economic collapse that followed the 30 years civil war between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils.  Although the Canadian government declared the Tamil Tigers to be terrorists, our onboard lecturer was more sympathetic to them than to the dominant Buddist majority.  Tamils are largely Hindu.

We jostled our way through the market area (spice, fish and vegetable markets) on streets that were more crowded than anything I have ever seen.  However, I have not been to India.  People were polite and there was no pushing or shoving, just there was no place to go; pedestrians, trucks, tuk tuks all blended together.

At the end of four hours of walking in the heat we were all tired and Betty was near collapse.

 However, an air-conditioned bus took us to a tiny restaurant where we were fed a variety of foods, none of which I could possibly identify.  Back at the ship a cold beer, and a sleep by the pool did a great deal to restore our life forces.

AGE OF PASSENGERS:  As a general rule the longer the cruise the older the passengers.  As this is a 30-day cruise there is definitely a shortage of young professionals.  However, to date only one passenger has died.

When I say there is a shortage of young people I perhaps should say there are no young men on the ship.  There are a few young women, whom Betty describes as "trophy wives".  However, they seem to be kept on short leashes, and never appear anywhere on their own.  I guess that fat and wealthy old men do not want their arm candy to socialize with fat and not so wealthy old men.

PHUKET, THAILAND:

 In 2013 we visited Thailand (Bangkok and Ko Samui) when it was still a democracy.  In 2014 the military took over and it appears that it is quite repressive.  One cannot have a political meeting with more than 5 people, and there is a 10-year sentence for insulting the king.  Like many places, children wear uniforms to school.  Here, however, that extends to include university students.

Phuket is a resort island (about 80 kilometers long) and it is very beautiful.  We were only here for the afternoon but did get to see some lovely sights.

GEORGE TOWN, PENANG:   We docked at George Town, a very clean and attractive city of about 1.5 million.  It is on the island of Penang which is part of peninsular Malaysia.  Ten of us were taken on a 7-hour tour in a snug, but air-conditioned van.  Our driver/guide turned out to be a former Buddist Monk, who has seen and done everything, including having once been married to Miss Penang.  He told us he was not a racist but nonetheless did not accept Chinese or Saudis for his tours (he himself is of Chinese descent).

 As today is the fourth day of Chinese New Year we spent quite a long time in Chinatown, including a visit to a mansion of a 19th century wealthy businessman.  After visits to "The Reclining Buddha" and other sights he dropped us at a Malaysian restaurant for lunch.

This restaurant was in a slightly downtrodden part of the city.  We sat around a table and not understanding anything on the menu asked the waitress if she would order for us.  Our only instructions were that each of a needed either a regular beer or a double-sized beer.  We were served plates of delicious chicken, pork bellies, rice and spicy and non-spicy vegetables.  The bill for the 10 of us, including tip, came to just over 200 Ringgits (which worked out to be about $48 US dollars).

After lunch we visited a chocolate factory, a small art gallery and then we hired jeeps to drive us to the top of Penang Hill (really a mountain).  All told this was one of the nicest tours of this whole trip and Penang is definitely a place to which we would love to return.