Malaysia

Port Kelang March 25, 2010 for Kula Lumpur

Once again we were docking in a container port but this time we did have a passenger terminal, very modern. We had chosen to take a “Traditional Malaysian” tour. Our first stop was at a traditional Malaysian home. At first site it looked all jungle with palm and banana trees everywhere. However, walking down a pebbled path we came to a very austere looking, wooden building. What a surprise we got as we entered the home. Beautiful tiled floors, nicely decorated walls, good furniture and an upstairs which you approached via a stairway with a beautiful carved balustrade. Tables were set with nice white cloths and small plates, cups and saucers were at the ready. A variety of cakes had been prepared for us containing typical Malaysian fare. Trying to keep our gluten free diet going, we asked if wheat flour was an ingredient in any of the cakes. Eventually we found that we could eat three of the six varieties. One was shaped like the UK battered potato scallop but was made from fermented soy dipped in rice flour then deep fried. It was very tasty. Another was chopped dates and nuts with a rice pastry and a final one was a mixture of sweet fruits also wrapped in rice pastry. Brewed cold tea was the drink of the day which was very welcomed in the hot and very humid weather.

After refreshments we took a walk around the garden which was immense, more like a plantation. Many orchids, ferns, banana plants, mango trees, rubber trees and oil palms. It was more like a market garden. It seemed that all the neighbors had the same deal. The owners of the house were very old and had many children and grandchildren. These helped to tend the garden and sell the wares. One of the daughters in law helped with the tea and would return to her own home nearby. The guide told us that the houses were originally built on stilts for air conditioning purposes. In lower laying areas it was to prevent flooding. As the children of these families grew and found work they brought the money home and it improved the homes and living conditions. As the children married they would move off into their own homes or it could become an extended family home. There was no shortage of land.

The guide told us that the British planters brought the rubber trees from Brazil. The palm oil trees were already there. These two things, together with the tin mines, were the major industries. By the time the British left in 1957 rubber had given way to palm oil production. As we traveled along the road we were able to observe many areas of newly planted palm oil trees.

Leaving the house behind us, we traveled to Klang. This is a major industrial center. Malaya’s cars are built in this district together with many other industries including pharmaceuticals, oil refinery, cement plant, etc. The Blue Mosque is in Klang and it appears to be very beautiful. We could only observe it from a distance and part of the view was obscured by trees. Because of this, we could only photograph it through a space in a hedge.

From here we went to the Sultans Palace. This was a new kettle of fish. We were close in and the surrounding gardens are magnificent. We were not allowed inside the palace gates and there were guards outside to make sure we didn’t, something like the guards at Buck. Pal. There are nine Sultans with similar palaces each governing a state. A king, who serves for five years, is chosen by rote from this group. The tour continued to the town center bus station which was adjacent to little India where there is a market and stores. We stayed here for approx 30 mins. Robert and I took a short walk around the area and decided that we had had enough and retreated to the air conditioned bus.

On our return journey we saw many new high rise apartments being built together with the necessary malls. Along the shore there were resorts and hotels and new building in progress which appears to be new tourist areas.

Kuala Lumpur was a good distance away and others who had made the journey reported that it was a long ride, very hot and humid making us glad that we had taken the tour to Klang.

Singapore
We had to dock at the container terminal as the ship was too large to tie up at the passenger terminal. Visitors wanting to tour Singapore on their own were taken by shuttle bus to the passenger terminal. Those going on tours were able to board coaches already waiting on the dock side. We chose a traditional tour of the city hoping to see as much as possible.
Singapore is the world’s largest port as it handles the distribution of materials for most of Asia. The city was founded in 1819 by a clerk from the East India Company, Sir Stamford Raffles, as he became, a Scotsman who learned the local languages as a way to do business. He was smart and set out the development of the town to cater for the four distinct ethnic groups, probably to avoid conflict at that time, Malay, Chinese, Indian and Arab. These groups were a mixture of traders, merchants, craftsmen and workers.
The areas he designated are still there today. However, governmental policy is to mix them up, due to the day long riot between the Malays and the Chinese. These were so terrible that it gave everyone pause never to let this happen again
Gone are the swampy mangroves and jungle it is now a wonderful mix of high rises and stunning buildings, parks and treasured Sultan palaces and Victorian Government civic buildings, churches, Buddhist and Hindu temples and luxurious mosques. Lots of embassies near the orchid gardens and some very expensive houses.
First stop was the orchid gardens which were spectacular. It covers an area of three hectares which includes tropical foliage and water features such as fountains and small streams. Many rare orchids, over 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids in various colours and sizes, plus ferns, magnificent hard wood trees, bamboo and foliage fill the park. There is a Cool House, which I must admit was a delight to enter to escape the heat. There is a constant cool mist for plants that grow in cooler climates like the high elevations of the tropics. The National Flower of Singapore is a Vanda orchid named Miss Joaquim. The orchid was first found in the garden of a Miss Agnes Joaquim in 1893.

