Day 13, 14 & 15 (Three ports in a row!)
Day 13 - Singapore Singapore greeted us with heavy rain and thunderstorms this morning! The city looked quite pretty all lit up - until the rain rolled in! The Harbour is massively busy - there are lines and lines of ships all together - it's amazing there aren't more collisions here!
A rainy day turned out to be a blessing - because it wasn't quite as hot - it was still like a sauna, but it could have been a LOT worse. Our tour today was the highlights of Singapore - it was quite fun, our guide was excellent - she explained not only the standard touristy type things, but gave us some insight what it's like to live in Singapore as a local. We visited a mountain overlooking Singapore, the Orchid gardens and some temples. As well as driving around the city a lot looking at various things. IF you want to shop - this is the place to do it, I thought Hong Kong was good, Singapore is better!
The cruise terminal was nice, basically it opens out onto a mall and is quite well appointed! As we were departing a "Star Cruises" liner docked beside us - it's apparently a popular cruise line throughout Asia.
Day 14 - Kuala Lumpur (Port Kelang), Malaysia
We arrived to more rain, - but it had cleared by the time we started our tour (So we were travelling around in humidity like you wouldn't believe). Port Kelang is about a 45min Drive from Kuala Lumpur - and the roads are not in the best shape... I think they might need someone to tell them that if you build a new bridge - you actually have to smooth out the approaches to the same level as the rest of the highway - I swear we were getting air on those bumps!
We stopped for Photos at the "Blue Mosque" - it's a massive Muslim temple, very impressive - the guide had some choice words about it - not being a Muslim he isn't allowed to go into it - even though the 200 million it cost was paid for by the taxpayers!
We stopped in at the History Museum and it wasn't too bad (i.e.: air-conditioned) - got to see lots of historical type items from Malaysia - was interesting. (The photo below is the first Proton off the production line - it was the first mass produced locally vehicle).
We visited the Malaysian War memorial - their memorial looks a lot like the American one about the landing on Iwo Jima (apparently it was designed by the same artist).
Petronas Towers was the next stop - very large building! didn't get to go up it unfortunately!
Guess what? that same Star Cruises ship we saw in Singapore was docked a little down the river from us - I think they're following us!
Day 15 Langkawi - This place is quite lovely - very picturesque, very different to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore - except for the heat :) Had a little trouble with the bus or the bus driver - took several goes to get up the hill leading away from the port. We stopped in at a number of places - a "Rice Museum" - yes I kid you not - it was a Museum dedicated to the history of RICE in Malaysia!!!
Anyway - after that we took a cable car up to the highest point on the island - quite an adventure, a little hair at times - the cable cars felt a little delicate for us big Aussie Blokes (me and Dave).
After some hair-raising moments where we and the people with us all thought we were about to plummet to the ground - we made it - beautiful views.. 
The guide explained about what happened when the 2004 Tsunami came through and we saw lots of places that had been scraped clean by the waves. The government has built some artificial breakwaters & islands to mitigate it if something like that should happen in the future. We stopped by a local arts and craft market on the way back as well as a rubber plantation.
A rainy day turned out to be a blessing - because it wasn't quite as hot - it was still like a sauna, but it could have been a LOT worse. Our tour today was the highlights of Singapore - it was quite fun, our guide was excellent - she explained not only the standard touristy type things, but gave us some insight what it's like to live in Singapore as a local. We visited a mountain overlooking Singapore, the Orchid gardens and some temples. As well as driving around the city a lot looking at various things. IF you want to shop - this is the place to do it, I thought Hong Kong was good, Singapore is better!
The cruise terminal was nice, basically it opens out onto a mall and is quite well appointed! As we were departing a "Star Cruises" liner docked beside us - it's apparently a popular cruise line throughout Asia.
Day 14 - Kuala Lumpur (Port Kelang), Malaysia
We arrived to more rain, - but it had cleared by the time we started our tour (So we were travelling around in humidity like you wouldn't believe). Port Kelang is about a 45min Drive from Kuala Lumpur - and the roads are not in the best shape... I think they might need someone to tell them that if you build a new bridge - you actually have to smooth out the approaches to the same level as the rest of the highway - I swear we were getting air on those bumps!
We stopped for Photos at the "Blue Mosque" - it's a massive Muslim temple, very impressive - the guide had some choice words about it - not being a Muslim he isn't allowed to go into it - even though the 200 million it cost was paid for by the taxpayers!
We stopped in at the History Museum and it wasn't too bad (i.e.: air-conditioned) - got to see lots of historical type items from Malaysia - was interesting. (The photo below is the first Proton off the production line - it was the first mass produced locally vehicle).We visited the Malaysian War memorial - their memorial looks a lot like the American one about the landing on Iwo Jima (apparently it was designed by the same artist).
Petronas Towers was the next stop - very large building! didn't get to go up it unfortunately!Guess what? that same Star Cruises ship we saw in Singapore was docked a little down the river from us - I think they're following us!Day 15 Langkawi - This place is quite lovely - very picturesque, very different to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore - except for the heat :) Had a little trouble with the bus or the bus driver - took several goes to get up the hill leading away from the port. We stopped in at a number of places - a "Rice Museum" - yes I kid you not - it was a Museum dedicated to the history of RICE in Malaysia!!!
Anyway - after that we took a cable car up to the highest point on the island - quite an adventure, a little hair at times - the cable cars felt a little delicate for us big Aussie Blokes (me and Dave).After some hair-raising moments where we and the people with us all thought we were about to plummet to the ground - we made it - beautiful views.. The guide explained about what happened when the 2004 Tsunami came through and we saw lots of places that had been scraped clean by the waves. The government has built some artificial breakwaters & islands to mitigate it if something like that should happen in the future. We stopped by a local arts and craft market on the way back as well as a rubber plantation. 
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