Malayasia – Our Last Stop

Originally we were to tour Malayasia for 12 days, Indonesia for 11 days and Singapore for 2 days. Of course, this was cut short by the coronavirus. We toured Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Cameron Highlands in Malayasia and then headed back to Kuala Lumpur for our flight home via Hong Kong.

Kuala Lumpur (KL), the capital of Malaysia, is the cultural, commercial, and transportation center of the country.  It is very modern, with many skyscrapers including the iconic Petronas Twin Towers. At 88 stories high, the Twin Towers are the tallest twin buildings in the world and house the headquarters of Malaysia’s national petroleum company. At the base of the Petronas Twin Towers is KLCC, an upmarket shopping mall – we wandered around the mall but it was very expensive and really had many of the same upscale stores that we have at home. We were impressed by the number of parks and trees in KL and it appeared to be a very clean city (seemed to be litter-free).

We stayed at Lanson Place apartments both on our arrival and again when we were waiting for a flight to Hong Kong. Our 1 bedroom apartment had a washer and dryer which was good after a month living out of a suitcase. Also Larry cooked our meals at the apartment once the partial shut-down went into effect. The apartment was clean, well equipped, had a great view of the city plus the staff were friendly and very helpful. We were lucky to be staying at Lanson.

Views from our 48th Floor Lanson Apartment, and from around our building.

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On day 2 in KL, we met our guide, Mr Balan, and our driver Mr Fahimi from Odynovo Tours and we travelled with them from March 11th until we returned to Kuala Lumpur.

We knew little about Malayasia before our tour. Mr Balan explained that the Kingdom of Malaysia consists of 9 federal states. Each state is led by the ruling Islamic royal family – a sultan. Every five years, the 9 federal sultans choose one sultan to be the new king. The 5 year appointment means that it would be 45 years until a sultan can be elected for the second time. The King is the head of the state and together with the Prime Minister, the King  appoints the cabinet from among the members of Parliament. We visited the King’s Palace and watched the changing of the guard.

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Independence Square was where, on August 31, 1957, the Union Jack was lowered for the last time and the Malayan flag was hoisted for the first time marking the country’s independence from the British rule.

The National Monument was built to recognize and honour those who gave up their lives during Malayasia’s struggles against the threat of communism. The monument is one of the world’s largest free-standing bronze sculptures.

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Next stop was Malacca (Melaka), which is about 2 hours from Kuala Lumpur. We stayed at Casa del Rio, a small hotel on the river, and a short walk to Jonker Street in historical Chinatown. After dinner at the hotel, we walked to the Night Market. There are many food, clothing and trinket vendors – interesting to walk through but we didn’t buy anything.

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Our final stop before returning to Kuala Lumpur was Cameron Highlands which is 200 km north of KL. It was our favourite spot in Malaysia. We stayed at Cameron Highlands Resort, which was a quaint Tudor-style resort. The restaurant and lounge areas were wonderful. Cameron Highlands is known for tea plantations and strawberry farms as you will see from the pictures. Such a beautiful area, and the strawberries were delicious.

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Our journey ended in Cameron Highlands. We then headed back to Kuala Lumpur where we worked through the many challenges to get back to Canada.

As we look back on our trip to Vietnam and Malayasia, we remember the amazing things we saw and experienced and the many wonderful people who made this such a special adventure.