We then visited the Sultan’s palace and learned how Raffles and the Malay Sultan made a treaty to allow the area to become a major trading center but allow the Sultan to keep some control. The Sultan’s Palace is now a museum with letters between Raffles and the Sultan together with photographs, sculptures, weapons and models of boats used in that period on display History reports that Singapore worked very well until the Japanese came in 1941 by way of Malaya.
A monument stands in the main park to remember the 50,000 residents killed by the Japanese. Similar monuments record the terrible treatment the captured allied prisoners received under the Japanese. Our Chinese tour guide made the pithy comment that they were from the Empire of the Rising Sun until it set in 1945.
We toured the town’s four districts and purchasing postcards in little India. In Chinatown we were guided through the markets finally visiting a museum created from a tailor’s shop that once housed several businesses and apartments. It had three floors of tiny rooms that housed sometimes as many as ten people to a room without windows. The rooms with windows cost more. The conditions were brutal. The passageways were very narrow and it took some doing for us to pass by each other. How the inhabitants managed to live and work under these conditions in amazing. The guide informed us that most of the people living here came from southern china where conditions were even worse. He had first hand knowledge of this and explained things in great detail. Most of this type of building has been demolished and replaced by government affordable housing. Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of Singapore, instituted a rule whereby there was a mixed ethnic community created in every high rise housing development. There were quotas for each race. The official language is Malay but everyone speaks English, learned at school, or Singlish which is a dialect.
Before leaving the city for the ship we visited the largest hill in Singapore at 538ft., where we had a panoramic, bird’s eye view if the city. There are some amazing buildings in Singapore. They are trying to be the first and best at building the most unusual. One of the newest has three towers which has a huge platform overhanging the towers by hundreds of feet. Trees have been planted to give a look of a park in the sky. It also has swimming pools.


