Our day in Kuala Lumpur, or "KL" as it is known locally, was a long one. We began with a one-hour bus ride from the pier at Port Klang to the center of the city. Our guide, “Billy,” kept up a constant briefing on the city, its history, the rise of the mega-structures, and how KL hopes to overtake Singapore and Hong Kong as the center of Asia’s commerce. Although it was only about 9:30 AM, the temperature was already approaching 90°! This is the Asian summer and Billy told us they only have two seasons in Malaysia – rain, and more rain.

Once we got into the city, we made our first stop was to see and experience a Hindu Temple. KL has a large Indian population, mostly Hindus who have migrated from southern India. We were fortunate to be there when several of the Hindu priests were assisting worshipers to make the appropriate offerings and prayers to their gods. This particular temple is the oldest in KL and was built in 1881. One of the ceremonies we were able to watch was a young couple trying for their first child making offerings to the fertility god. Someone in our group made a joke about not getting too close. Remember, most of those watching were in their 60's, 70's and 80's – not much fertile ground for the gods…

We then had an opportunity to walk through the main street of KL’s Chinatown. At the end of that stroll, we were treated to the Chinese version of a Buddhist temple. This was even older than the Hindu Temple having been built in 1864.

The Chinese Temple had several rooms for different functions: the Fertility god, the god of Examination (for students), and the god of Beauty, characterized by offerings of lipsticks, powder, and youth-enhancing products.

Our next stop was the Central Market. This was originally a “wet market.” That is, it was for produce, meats, fish, nuts, spices, etc. The wet market has since moved to a new location and the old market was converted to a handicrafts market. Sounds like a flea market to me… Actually, we were surprised by the quality of goods on offer and by the variety. One thing that struck us as odd, and that Billy cleared up, was that there was not stall after stall offering the same dreck. Apparently, to make it attractive to the merchants and to assure quality, the city has assured that no two stalls standing side-by-side offer the same goods. In addition, they only have a limited number of each type of merchandise stall, so you don’t get refrigerator magnet overload. We could have spent a lot more time there. The drawback was simple: how do you get the stuff home?

Next was a stop at the Petronas Towers. The twin monoliths were opened in 1998 to much fanfare as the tallest buildings in the world at 282 meters high (888’). They have since been eclipsed by a number of other much taller structures, but they still shine as the jewels of KL. As part of the tower complex there is a five-story shopping mall with all of the usual suspects, but with the emphasis on very high-end (think Tiffany, Gucci, Prada, Michael Kors, etc.). We had a few minutes to window shop, but we would have personally preferred more time in the handicraft market.

Lunch was at the KL Tower. The KL Tower is a communications antenna almost as tall as the Petronas Towers. It is only 252 meters tall (794’). The kicker is that it was built on a hill that sits about 90 meters (284’) above the Petronas site, therefore it towers over the twin towers (pun intended…). The lunch was something to remember. Eating over 1000’ in the air while overlooking a city like KL, all the while revolving, is simply spectacular. The buffet was a mélange of Indian, Malay, and Chinese dishes. It took several trips for me to fully evaluate just how aptly they interpreted each of those cuisines. By the way, I have become a devout convert to all of the above cuisines, notwithstanding the sloppily simplistic stuff that passes for Chinese and Indian in the US.

A last photo op at Independence Square before heading back to the port gave us an opportunity to see what KL looked like when the British first gained a foothold during the colonial period. This place is called Independence Square because it was where the Malaysian people signed the agreements that ceded their land back to them from Great Britain. The square is surrounded by a number of large former government buildings typical of the British Colonial style (lots of brick, columns, windows, and small embellishments) and is complete with a cricket pitch.

Back to the ship and air conditioning to rest up for yet another meal and another day upcoming in Pedang.

Stay tuned…