PORT KLANG, MALAYSIA--Saturday, April 6, 2013

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The Legends of the Sea docked early this morning in Port Klang, Malaysia with tours heading off for a full day in Kuala Lumpur before 8am. We had decided not to book a tour here as most of them seemed to be for shopping and that is just not our bag.



We were really tired this morning and so we headed for the Windjammer Café for breakfast and then thought we would walk across the gangway to the terminal building so that we could say we had “set foot” in this country. As we made our way back from breakfast, we met two women from LA and started talking. This resulted in all 4 of us heading to the terminal to see what we could see.



Valerie had planned to purchase some diet cokes so she had some Singapore dollars with her. I had just my sea pass around my neck and the other women had theirs but nothing else with them either. Valerie changed 50 Singaporean dollars into 110 Malaysian--whatever their currency is--and we all started down the stairs to the store on the bottom level.

There we found not only the tiny shop, but a tour company and taxi rank “manager” for lack of knowing his real title, standing behind a counter. The four of us had already discussed the possibility of taking a taxi into the nearby town. So after we talked with the people standing around the counter as to what sights could be seen nearby, one of our new friends started bargaining with the “taxi manager” for an hour tour with two photo stops at a temple or other interesting place. She told them we only had Valerie’s money with us and so for that price, all four of us piled--quite literately—into a taxi and off we went.

The driver said he didn’t speak English, but he understood enough to smile when we joked around at various things we saw or the situation we were in with no ID, no money, etc.

He drove us through the port area and into the town of Klang via a 4-lane and highway past many new and old apartment buildings, hospitals, and several shops—sort of like the suburbs.

Then he went around a traffic circle with some sort of sculpture in the center that we had a fun time trying to guess what it was. One of our companions thought it looked like a smart car, but on the way back we got a better view and we think it might be a Malaysian man’s hat.

Once we got into the town proper, we went through some town blocks he said was little India with the shops hanging with silk goods and flower leis in front. Our first photo stop was a very old, very lovely, Chinese Buddhist Temple. We got out long enough to just look inside the first courtyard and for Valerie to snap a couple pictures.

He then drove us to a pale blue painted Muslim Mosque. Down the street we could also see an Indian Temple painted in various very bright colors. As he turned up a hill, Valerie asked him to stop so that she could get a nice picture of the two temples together and he obliged.

On the way back to the ship, he stopped to get gas and Valerie jumped out to get us all something cold to drink--with no air conditioning in the taxi, and 3 of us crowed in the backseat, and the temperature a little more hot and humid than we are used to—something cold was VERY welcome.

This adventure cost us about $12 US apiece plus drinks and we were very satisfied with our outing. Got back aboard ship about 2:00, had lunch and then we went back to our cabin for a nap.

That evening, we decided that we had lunch so late that we would try dinner at the Windjammer Café and eat more in the 7:30 time frame. If you eat in the formal dining room you have to be seated by 6:00 and that was too soon, we thought, to eat again. We were more than satisfied with the food selections offered at the Windjammer and really prefer the informal atmosphere of this restaurant. You also can try different food items from this huge buffet and have as many desserts as you want!!!



The evening entertainment was a magician doing card tricks. He was good and we were seated down toward the front so we could see; however, several people complained to us that this large theater was not the right venue for card tricks.

Before the start of the show, they announced that the wind was blowing too strong to dock where the ship normally does the next day in Phuket, Thailand. This is a port that we would have to tender in small boats and the waves were too choppy to be safe so, we would anchor on the opposite side of the Island of Phuket in the morning.

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