Thailand (used to be Siam)
We made two stops in Thailand, Laem Chabang, the port city for Bangkok, and an island off the mainland called Koh Samui, both very different places.
Laem Chabang a modern port of container handling and a cruise ship terminal and shopping facilities equivalent to any modern port stop. As the Japanese never attacked Thailand (as it had not been colonized by Europeans and it had a king?) the country had a settled look of planned growth and development. None of the frantic look of development and its associated litter and debris of clearing sites and abandoned fields and dwellings. Our tour buses were posh and with the necessary air conditioning the crews well dressed and very well organized.
We chose to take a tour to see a refuge for retired elephants in Pattaya rather than a shopping trip, or more temples. Bangkok was 3 hours away by coach and the ships captain gave out warnings about potential riots. Pattaya was only 20 miles and a good looking town with a beach front, fine hotels and resorts. Thailand is really open for tourist business.
We drove through the countryside past some really good looking new houses of the right size and shape for us to be interested in. Comparable with those we saw in Australia but newer and more modern looking. Some expensive looking temples and good landscaping completed the picture. The bus guide told us that the king was the longest serving monarch, he was 83 years old, had a son and heir and three daughter princesses. The royal family did a lot for their people, especially water projects, and creating business like jewelry making and promoting tourism.
As we approached the village we could see some elephants sheltering under trees. There are wild elephants in Thailand and they are protected. Thailand exports trained elephants to Burma to work in the rain forests, some are captured from this wild population, others are bred from the already trained stock. No-one wants one for a pet as they eat 300 kilos of food a day, including bananas by the bunch, sugar cane and other vegetables. Worse still, they feed at 2 am in the morning and their trainers have to get up to deal with this otherwise they eat everything they can. If the elephants get into a vegetable patch or orchard it is goodbye crop. Elephants will continue eating if they can. and drink 200 liters to wash it down.
We arrived at the elephant village which was very well laid out and the elephants, twenty of them, were there to greet us. We bought 2 kilos of bananas ($2) and started to feed them one at a time to our friendly elephant. We later saw the trainer pop in the whole bunch in one shot, crunch, crunch, swallow and it was gone. The same for a whole coconut.
We saw the elephants carry anyone willing to sit on their backs into the river. They submerged to a point where the riders were truly soaked but stayed on. It was very hot so we suspect that those willing from our tour welcomed the refreshing dip. We both declined.
A demonstration followed showing how strong these working elephants are. The females are preferred. Male elephants have a three month period where they are difficult to handle due to the mating period. Female Asian elephants do not have tusks another reason why they are preferred. The demonstration consisted of pulling very large, heavy logs in tandem, pushing and rolling logs forwards into a pile and various other working abilities. One elephant, small but not young, had been rescued from a circus. She had remembered many of her tricks which she was quite willing to show us. One particular trick impressed us. The translator asked for a member of the audience to hand him a money note. Receiving this, he threw it close to the elephant. The keeper then ordered the elephant to pick it up and hand it back. The elephant sniffed around to find the note, picked it up and then to our surprise handed it back to the person who had produced the note, not the translator or the keeper. The elephant then bowed to the appreciation of the audience. This continued with a large coin and two smaller ones, each time handing them back to the owners of the coins. As the ground was a soft dirt it would have been difficult for us to find the coins ourselves. It was amazing.
After the demonstration anyone wishing to take a ride, whether bareback or in a basket, on any of the elephants could do so. We also had demonstrations of how the elephant lies down on command for medical examination, and how the elephant lifts its front or hind leg to allow the handler to climb on. The elephants are only allowed to lie down for a short period as their huge size would overpower the heart. They sleep stood up.
Towards the end of the show the trainers brought in the large males who had enormous tusks. They were painted and dressed as war elephants as used in previous eras. So the trip became a super photo opportunity. 

Male war elephant dressed in its finery.

Koh Samui
We chose to have a day off from sightseeing here and elected to visit a beach resort. It was a good choice. It was a lovely place next to the beach. Everything had been laid out for the Cunard visitors. There were loungers and towels under very large umbrellas reserved on the beach as they were around the beautifully landscaped pool. A lunch had been arranged which consisted of many dishes of Thai food. It was excellent. Rob and I lazed around, swam in the pool and paddled in the warm sea. In fact for the first time we had ever encountered, the sea was warmer than the pool and the pool was warm. A truly memorable time.


Phuket (pronounced Pooket), Thailand

We had to take tenders from the ship to the town of Patong. Phuket is the largest island and is connected to the mainland by a bridge. The region is approx. 570 sq. miles made up of one large island and 39 smaller ones. The area was struck by the tsunami in 2004. Very little of the damage is obvious except for some isolated beaches where debris remains. More obvious signs of the tsunami we could see from the ship as we passed the island of Nicobar in the Andaman Sea on our way to India. Dead trees lined the shore from end to end killed by the sea water.

Back to Phuket. We landed on the jetty passing the typical low lying fishing punts with long pole motors on the back. These are very popular here as they can travel at speed in shallow water. The propeller enters the water about 10 feet past the end of the boat.

We were met by ten seater vans rather than coaches as the streets were narrow.

We were driven through the town to our resort, very much like the one on Koh Samui except we were not on a beach. The town was busy with many small stores and restaurants. It seems to be a lively and fun place for the young. We spent the morning and afternoon by the pool under an umbrella trying to keep cool in 101F heat and humidity. Lunch was Tia food and very tasty, with a cool Tia beer very good. We both spent and enjoyed time in the pool. The resort was attractive by any standard with great landscaping. There were many of these resorts and hotels along the main road. It would not seem possible for these to have been built in the space of time since Boxing day 2004.

Phuket is lovely but we did not see its main attractions. On the east side, small steep sided islands rise out of the sea like towers with trees on top. The islands are made of lime stone. They are cut through with caves forming sea lagoons in the centre. Local Thailand people, known as sea gypsies, scale the cliffs and collect the birds nests for bird nest soup. This dish is so highly prized the Tia’s get $1000/lb for the nests as they are so hard to find.

