Kuala Lumpur 2

Having completed our exercise for the day we headed into the City to KL tower.  The tower is an attraction of it’s own.  Here you can go up the tower, visit an aquarium, walk through a local cultural village or have a donkey ride... you could spend your whole day here...

We opted to just go up the tower. This weekend the tower was hosting Base Jumping.   It was quite unnerving to be looking out of the window to see someone free fall right in front of you ... then you look down and see them slowed as their parachutes are released and they glide down to earth.  They were them motor biked back to the top to do it all again.. Sometimes just one would fall... sometimes 2 or 3 bodies would fall right in front of you....

Back down stairs and we were just in time to see the Malay dancers performing in the foyer.

In the Butik Bintang area we had lunch and a little walk around, I was expecting something a little more modern..... but you don’t know until you go... Again it had a bit of an old Chinatown feel to it.

Our drive back to the Kelang was much faster than this morning taking only about an hour. Lots of building and expansion happening on the road between KL and Kelang, I hope not to go to waste.  In the area just outside of the terminal you see blocks and blocks of apartment shells never finished because no one wanted to live them...

This is to be our last international sail away as our next port of call is to be Darwin.

 

 

Day 76 Colombo Sri Lanka...

This was the Dawn Princess’s inaugural visit to Colombo.  They said it was much like India.... but we would have to say no!!

Nowhere as many people, so much cleaner and cared for.  There is a lot of work going on in the city and we have been told that they are getting ready for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting..  New hotels are going up and lots of paved footpaths are being laid, no idle standing around here, everyone seems to be working on something.

Though, I am getting ahead of myself.  This morning we woke up to new outdoor furniture outside of the Horizon Court.  They are now laminated table tops with brown polyurethane woven chairs. Very modern looking.  Just like any cruise someone has to complain.  “Don’t like the new furniture, looks cheap, looks too much like P & O”...

They have increased the number of tables here as well as replaced the plastic furniture by the Ice cream parlour and the smokers lounge on deck 12.

Back to the matter at hand, it was a lovely sail into Colombo, had this feeling of Kuala Lumpur light.

The port where we docked is a working port and as we arrived they were busy getting ready for us.  Tents were being erected and the markets were being set up.  The tour buses were all falling into formation ready to make their quick get away to Kandy, the elephant farm or the tea plantation.  The mimosas where being poured as Princess were getting ready for the return of those who left us in Mumbai to visit the Taj Mahal. 

They must be still getting used to having cruise ships visiting as there was a bit of confusion and the most amount of officials we had ever seen  wandering around the port.  Even more than Mumbai if that is possible.

But to their credit they were one of the very few ports who had dancers down on the wharf to welcome us. 

If you weren’t doing a princess tour they were running a shuttle from  the port to the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in town ( approx $16 return ).  Once we arrived at the hotel we arranged with one of the hotel taxis for a 4 hour city tour for $35 US.  Our driver was terrific , he was always smiling, always friendly and always a little hard to understand... but you know what it didn’t matter cause he really did do a great job.  He not only took us to the sites but he would get out of the car and walk with us and explain things the best he could. (On a side note there was a tent on the pier also offering taxi tours... we didn’t see this until we returned.)

 

Colombo 2

Our first stop was the Gangaramaya Temple.  This temple serves as a place of worship as well as a museum..... Well had the feeling of an antique shop, full of trash and treasure that had been donated to them over the years.  One of the most interesting things was the tiniest gold Buddha ever...  in sits in a glass dome and to see the detail there is a magnifier in front.

The temple itself is amazing it holds a haven of golden Buddha statues and lavish murals within.  There is also a Banyan tree that is embellished with Buddhas where people go to pray and pour water around it roots as offerings to keep it alive... Huge...

We also walked up to another part of the temple where they were preparing for a wedding. We took our photo’s and then walked down stairs.  We walked into another part of the temple where we ran into a group of women that looked like they were on their version of a CWA outing.  They got most excited when Ros started snapping their photo’s and showing them the results.

Then suddenly we heard a familiar beat of a drum and tinkling of little bells...  “sounds like those dancers on the wharf”.  We rushed outside and the timing our visit couldn’t be better as it was time for the wedding.

