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.