It is possible to hire sea going canoes to visit these islands and camp on the beaches. For young people this would make a fantastic holiday. It is a truly beautiful place and apart from Halong bay in Vietnam,, a unique environment. I hope some of you get a chance to see it first hand, but beware it is hot!

We returned to the boat and jumped in the shower to cool down. We watched the sail away from our balcony and were treated to a spectacular lightning storm over the hills of Phuket away on the main land. We had dinner with the Chief Engineer at his request where we had a lively discussion on a range of topics with the other guests.

Saigon

Saigon now Ho Che Min City

The Vietnam war ended in 1975 and the new regime took over using Hanoi in the north as the capital of Vietnam, a nation of some 40 or more ethnic groups. Conquests of Vietnam included Chinese occupation for 1000 years followed by the French, then the Japanese in WW11. A split occurred after the country was liberated from the Japanese and the French returned until 1954 when French forces were soundly beaten at Dien Bien Pu. The country was divided between North and South.

War came tragically again in the 60’s which ended in 1975 after the US pulled out from supporting the South and the Communist forces reunified the country. So what is it like now?

Well surprise, surprise, visitors and trade are very welcome. the Vietnamese people we met were cheerful, polite (even the street sellers) and hospitable. No rancor considering the terrible turmoil the country has been through. They are now in a massive catch up quick race with China.

It is like China in many respects, building is going on everywhere. We rode the highway from Phu Mai, the port where we tied up, to the center of Saigon and saw houses being torn down to make compartment blocks and new roads. Thousands of cranes, bulldozers, earth movers, heavy trucks and all the apparatus for making roads, bridges, civic projects and apartments were parked on dirt lots ready for employment. Occasionally we saw rubber plantations, rice paddies (three crops a year in this location), narrow, tall 3-4 storey houses left by the French. Apparently the price of land is houses were very high for building, so the houses had a frontage of 15-20 feet but were built back 100 -150 feet. Road frontage must have been the issue and that appears to be the case still with the new ones going up.

So after forty miles of bumpy dusty highway we came into the lovely city of Saigon.

Some interesting statistics.

Population of Vietnam 88 million. Population of Saigon, its biggest city, 8+ million. Number of motorcycles on the roads 4 million and counting. The impact is overwhelming. At every city road junction 50 -60 motorcycles are lined up to cross the traffic which does not stop. So the amazing feats of slow weaving of the traffic is a sight to see. Only a special feature of the Asian temperament could allow this to work. It could not happen in Europe. I have seen it done in Rome and it is lethal to pedestrians but it works in Saigon. Most of the motorcycles are 100 cc Hondas, one or two Harleys per 1000.

We took lots of pictures and video as it was so interesting, a mixture of ancient Vietnam, French colonial buildings. The cathedral, Notre Dame, the post office, opera, museums and government buildings and luxurious hotels are examples. Today, the entry of the global enterprises like Mac Donald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken etc. You would be surprised how many 7 elevens we counted. Sheila has deciede the seven wonders of the world today are; MacDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King, Starbucks, Jack in a Box, Pizza Hut, and 7 eleven. they are everywhere even on the small island resorts like Ko Samui. Back to Saigon, The Gucci’s, Versace and all the high end overpriced stuff are there. The five star hotel chains, French and American are there too. Apart from the Vietnamese road and business signs we could be in any European city looking upwards, but at ground level we see pedestrians in the shallow conical sun hats traditional in this part of Asia and no fat Vietnamese people-----yet! One other thing of note, the young people of Saigon are very good looking, no beggars or pan handlers and everyone seems to have something to do.

The bus stopped in the square opposite Notre Dame, dodging the motorbikes and went into the post office. A magnificent French building great mosaic floors, lovely wood furniture and telephone kiosks, great looking tunnel ceiling. How did this survive? Could it be that the Vietnamese are more civilized than their colonizers? And so it was with all the civic buildings. We saw the presidential palace where the last South Vietnamese president lived and worked behind a park like enclosure. Two Russian tanks were in the grounds, the same tanks that crashed the gates in 1975. The buildings are now a museum and any damage from the war has been repaired.

