Our 7 hour tour today was to show us the main attractions of Kuala Lumpur. Our guide told us that the country is divided into 14 parts, each governed by a sultan. Every five years they all meet and elect a King. Kuala Lumpur(or K L, as it is called) is a constitutional monarchy and gained its independence from Great Britain in 1957. There can never be a Queen here because the crown passes to the son or another male relative. Sixty per-cent of the country is Muslim. Our guide says all religions exist peacefully together. I hope that is true. The Muslim women usually wear the head scarves or the full burka. I think the black burkas are for the strict Muslims. The others wear pretty colored burkas and high heeled designer shoes. They, also, carry designer bags. Go figure.
Kuala Lumpur is prosperous with many high rises and huge shopping malls as nice as any we have in the U.S. You can see the British influence. The buildings and open spaces have a colonial feel to them. Unemployment is only 3% in K.L.
We visited the Blue Mosque; it is huge and can hold 25,000 people. Its 470-foot minerets are the tallest in the world. We saw the King’s Palace, the National Museum and saw the National War Memorial which honors all the fallen from 3 wars, The sculptor who did this memorial is the same man who did the Marine Memorial in Washington D.C. After a buffet lunch at one of many gorgeous hotels here, we visited a marketplace where goods were plentiful and begging to be bought!
Many global companies are here. They like the work force because English is the main language. From what we see, Malaysia is very prosperous. We sail at 8 for Penang.
P.S. The national flower is the hibiscus. The lamp poles have metal red hibiscus wound around them--very pretty!
P.P.S. This is for our kids: Dad and I ordered a pizza for dinner. We put on our I-Pod(Thank you, Patrick, for all the songs you recorded for us) and we danced on our balcony and watched the ship leave K.L. The sunset was beautiful and the stars were bright. It was another memorable night.
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