Kuala Lumpur

From Port Dickson we day sailed to Port Klang (Kelang) motoring the last few miles up the river. Port Klang is a major port-perhaps Malaysia's largest-so we were watching out for container ships, tugs and wooden Indonesian freighters (60-70 ft).

We tied up at a floating pontoon across from the Royal Selangor Yacht Club, where visiting boats can stay for a small fee. A club motor boat checks out the pontoons hourly and provides a ride for anyone wanting to go ashore. The river, unfortunately, has a bit of trash that cruises up and back with the tide. Richard pulled out a small rusted refrigerator that had wedged itself between the dock and Moonshadow.

The train station is a short walk from the yacht club so two days in a row we took an hour long commuter train ride into Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. KL is a very modern city and easy to get around using the light rail system, monorail, buses, taxis and of course on foot.

The first morning, after finding coffee and a snack, we headed for the Thai embassy to apply for visas. Seems that everyone decided to come to the Thai embassy that day so we took a number and waited. Sitting next to us was a young man from Little Rock, Arkansas who was going to Thailand to teach science.

Wandering through the city center we gazed from many angles at the Petronas Towers, the tallest building in the world. It was too late in the day to get tickets to go up, but it is very impressive from street level. Later we took refuge from a monster thunderstorm in a beautiful new Buddhist temple. For over an hour we sat and watched the rain pour down and chatted with a local fellow in the food service business who had worked in Louisiana and Las Vegas.

The Bird Park in the Lake Gardens district was on the agenda for the afternoon. It is billed as the world's largest covered aviary. We saw storks, egrets, ibis, parrots and several types of hornbills.
We also saw monkeys climbing up the outside of the overhead netting. Trying to get in? The daily afternoon thundershower came as we sat on the covered balcony of the Hornbill Restaurant eating ice cream and looking out over the park.