The written language of Vietnam uses a 24 letter Roman characters, no W and no Z. During the French colonial period the French helped the Vietnamese transcribe their language from Chinese characters to the Roman characters of most of the European languages. Although the Chinese helped the North during the war and the two countries are friendly. The Vietnamese are a little wary of China due to their shared history. They are developing as a nation and like it that way. Vietnam was the only Asian country to liberate itself from the Japanese and yet to suffer the indignity of having the captured Japanese forces used as policemen over them by the Allies until the French returned.

Then with that behind us we went to see the museum of Vietnamese history and culture.

The exhibits were catalogued in both French and Vietnamese. The artifacts varied as they country has 40 or so different ethnic groups from the islands, jungle, hill country, delta and mangrove swamps that make up Vietnam today.

The biggest treat was a show of water puppets held in the museum. This show used water puppets manipulated on long poles hidden under the water and operated from a curtained both. Dragons, crocodiles, mermaids and princesses appeared from behind the curtain and cavorted in the water. Mainly for children, but it got a lot of attention from the granddads and grandmas on the cruise as they videoed the heck out of it to show later at home to their grandchildren.

We moved on to the temples. Religions are very tolerant in this part of the world. Buddhist temples for example have other deities and shrines and marriage between various religious partners is fine as far as they are concerned. All have some feature of ancestor worship. It always seems to involve lots of smoke and burning things so although the temples are splendid to look at we were glad to take a picture or two and get out.

We went to a banquet in one of the fine hotels set up by Cunard The food was great with much more than you could possibly eat and the choices were stunning even by Cunard’s standard. There were all kinds of fish and meat dishes, curries, Chinese dishes, vegetables, fruit, soups, rice dishes, noodles and barbequed everything. To add to these delights we were treated to some traditional Vietnamese music and dancing. The young women dancers were beautiful and graceful and the musicians really good with their instruments in making melodious music. After the show we visited the Rex hotel where all the war correspondents stayed during the Vietnam war. Very lovely cool place undamged apparently unlike the situation in Bagdad I believe.

We were impressed with Saigon and would like to see Halong Bay and Hanoi some day. Vietnam will be a major holiday destination soon if it isn’t already and a country to invest in. Probably more tolerant a society than any we have seen so far.

And so back to the ship by bus. Light dinner for us as we were packed from the banquet and on to a show. Tough life, this.

Laem Chabang and elephants in Thailand coming up next.

Sh

Shanghai

Shanghai is situated on the Yangtze river which the Chinese call Huangpu river about 40 miles from the sea. As the docks lie along the river from the mouth to Shanghai they are the second largest in the world after Singapore.

We docked amongst miles of derricks and stacked shipping containers as far as the eye could see. We took a one hour bus ride into Shanghai passed masses of new high rise apartments and crumbling ‘pigeon houses’. These house were given that name by the Chinese as they were so small and cramped. They originally housed the poor of Shanghai during colonial times. Shanghai has a horrible history and remnants of it still show.

So we approached the city through the network of intertwined roads over passes and tunnels that made LA look like a village. The building buildings became more and more impressive and luxurious. Unfortunately it was misty so the full panorama could not be appreciated as some on our tour were to find out when they went to the top of the tallest building in China at 1500 ft. It is called the Oriental Pearl Tower situated in the down town area.

We took a different tour in the Yu Yuan district of Shanghai, or old town as it is known. In the midst of markets, malls, arcades, peep shows and much crowded and jostling space we were taken to the Gem of Shanghai in my opinion.

Yu Yuan the park was begun in 1559 (Queen Elizabeth the first to put it perspective) by a Ming dynasty official called Pan Yunduan. He build it to honour his parents, the wealthy Pans. After WW11 the government turned the palatial estate into a park and restored the buildings and landscaping into a real gem we can see today. We took lots of pictures and listened to the legends and stood in awe at bridges and pools full of Koi, the temples, libraries, and art galleries and other treasures. If you visit Shanghai this is a must see.

Next we visited the Jade Buddha Temple. famous for its white Jade reclining Buddha it was built in 1882 when a Chinese monk brought the figure from Burma. It was made from a single piece of highly prized pure white Jade and weighs a ton. We were allowed to photograph this as it was not the original but a copy made in cheaper material. The original was destroyed by the People’s Revolutionary Guards. Save us from the zealots!

The other venerated Buddha images in this complex were to sacred to photograph as they were original. Weird isn’t it?