The dancers lead the wedding party up into the temple where the wedding is to be held. They danced through the courtyard and up the steps being followed by the Groom and his Grooms men dressed in traditional garb, followed by his family. They walked up the steps and before they walked into the temple a young boy (around 4- 5) was called upon to wash the grooms feet (helped by grandpa I think ).  This didn’t go unrewarded as we then saw him showing off a gold ring he had on his finger.  The groom then took his position...

Where there is a groom, there must be a bride...  We asked our driver, but something was lost in translation as we thought the bride was already there.  But as we walked back down the stairs we saw the dancers reforming infront of the bride and her family.... Beautiful flowers girls followed by the bride on the arm of her father.  Face down showing no emotion (which I think is tradition ).   How lucky were we to there at that time.

Colombo 3

Having spent a little longer than thought we put our shoes on and we were off again.  Next we visited the Colombo National Museum with it’s antiquities and parts of ruins from all around the country.  Art and textiles with influences from all round the world...  The display of ancient toilets peaked our interest, especially the urinal with the tiny small hole... hmm need good aiming skills.

Next was Indepenance Memorial Square, looks like an open temple with an Asian feel.  There a few groups of School children there on excursion and they got most excited when we started taking their pictures and showing them the results.

There are some amazing buildings around Colombo some with thanks to the China.....hmm nothing like a bit of PR work to put you in favour. 

 

 

Colombo 4

We did visit a Hindu temple but we were not allowed to enter, so instead we visited the old Church of Wolvendaal which was built by the Dutch Reformed Church in 1749.

I assume those of importance to the church were buried around it‘s perimeter as we found many grave stones as we drove in.  The church is simplistic, such a difference to all the other places of worship we have visiting which have been so richly adorned with their gods and icons.  About the only religious item I found in there was a cross that hung on the wall....

We were given a tour by what I would assume is the custodian and he proudly took us around showing us it’s highlights and telling us it’s stories.  Now with the city so built up it was surprising to hear that the church is on the highest point of the city, and once as the ships came into the harbour it was the first thing they saw.

Just below the church we drove through the Pettah  Markets.  Little India, little china rolled into one... and just chaotic.  I would of loved to have visited some of the fabric shops but between the heat and the mayhem we decided that the comfort of our air-conditioned car was a better option.

By now our 4 hours was nearly up and our driver drove us back to the Cinnamon Grand Hotel

We said our goodbyes to our driver and walked into the shopping mall attached to the hotel for a spot of lunch, a quick walk around, a shop in the supermarket, a banana smoothie and later finished up with a Cocktail with Ros and Arnold.

Once back on the wharf we walked up and down the market stalls selling everything from precious stones, sari’s, T shirts, tea and taxi tours.... though the later would have made all their money in the morning!!

 

Day 73 No maintenance Mumbai

No maintenance, not because it doesn’t need it... they  just don’t do it.  Bustling, busy, horn blowing Mumbai you haven’t changed a bit.  Your buildings look like they are about to fall down and yet you still live in them ( on saying that we have just found out that a day or so after our visit a five story residential  building did collapse , 60 confirmed dead).

As we had visited Mumbai before and did all the main attractions in 2011 we decided to try something different. Still using the company Mumbai Magic we booked a tour that took us to a local food market then to a local home where we had a lovely lunch cooked for us.

We didn’t arrive in Mumbai till 11am and luckily we had the Indian official’s board in Oman so all our face to face immigration was already completed.... So much more civilized when done on a sea day, wait for your timeslot and walk straight in.  It was a nice surprise to find that Meharuk was our guide once again.  We headed out of the city this time and our first stop were the markets.  Always interesting to see how they display their wares and the different types of produce that is available.

Once we walked through we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the famous Indian Dabawallas.  A lucrative and efficient business in delivering hot lunches from your home to your work place with a minimun of fuss.  The Dabawallas are recognisable by their white caps and of course the many lunch boxes hanging off their Bikes.  Distance does not deter them as you will find many a lunch box lined on train platforms that make is easier to move from part of town to the other.