Cruise Day #2 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

First stop on our cruise was Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.   The port was about 1 1/2 hours from the city, and I read lots of not so nice things about pushy taxi drivers.  So, I booked us on a "Light and Easy" tour.  We had a coach take us to a few stops on our way to the Petronas towers where we had a couple of hours around lunch time. 

Looking back at the boat as we left.

Looking forward at the port.

The upholsltry of our coach was very colorful - had to take a picture

Our first stop was the National Monument - it was raining, but we braved the weather.    This monument was built to commemorate the Malaysian's that died in WWII.  Our guide to us if we had ever been to Washington DC - this sculptor will look familiar.  When you see the picture below, you will probably recognize a similar memorial in the US.  The same artist created the Iwo Jima memorial.  It was damaged once in an explosion by communist terrorists.  When it was restored the hats and faces were recreated to look like local Malays vs. "Westerners".  There are beautiful gardens surrounding it.

Next stop was Merdeka Square.  This is where the Malaysian flag was raised for the first time declaring their independence from Britain in 1957.  There was a lot of beautiful British architecture.   Rain drops were falling on our head... so we were quick.

In the distance you can see the KL tower.

Next was a picture stop of the Petronas Towers - 88 stories, 453 meters.  They were the world's tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004 (Taipei 101 took the title then).

The bottom 4 floors are shopping - which we checked out.  There is an observation deck, but the tickets are on a 1st come basis.  Tickets were sold out at 7am - so no observation deck for us.

Dome in center of shopping area.

Chinese New Year decorations.

Lunch at an Indonesian restaurant.  I forgot to take pictures before we dug in.

Back to the boat.  And more rain.

View from our room

Here comes a big storm as we are sailing away.

No sunset for us tonight.

Tonight we dined a the "Chef's Table".  Each course was paired with wines.  The chef and sommelier gave in depth descriptions of each course.  There were 5 couples at the table - 3 from Hong Kong, 1 from Shanghai and us.  It was a lovely evening.

We started in the Schooner's Saloon with some Champagne.

Off to the main table.

You knew it was going to be a good night with that many glasses.

Lobster and Alaskan King Crab Leg Salad. Pear-grapefruit slaw, citrus dressing and micro greens.

The waiters in the main dining room singing.

A highlight of the dinner for Gwen: The second course was paired with Le Crema, Pinot Noir, Russian River, California.  Gwen drank it with every course.

Soup Trio - Green pea bisque, double oxtail consommé, Porcini mushroom soup.
The mushroom won out for us.

One of AJ's (sommelier) tricks.  It's two forks balanced on a toothpick (which is balanced on the tip of another toothpick (the vertical one) stuck in the top of a salt shaker.  It's a cool balancing act.

Our table's chandelier.  In case you can't see immediately - it's silverware.

Chinese-style Duck Roll in a crispy crepe tempura, with Hoisin reduction.

Roasted Double Lamb Cutlet.  Potato-pancetta risotto, broccolini and port wine glaze

Dessert (was not photoed by itself) Warm Granny Smith Apple, Pecan and Pine Nut Torte, Butter Almond ice cream and Calvados whipped cream.  See center of below picture.

And a few petit fours to top off the evening.

Today ended with a Towel Dog to great us.  We slept very well this evening with full stomachs.