March 18-20, 2023 – Days 87-89
Before I give you the answer, an editorial comment – One of the few frustrations of traveling the world’s oceans, is the limited access to the internet. Now, you might think that is a good thing, but having intermittent internet is worse than no internet. Just when you think you can post, ughhh… disconnected again. OK, I feel better, thanks for letting me vent. Now let’s see if I can get caught up on our travels for the past two weeks!
The picture above is of the Petronas Towers. Once the world’s tallest buildings at 1,483 feet (88 stories), the towers are found in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Did you guess correctly?) The Petronas Towers were unseated from their record in 2003 by ‘Taipei 101’. Currently, the world’s tallest building is the 2,717 foot high (163 floor) Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE; holding the record since 2010. The Petronas Towers are now ranked the 21st tallest building. Personally, having once stood atop the twin towers in NY (1,368 feet tall), I don’t want to be in any of these new buildings, and I like heights!
Our day in Kuala Lumpur was spent touring the city and seeing the wide variety of architectural styles that have emerged over the centuries. Founded in the mid-1800s by Chinese tin prospectors, ‘KL’, as the locals call it, has grown into an interesting mix of colonial, Moorish, Tudor and Spanish architecture.
The old train station in Kuala Lumpur with a new skyscraper peeking out above in the distance.
Another new building with vines growing all up and down the sides of the building; much like we saw in Singapore.
This memorial also located in Kuala Lumpur, commemorates those who have died in the fight for Malaysia’s freedom in WWI, WWII and in the Malaysian Emergency 1948-1960. You may find this memorial reminiscent of the US Marine Corps War Memorial that depicts the famous Iwo Jima flag raising. If so, it is for good reason, both memorials were created by the same American artist, Felix de Weldon.
We knew very little about Malaysia before visiting, and we are certainly not experts now, but we have come to understand that Malaysia, and KL in particular, is one of the fastest growing economies in southern Asia. Malaysia is a racially mixed country of Malay and other indigenous peoples (69.7%), Chinese (22.9%) and Indian (6.6%) immigrants. The daily lives of the people clearly demonstrate their religious beliefs in the architecture, culinary expression, dress, etc. Our Western eyes have been trained to try to ignore ethnic and religious differences lest we seem prejudiced or intolerant; so, it is a bit of a learning experience to see how things are done here. While they profess tolerance for all ethnicities and religions in this part of the world, it is clear that differences are noted and behaviors adjusted, often in order to show respect, but sometimes in ways that make a Westerner uncomfortable.
The religious practices of the country follow very closely to the ethnic make-up of different areas. Kuala Lumpur, founded by Chinese immigrants is primarily Buddhist, while our next port of call, Langkawi, primarily Malay people, practice Sunni Islam.
Langkawi is located within an archipelago of 99 islands in the Strait of Malacca. In the map above you’ll see a small green grouping of islands right above the word George (of George Town), that is where Langkawi is. It is about 30 miles off the coast of northern Malaysia and the southern Coast of Thailand. The Strait of Malacca, one of the most important shipping lanes in the world – once plagued by modern day pirates, is the 500 mile long, 40 to155 mile wide body of water passed through after leaving Singapore and traveling northwest into the Indian Ocean.
Langkawi is renowned for its mangrove forest, swamps, jungle and wide variety of wildlife. Our guide told us to guard against the attack of the ‘Malaysian Mafia’ and keep our possessions well-guarded. He then explained that these furry creatures liked to steal our glasses, caps and phones because they would be bribed with food to try to recover the items. One of our group did have a monkey jump on her backpack, but we found them to be cute and very photogenic!
This mother and very new baby kept a close watch on us as we walk by while the next fellow took a very relaxed approach to our visit!
While on our adventure, our next stop was to the ‘bat caves’. Now if you know me well, bats are no problem, but you’ll know I am more than a little claustrophobic. I can overcome a lot, but the word ‘cave’ sends chills up my spine and sweat to break out on my brow. So, I decided that if it looked too bad, I’d just wait for Jeff and the group to reemerge and off we’d go. Well, we got off the boat, onto the dock for the entrance to the cave, walked towards the entrance and I saw what you see in the picture below….
Needless to say, I asked our guide if the group would be coming out the same way they went in so that I could just wait for them. Well, no he said, you had to go through to get to the exit. I turned to look for our boat, thinking I’d just wait in the boat… it had pulled away from the dock and was floating away. I was stuck. So, I began breathing calmly, praying for calm, getting to the back of the line and putting some space between Jeff and I and in we went. They’d warned us not to touch anything in the cave as the bats leave their waste over all the surfaces… great…..
The cave opened up and I could see the ‘light at the end of the cave’. On the way through, the guide shown a light up over our heads to the bats snoozing in the cool cave.
Seeing the end of the cave I could appreciate the beauty of the formations, but I didn’t linger long.
Once outside, I thought we were home free and could enjoy the beauty of the area. I even stopped to take a picture of my very favorite bat…
After celebrating our survival of the bat cave, we turned to follow the walkway to the exit.
A sure sign you are not in the States! We stepped over the mangrove root crossing the walkway to find…
Only to find that a second cave had to be gone through. This one was so low that I crouched down into a full squat and duck walked forward, only to look back and find Jeff on hands and knees trying to get low enough to get through! What was that about not touching any of the surfaces… yuck!
Fortunately, this cave was much shorter in length so we emerged to see that while we came out at a different point, the docks were connected, and I could have walked across the walkway and awaited the group! Something got lost in translation, but I got to have a fun experience and conquered my fear. We reboarded our boat to continue through the mangrove waterway only to come upon another cave our boat was going to try to enter. Seriously!?!
Thankfully the tide had risen too high for us to make it through this cave – I was contemplating jumping out and swimming to the shore if our driver tried to get in. Thankfully he did not!
Not the clearest of pictures, but further down the waterway, we got to see these birds fishing in the brackish waters of the mangrove forest. They flew so very fast!
After visiting Langkawi our ship backtracked a bit to the port of George Town, Malaysia. George Town is on the island of Penang. While there we visited Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island. This is a 35-acre island that is home to 20 orangutans at various stages of life. Its focus is rehabilitation and education. The island is reached by boat. The visitor pier is on stilts off the island, connected to the island via a secure walkway.
The wire you see in the pictures below is not a cage. The orangutans roam the island freely, but the human visitors are kept in a wire walkway to view the orangutans if they choose to be seen. Of course, they can be encouraged to come get a tasty treat from a handler as they watch the caged humans stroll by!
That face! Don’t you wish this being could communicate with us and share its stories of living in the jungle?! I hope it gets to go back to a fully wild-life… if it wants to!
A youngster enjoying some sugar cane.
This orangutan was having a good time posing for the crazy humans on a play platform over the water between the visitor center and the island. Although I didn’t catch it on film, at one point it hung by its feet to drink out of the lake.
Jeff with his new buddy. As you can see by the background, the human cage separating us from the actual orangutans is pretty substantial. While they look so human-like, I think they could rip your face right off if they felt threatened! Fortunately, they all seemed happy for the attention and content with their living situation.
It was a busy, interesting and challenging 3 days in Malaysia. It was wonderful to experience so much of God’s creation in the variety of animals we got to see. When we originally booked our trip, Malaysia was not on our itinerary. But difficulties in Myanmar caused Viking to choose Malaysia as an alternative. While I’m sorry we didn’t get to visit Myanmar, and I hope the situation there improves, Malaysia was a great place to visit!
Now we’ll have a day at sea before stopping in Phuket, Thailand. Stay tuned, for further adventures!