March 2 , 2025
After leaving Singapore yesterday we traveled overnight to Malaysia for a visit to Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia is a country of 35 million. Kuala Lumpur is the capital City with a population of approximately 2 million. The religion is predominant Muslim. The unemployment rate is 3.4% (2024) Main exports are Tin, rubber and palm oil. It is also a major oil and gas producer. The oil and gas production is done mainly by state-owned Petronas. There are 22 oil refineries. No wonder that the gas price at the pump is only 50 cents/ liter.
The port city where we anchored is called Port Klang. For today we were on a day trip to the capital City of Kuala Lumpur which is approximately 1 hour drive inland. Our first stop was at the Kings palace. We were not allowed to go in, but we could peak through the gold coloured gate. There were 2 guards on horses greeting us. They were not allowed to smile or talk, much like the guards at Buckingham palace. I try to wink at them, with no response. Following our visit here, we stopped at the Royal Selangor, a pewter manufacturing facility. As it was Sunday today, most workers had the day off. For our next stop we were served a beautiful lunch at the Ibis hotel. Here from the 10th floor we also had a good look at the city with all the sky scrapers and multiple new high rises under construction. After lunch we made a stop at the iconic Petronas twin towers. For some time these were the tallest structures in the world. They are 88 floors high and count 32000 windows. After leaving the towers we continued on to a large inside market, we had a choice between China Town or the inside market. We chose the air conditioned inside market, as the outside temperature had gone up to nearly 35 Deg C. The market was a good place to purchase souvenirs , T-shirts etc. As this was our last stop, we now we’re heading back for our 1 hour drive back to the Port City.
For me this visit was truly an eye opener. I had not expected how much of a modern country Malaysia is and that it had such a vibrant economy .
Cheers
Cor and Carol
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