Around the World with J and J: Week 14 Malaysia and Thailand

After Singapore we headed to Malaysia for three days. We visited Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi Island, and George Town on Penang Island. We did not go into the city of Kuala Lumpur but we took the excursion to the newly built city of Putrajaya. Built on the sites of former rubber and oil palm plantations, Putrajaya is now a garden city that houses all the government offices. Workers stay here, about 45 minutes from KL, and this is now the hub of all government activity. The varied architecture and the incorporation of green spaces with city structures is beautiful. The center of the city is a large man-made lake that is fed by two adjacent rivers. It acts as a coolant for the city. There are a number of bridges crossing these bodies of water and they were designed after famous bridges around the world. Since this area is primarily Muslim, there are two large mosques located here. A traditional style one and an all steel one that holds 22,000 people. It was extremely hot the day we visited but on the lake it was at least 10-15 degrees cooler than in the gardens. I was impressed by the planning and success of moving the national government and branches to a newly built city but they have done an amazing job.

Oil Palm plantation

Main bridge designed from the Middle East

Designed like Sydney bridge

Legislative Offices

Government Departments

Designed after Alexander Bridge in Paris

Bridges

Malayan Flag

Steel Mosque

Rose Mosque (to look like it is flooting)

Legislative Building

Parliament from Gardens

Art work in gardens

Overview of Putrajaya

Gardens in city

Design of typical Malay home

Our second day we visited Langkawi Island. This island is part of an archipelago that lies off the northwestern coast of Malaysia. Langkawi is noted for its mangrove forest and its towering hills and varied wildlife. We chose the excursion Discover the Ecosystem of the Mangroves. Here we took a boat into the waterways around the island and learned of the impact the mangrove forest has on the environment. We stopped at a fish farm, an inlet where eagles, kikes, and monkeys live and thrive, and then to a bat cave. We did not go in ourselves so the pictures are from Lynn and Jeff who did go in. The cave was very tight and you had to bend a lot going through it. Jeff just could not do that.

Our dock in Langkawi

Mangrove Area

Beautiful rocky peaks

Floating fish farm

Monkey studying us

Red Kike

Our boat on tour

White Eagle

Mangrove Roots the trees thrive in the mix of salt and fresh water

Walking Fish

Another beautiful view

View out towards Pregnant Maiden Island

View from restaurant where we ate lunch

Traditional boats of the area

At Kilim Geoforest Park

Our third day we visited Penang Island and the city of George Town. Jeff did not go on an excursion but I was able to get on the Art of Batik excursion where I painted a batik scarf.

Block wax batik

Hand drawn batik

Painting the fabric

My design (they chose pattern)

My painted scarf- the worker helped finish the top side as I ran out of time

My finished scarf

Thailand was our first and last stop on this leg of the cruise. We actually stopped the day before Singapore at the island of Koh Samui but Jeff and I didn’t go ashore as there really were only beaches to see and visit. Hot as it was, we decided to stay on board and lounge on the pool decks. After Langkawi, we visited the beautiful island of Phuket. This is a big tourist stop and we can see why- beautiful beaches, beautiful landscape, and beautiful temples. We decided to do the Shrines and Temples excursion and we glad we did. We were driven to one of the highest peaks, Koron, on the island where they recently constructed the second largest Buddha in the world. It can be seen from miles away. After that we visited a temple shrine complex at Chalong, and ended with a seaside Chinese Buddhist temple. Again very hot but an excellent tour.