Back to boat by bus it was getting colder and fog seemed to creep in along the river. After dinner we still hadn’t sailed away. No news from the bridge. After the show we were still tied up, the customs officials had departed, the gangplank withdrawn and the ship was in port but locked down. The captain explained that the pilot station was closed on the river due to fog and we would sail as soon as the pilot station reopened.

So all Sunday we sat in a miserable foggy dock while the chances of visiting Halong Bay and Hanoi receded. Early Monday morning we cautiously sailed along the Yangtze river joking about the Amethyst a British warship that had to fight its way out of the Yangtze in the 50’s over a cheerful breakfast. It turned out the Chinese did their best for us and we were the first of many ships to clear the channel.

And so to sea for four days as the weather changed from a force 8 gale to force 4 and then to warmer and calmer water as we made our way to Saigon. Interestingly the force 8 gale was coming at us from the stern so the pitch of the ship was minimal but the slow role did get to some people. We managed to go to five shows, three balls where we danced more than any time in the last five years, three dance classes and a 12 trips round the deck walk. I think Sheila is better! So life on or off the ship suits us well. Buy a ship?

　

　

Shanghai

Shanghai is situated on the Yangtze river which the Chinese call Huangpu river about 40 miles from the sea. As the docks lie along the river from the mouth to Shanghai they are the second largest in the world after Singapore.

We docked amongst miles of derricks and stacked shipping containers as far as the eye could see. We took a one hour bus ride into Shanghai passed masses of new high rise apartments and crumbling ‘pigeon houses’. These house were given that name by the Chinese as they were so small and cramped. They originally housed the poor of Shanghai during colonial times. Shanghai has a horrible history and remnants of it still show.

So we approached the city through the network of intertwined roads over passes and tunnels that made LA look like a village. The building buildings became more and more impressive and luxurious. Unfortunately it was misty so the full panorama could not be appreciated as some on our tour were to find out when they went to the top of the tallest building in China at 1500 ft. It is called the Oriental Pearl Tower situated in the down town area.

We took a different tour in the Yu Yuan district of Shanghai, or old town as it is known. In the midst of markets, malls, arcades, peep shows and much crowded and jostling space we were taken to the Gem of Shanghai in my opinion.

Yu Yuan the park was begun in 1559 (Queen Elizabeth the first to put it perspective) by a Ming dynasty official called Pan Yunduan. He build it to honour his parents, the wealthy Pans. After WW11 the government turned the palatial estate into a park and restored the buildings and landscaping into a real gem we can see today. We took lots of pictures and listened to the legends and stood in awe at bridges and pools full of Koi, the temples, libraries, and art galleries and other treasures. If you visit Shanghai this is a must see.

Next we visited the Jade Buddha Temple. famous for its white Jade reclining Buddha it was built in 1882 when a Chinese monk brought the figure from Burma. It was made from a single piece of highly prized pure white Jade and weighs a ton. We were allowed to photograph this as it was not the original but a copy made in cheaper material. The original was destroyed by the People’s Revolutionary Guards. Save us from the zealots!

The other venerated Buddha images in this complex were to sacred to photograph as they were original. Weird isn’t it?

Back to boat by bus it was getting colder and fog seemed to creep in along the river. After dinner we still hadn’t sailed away. No news from the bridge. After the show we were still tied up, the customs officials had departed, the gangplank withdrawn and the ship was in port but locked down. The captain explained that the pilot station was closed on the river due to fog and we would sail as soon as the pilot station reopened.

So all Sunday we sat in a miserable foggy dock while the chances of visiting Halong Bay and Hanoi receded. Early Monday morning we cautiously sailed along the Yangtze river joking about the Amethyst a British warship that had to fight its way out of the Yangtze in the 50’s over a cheerful breakfast. It turned out the Chinese did their best for us and we were the first of many ships to clear the channel.

And so to sea for four days as the weather changed from a force 8 gale to force 4 and then to warmer and calmer water as we made our way to Saigon. Interestingly the force 8 gale was coming at us from the stern so the pitch of the ship was minimal but the slow role did get to some people. We managed to go to five shows, three balls where we danced more than any time in the last five years, three dance classes and a 12 trips round the deck walk. I think Sheila is better! So life on or off the ship suits us well. Buy a ship?