Our day starts off normal, early gym (even though our tour isn’t until 10:25 – we have found if we get to the gym before 7, we can get a treadmill), early breakfast in the blissful peace and quiet of the buffet (everyone else is still asleep!), then cabin for shower, etc., before hitting Café Bacio for our cappuccino. 

Arriving at the theater early for our tour, we get stickered up and go to the back of the theater near the exit to wait.  Since this is our first Celebrity tour in ages, we aren’t sure of the process and don’t want to assume we can use the HAL strategy of getting stickered and just going to the bus.  Our tour is called surprisingly early – as in 25 minutes early! – so off we go to the bus, arriving first, surprisingly. Well, almost first, there is some other guy just sitting on the bus who hasn’t even checked in with the guide yet (oh, and who also has a wife who is slow/has a cane/relatively handicapped, who he has obviously left behind to come get on the bus….for a good seat? But he’s not in the front?  Who knows???).  Anyhow, we get situated and comfy for the wait.  Because of course there is a wait.

First of all, it is a really long walk from the ship to the terminal and then to the buses, so that slows everyone down.  Then of course, they called the tour super early. We are assuming they had passed out all the stickers for the bus, knew it was full and sent us on our way, but obviously some people went elsewhere and didn’t know the tour was called because we don’t have a full bus.  So, we wait. And wait.  Finally we are down to 7 people missing.  Then eventually they are all on the bus and we are off for our 1+ hour drive into the city.

Lawrence, our guide, is nice enough – he explains where we are going (to the Pavillion Mall – of course it’s a mall!) and that we should be careful with our belongings, even going so far as to take a woman’s purse and give us a demonstration how to hold it!  Unfortunately he, really his company and to some degree Celebrity, fails big time with city information, including maps.  He only has 2 that we need to pass around the bus but cannot keep.  We can take a picture of it.  Helpful. Not.  Oh, and the map itself?  Worthless.  High level, big picture of the city and the transportation (bus, monorail, metro) but nothing on where we will be, the old city heritage area, twin towers, etc.  Not surprising considering the fail that is Celebrity Beyond the Podium.  Hopefully these people will figure it out.

We arrive at the mall, are given our meeting point and time and are off, hitting the restrooms here before going to call a Grab to get to Independence Square, in the old heritage part of the city.  Twenty minutes later, we are deposited in front of Dataran Merdeka, Independence Square, built in the 1800’s under British rule and used as the area to play cricket.  On August 31, 1957, the Union Jack came down and the Malaysian Flag was raised here for the first time, thus the Independence Square moniker.  Every year, Independence Day celebrations are held here.  During normal times, it is just a beautiful square, filled with tourists and locals alike, out enjoying the area.  The square is surrounded by old heritage buildings like the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, the former National History Museum and KL City Gallery.  Saint Mary’s Anglican Cathedral anchors the square to the North. 

It is a huge lovely area, where we indulge in a few pictures, then quickly head out of the direct sunlight in search of 1) an ATM, and 2) lunch!  Heading toward the Central Market, the first ATM rejects our transaction.  Huh?  Yikes, here we go. But, it was some weird “Agro Bank” so maybe it was more credit union?  We manage to find an RHB (big bank here) ATM in the market and successfully stock up in Ringgits.  Phew. Cashed up (because many places only take cash) we are now ready to conquer Malaysia! Or at least buy things here. 

On our way to the market we had spied a little restaurant with lots of inside seating and a big sign advertising Nasi Lemak (curry and rice) which looked promising.  After nosing around the market food court – and the New Year festival food stalls outside on the walk along the river, we head back to Pak Jen for an excellent meal of Nasi Lemak for Ed (curried chicken and coconut rice) along with Mee Goreng Ayam (notice the different spelling) for me along with some excellent roti for both of us.  Very satisfying and very filling!  Now we are ready to explore.

