We are in a new country today, Malaysia. And we are visiting Kuala Lumpur, one of two capitals of Malaysia (KL is termed the official capital, Putrajaya is the administrative capital and seat of the national legislature). Malaysia lies between two and seven degrees north of the equator, so it is rather hot and humid today.
A boat docked next to the Crystal Symphony.
We have an all day excursion scheduled for today. It was an hour and a half drive to the first stop so we were on our way fairly early. A truck load of workers heading out for a day's work.
Our shore excursion took us to two major sights here in the area. First stop was the Batu Temple. This is outside of Kuala Lumpur proper but seemed like it was in town as there traffic and buildings along the way. Saw a lot on the drive...
including some very colorfully painted buildings.
The temple is in a limestone cave located high up a limestone outcrop. The caves were mined for guano (bat droppings) starting in the 1860’s but weren’t “discovered” until 1878 when they were documented by an American Naturalist. They became a Hindu place of worship around 1890. The current complex is much newer with the main temple in the cave having been built in 1920.
At the base of the stairs leading to the temple was a massive (140 foot tall) golden statue that dominated the area. The statue was of the Hindu God Murugan. Murugan, the Tamil god of war and victory.
There was a very large, very colorful plaza at the base and it was packed for the Chinese New Years a holiday.
There was a temple in the plaza with a black, reclining Hindu god. Maybe Vishna.
The cave entrance.
The way to the cave is via the Rainbow Stairs…272 steps. They have been painted rainbow colors and are beautiful…and were stuffed with masses of people.
On the way up we encountered a few monkeys.
From the top of the stairs there were good views of the plaza and city beyond.
The inside of the cave was massive
and contained a number of temples,
statues,
and many oil lamps.
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More Batu Temples
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It was a very impressive complex. Unfortunately, we only had an hour here. And the stairs took time to climb. We really needed a minimum of an hour and a half. Most tourist books say two to four hours. We left so much unexplored.
From there we drove into Kuala Lumpur to the Petronus tower. We passed a number of interesting buildings...
and had distant views of a lot of the tall buildings along the way.
For years this structure was the tallest building in the world. It is now billed as the tallest twin tower in the world. It is 88 stories tall (1,483 feet tall). We had timed reservations for a visit to the Sky Bridge (on the 42nd floor).
We were allowed 10 minutes on the bridge for photos where we had great views of the city and nearby buildings.
Near the base of the tower was a much older neighborhood. Apparently there had been an attempt by developers to purchase the area to build but the owners refused to sell.
There was also
a cemetery near the base…
and a huge fountain park at the feet of the tower.
After our 10 minutes were up we to the 83rd floor. Here we had good views of the adjacent tower.
A third stop led us to another viewing area but most of the area was covered with gift shops. Good views but not much different than the lower level.
That was the end of the formal tour. We were then taken to the base of the tower and set free in the gigantic shopping mall there...
for lunch (on our own) and two hours available for shopping. We had lunch in the food court and then headed out to the large, outdoor plaza for a walk and some photos.
There was a
gigantic Chinese dragon for Chinese New Years…
and the very large dancing fountain.
There were lots of red lanterns, also for the New Years…
and views of the towers...
and surrounding area.
Some interesting buildings in the area.
It was pretty hot out so we eventually headed back into the mall to find a place to sit and cool off. So, we stopped at the Godiva Café and had wonderful, dark chocolate soft serve ice cream.
The fountain in the front plaza.
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More Kuala Lumpur
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We were back at the ship by around 5:00. Since we had had ice cream late in the afternoon we decided on a light dinner. We went to the Tastes dining room for a yummy roasted butternut squash salad and we split a Tikka Masala flatbread pizza.
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