Malaysia has its origins in the Malay kingdoms which, from the 18th century, became subject to the British Empire when the Straits Settlements became British protectorates. Peninsular Malaysia was unified as the Malayan Union in 1946. Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963 to become Malaysia. In 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation.
The country is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, which plays a large role in its politics. About half the population is ethnically Malay, with large minorities of Malaysian Chinese (the second largest community of Overseas Chinese in the world), Malaysian Indians, and indigenous peoples. The constitution grants freedom of religion but recognizes Islam as the established religion of the state. The government system is closely modeled on the Westminster parliamentary system and the legal system is based on common law. The head of state is the king, known as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. He is an elected monarch chosen from the hereditary rulers of the nine Malay states every five years. The head of government is the Prime Minister. The country's official language is Bahasa Melayu, commonly known as the Malay language. English remains an active second language. Source: Wikipedia
Kuala Lumpur was a small nameless village when the discovery of a silver-white metal began a Tin Rush in Malaysia. In 1857, 87 Chinese miners set up camp near the village, uncovered a major tin deposit and a boomtown was born. It the city’s wealth and success brought warring gangs who fought over control of the tin market. The British, who ruled Malaysia at the time, tried to establish law and order with the appointment of Sir Frank Swettenham, who developed the first city plan and laid the groundwork for stately colonial buildings such as the Royal Selangor Club and Lake Gardens Park.
After Malaysia gained independence from the British in 1957, Kuala Lumpur progressed into one of Southeast Asia’s most prominent, modern and sophisticated cities. Source: Princess Cruises Port Guide for Port Kelang/ Kuala Lumpur
We had a full, fun, HOT day today in Kuala Lumpur. We had booked Princess excursion The Best of Kuala Lumpur, and we had to meet in the Princess Theater at 8am. So we set an alarm for 6am, ate a quick breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet (stollen!) and were where we needed to be carrying what we needed for the day at 8am.
We had watched the sunrise over Port Kelang while we ate breakfast. Port Kelang is where the Sapphire Princess docked. It is about 60-90 minutes from Kuala Lumpur (or KL, as it is commonly called), so we settled in on the bus for a bit of a ride. Our guide, Rose, was vivacious and friendly, and she talked for most of the way to KL, filling us in on some of the facts history and culture and present day life in Malaysia.
Our first stop was at the Malaysia National Museum. I always have to laugh at travel by cruise ship. This museum visit would fill the major part of a day if one was staying in KL; we had an hour to see it all. We spent too much time looking at rocks and skulls and Bronze Age tools (G’s favorite) and not enough in the gallery featuring clothing and fabrics and jewelry (my favorite) and didn’t get to two galleries at all, but such is the reality of one day in a city the size of KL.
A cannon in the National Museum
Shadow puppet
19th century wedding attire for bride and groom
I can’t imagine walking in these :-o
Coronation throne used as recently as 1963
A bahtera, which was sailed in the 14th century for trade and exploration.
This figurehead adorned a royal boat in the late 19th century. It was carved from the wood of a jackfruit tree.
Next we stopped at the Cenotaph, a tribute to the fallen soldiers of WWI, WWII, and the Japanese Occupation. Just behind that was the National Monument, the tallest bronze statue in the world. It was designed by Felix de Weldon who also designed the Iwo Jima Memorial outside Washington DC, and the two bear a striking resemblance. In fact, in Malaysia’s National Monument, the faces of all but the uppermost soldier have decidedly Western features; only the top one looks like he could be Malayan.
We pressed onward, next doing photo ops at the National Railway Station and the Malaysia National Mosque. Islam is the national religion of Malaysia, and we did see many women wearing some form of head covering today. However, unlike in Dubai where many Muslim women wore head to toe black, Malaysia’s women wore colorful head coverings and long dresses, or just the head covering with regular attire.
Our final stop before lunch was Merdeka, or Independence Square. It was here the Union Flag was lowered and the Malayan flag hoisted for the first time at midnight on 31 August 1957.
We didn’t know until today that we were going to have our included lunch at the top of the KL Tower, the world’s seventh tallest communication tower. It features a revolving restaurant and our lunch was a Malayan buffet. I went through first and came back, advising G to stick with the many desserts and ice cream. I knew he wouldn’t touch any of the food. I had a curry with tofu, and it was spicy but not too (barely).
The Malaysian National Mosque
The old National Railway Station, designed by the British to resemble the Taj Mahal
Model of the KL Tower
After lunch, we went down one level to the Observation Deck where we could take photos of the views from the tower. We could see a side view of the world famous Petronas Towers, but not the front view. No matter; our next stop was a photo op with a perfect view of the towers and the Skybridge connecting them. Finally, we stopped at a handicraft mall for the requisite shopping opportunity (G and I walked around it for a few minutes and returned to the bus).
View from the KL Tower Observation Deck
Side view of the Petronas Towers
The 88-story Petronas Towers with connecting Skybridge at the 42nd floor
In one sense, we were lucky today with the weather. It didn’t rain until we were on the way back to Port Kelang. However, it was very hot and equally very humid, and we were especially happy we had done
a ship’s excursion rather than tackling KL on our own. Our bus driver did everything possible to minimize our time in the heat and blazing sun, and the bus was blissfully cool.
Overall, we were quite impressed with KL. The city was extremely clean, modern and appeared to offer a high quality of life. It was not what I’d imagined a large city in Southeast Asia would be like.
We returned to the ship just before 5:30pm, and did a quick clean up before heading to dinner. Tonight’s entertainment was an unusual bubble show by a couple from Italy. I had been quite excited about this. Bubbles, kaleidoscopes, kites…I have never outgrown these childhood pleasures. The show was good but not quite as impressive as I had hoped. But I give Princess points for offering something outside the norm.
And as soon as the show was over, we were in bed. Nine hour tours in extreme heat and humidity are draining, and we have two more ports in a row that will likely have the same weather. We must remember that just two weeks ago we were freezing in Europe, and couldn’t wait for this heat.
The grass is always greener, isn’t it? ;-)