An early start for today’s tour had us meeting in the Stardust Theatre at 7 am. We had paid for an excursion through the ship to Kuala Lumpur (referred to as KL). The drive into the city took 1 hour and 45 minutes, during rush hour and the ride home took about 1 hour.
Our guide, Nicole, on the bus prepared us well. She had maps for every two people onboard. She had prewritten her phone number on it for emergencies in getting back to the bus by 1:45 pm. She also had circled six different areas on the maps and described sites to see in each of those sections. The Petronas Twin Towers is probably the highlight of KL that many people go see.
We took a more local approach having Jessica as a tour guide. We were dropped off at Sungei Wang Plaza (known for knock off electronics). Our guide had suggested traffic was very bad and perhaps not a good time to call for a grab taxi. So we elected to walk to the MRT – the underground train system. We paid cash (1.60 Ringit or 50 cents CAD) for the MRT to travel two stops to the Central Market.
We walked around to a few textile shops and bought a couple of things.
We then chose to call for a Grab taxi to get to the Butterfly Park. Our Grab cost us 10 Ringit ($3.33 CAD) to travel about 10 minutes. We then paid to enter the Butterfly Park, which was covered by netting to keep the butterflies contained.
We had planned to go to the Orchid Park but found it wasn’t across the street but one kilometre away, so we felt the time was too tight so we opted to call a Grab to get back to the zone where we could eat lunch at The Pavillion. Another successful Grab trip – costing less than 14 Ringit (less than $5 CAD). If you are travelling to Asia – you must get the Grab app (the Asian equivalent to Uber). It is efficient and inexpensive!
The Pavillion has a large food court on the lower level. We chose to eat at Madam Kwan’s because it had Laksa and Tea Tarek. Jessica had to confirm it was gluten free for her and certain dishes were. I ordered Curry Laksa and tea tarek – that is kind of like an Asian chai latte, that was a real treat. J ordered Char Kway Teow, one of the most epic noodle dishes in the world from the streets of Malaysia, which was a specialty of the restaurant. We shared everything (including the chicken satay appetizer that Jessica bought).
We then went to a grocery store to buy Boh tea which is grown in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. Then we walked past the Chinese New year decorations in the mall and in the street to get back to our meeting point!
We got back with 7 minutes to spare – so of course we had to race inside the mall for a little last minute shopping!
One couple was really late for the bus – like 25 minutes – and they nearly pulled away without them. They were close to having to get a taxi back to the port at a much higher price!
Tonight we will have dinner and enjoy the Motor City Moves production show. Tomorrow we have a day at sea, which will be appreciated after four busy days in port! What a wonderful opportunity to see Asia!
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