Heading off to Petaling Street, better known as Chinatown, we encounter a wholly different experience from Yokohama.  Here it is a mecca of street shopping, store after store with their merchandise under tents lining the entire street.  We thought it was yet more festival remnants, but no, this seems to be the norm here.  Not restaurant after restaurant, although there are many, this is more bazaar shopping to the nth degree!  Unfortunately nothing that interests us – knock off designer bags, an overwhelming amount of clothes (it is too much to even consider), those plastic sandals Asians call slippers, it’s enough to make your head spin! 

Making short work of Chinatown, we meander down a couple of different streets looking for somewhere to sit and have a drink – in short supply in this nation of course.  Where there is a will, there is a way – and we find Junk Café! Aptly named for the bazaar area in our minds, we grab a table and 2 beers (wine in short supply everywhere here!!!) and then indulge in popcorn chicken, only because it looks so good and is so cheap!  Fabulous decision.  Not only is the atmosphere great – and the décor totally cool – the popcorn chicken is some of the best we’ve had with a really nice crunchy semi-spicy crust.  Ok – so we’re stuffed now, but it was ever so worth it – and we have lots more walking to do.  At least we thought we did!

After the café, we head back to the Central Market, thinking we’ll do some shopping.  The building itself is historic, built in 1888 as a wet market, then updated in 1937 in the current Art Deco style.  Today it is a melting pot of cultures and ethnic art – featuring everything from jewelry to wood carving to clothing in every style to candy and snacks and souvenirs.  Once again, there isn’t much here to draw our attention.  The only thing interesting are the cork purses and items (cork!  What Portugal started!), but they all are emblazoned with “Malaysia” in big ugly typeface.  And again, so much clothing, it is overwhelming.  Yeah, shopping isn’t our thing normally anyway, but I am looking for a summery dress and maybe some sleeveless tops, and Ed wants another pair of his cool Bali pants (that we didn’t find in Bali).  Either we are just jaded, or well, who knows, but it just isn’t happening here for us.

Plan B.  We had spied the Textile Museum across the street from where we were dropped earlier and decide to head there, first passing some of the great modern artwork outside the Central Market that focuses on “vulnerable” or “critically endangered” species – The Malayan Peacock and the Painted Terrapin in particular. 

Then it’s a quick and easy walk, passing by the River of Life, the confluence of the Klang and Gombak rivers, in front of the Jamek Sultan Abdul Samad Mosque.  Totally picturesque – the gorgeous mosque juxtaposed against huge modern skyscrapers. There are also some wonderful murals painted on adjacent buildings. 

The textile museum turned out to be a great find.  Informative, good displays on everything ranging from Traditional costumes to weapons as accessories Batik to weaving to sarongs.  It made for a great hour or so of wandering around displays marveling at all the different traditional and heritage handicraft work. 

Some of the more fascinating displays covered bark clothing – with photos describing how the bark is harvested and then how it is made into clothing. And a great map that show which region produces which textile, pointing out the wealth of diversity and regionality found here on the island. Really interesting.

Visit complete, we call a taxi, make it back to the mall and go to the grocery store in the basement for supplies – but man, everything is expensive!  We’re so spoiled with Indonesia, but still.  Nothing worthwhile here, so we meandered through the food court and ended up buying two miniature egg tarts which were insanely good, and we think better than the Portuguese versions.  Time to go back upstairs for the bus rendezvous point, but this place is a maze!  We end up getting lost trying to find our way back, finally having to retrace our steps back to the Mall entrance and then around the outside by the parking lot to the meeting place.  There was plenty of time to spare, we weren’t worried, and ended up just hanging around the walkway where Lawrence, our trusty “guide” told us to meet him.  Strategically placing ourselves near the exit, we are at the front of the line when we head off to the bus (although the same guy who was on the bus first takes a totally different route so he can wedge his way in front of us for the same seat. Buddy – we’d have given it to you, it’s not that big a deal.  Sheesh.  Anyhow, after the cattle herding, it was an uneventful ride back to the ship.

Since the shuttle didn’t get back until late, we skipped the gym, and after freshening up, head straight to the restaurant for a semi-late dinner.  The show is a string duo or something which doesn’t interest us, so it is in for the night, on the balcony, enjoying the relatively decent weather and a pretty sailaway.