Day 13 - Port Klang

Day 13 – Port Kelang (for Kuala Lumpur - 28/5/12

Weather – Fine, with periods of cloud, 29C – 34C.

Sunrise – 7.03am

Sunset – 7.20pm

Note for future cruisers – Free wi-fi in Glenn Cruises Terminal.

At midnight we passed 18 miles from Bengkalis Island (Indonesia) on our port side, and at 1.30am we passed 8 miles starboard of Melaka (Malaysia). The pilot climbed on at 5.30am and guided our approach to Klang Selatan channel which led us to Glenn Cruises Terminal.

Today we went on our first Princess tour. We had no plans for this port, as we were here a couple of years ago, and did the KL tour. Just a few days prior we elected to do something a bit different – Princess call them 'Off the beaten track' tours, but they aren't really.

First stop (after a 45 min bus ride) was a visit to a Malay home. The family who lived there were very welcoming, and even put on a lovely little morning tea. The home had fantastic gardens with orchids, vegies, herbs etc etc. It was certainly something different, and we were we decided upon it. The SHB hat also made an appearance here:)

A photo stop at the Blue Mosque followed. This mosque looked very much like the one on the way into KL last visit, but I guess it would huh.

Next stop was in Little India. We were wondering if this was going to give us a sample of what was to come in Mumbai !! It certainly had a vibrant atmosphere, and we quite enjoyed it. We would have liked to have had more time there as the sights, music, noise, smells were a little captivating, so the anticipation of Mumbai on Sunday amped up a bit. On the way back to the bus Donna stopped at a street stall and bought a pair of shoes (of course). $3 is a pretty fair price I would have to begrudgingly admit.

Another photo stop at the Sultans Palace, and then we were on the way back to the ship. Back at port Donna and I had a humorous little exchange. Whenever we have a stop somewhere, I whip the iPad out of the backpack and check out signals of the off chance there maybe free wi-fi about. In the Port terminal there is a room set up with public telephones. I sat in there to wait for Donna who was checking some clothes stalls etc (of course). So I whip out the iPad, and shazaam, there was a really weak signal, but a signal all the same. Donna calls out to come along..yeah yeah, hang on a tick I think I have got something...Donna's response - Yeah, thats because there is a wi-fi zone in the next room!!

We had a good strong free wi-fi signal, so we did a bit of stuff, took our gear back to the ship, grabbed a bite, and the netbook and went off back to the wi-fi room in the terminal. It was good to be able to check bank accounts, catch up on mail, update blog and facebook etc. It was quite noticeable that as the room filled up, the connection really slowed up which I guess is quite understandable.

At 7pm we were off again. Initially the pilot set northbound courses leading back to Malacca Strait, where a north-westerly course was set for our next port of call, Penang.