We would like to mention here that Murphy is alive and well for people who travel. Just after we left Miami, we got a "good news" message from USAA that our backup credit card, a Mastercard, was going to be replaced by a Visa. Great. The new card would be in the hold mail and our backup credit card would be useless. Oh, now that was good news. Next thing, we got a message from Capital One that our other backup credit card was breached and canceled. We finally convinced Capital One to send the replacement card to the Port Agent in Sydney. They did, but it apparently went to the wrong address and was never heard from again. Back to the drawing board with Capital One. Try it again with yet another card and send it to the Port Agent in Singapore and try not to goof it up this time. We had little hope, but, the phone rang in our suite at 8:00 a.m. when we arrived in port. The card, miracle of miracles, was here! Singapore was working out well for us!
In Singapore we took a "bum boat" ride on the river for a great view of the iconic landmarks that are Singapore, the Mer-Lion and Marina Bay Sands Hotel.
And then on to Raffles Hotel. Story was that one had to wear long pants and closed-toe shoes to be allowed inside Raffles. We obeyed since we wanted to see inside. Turns out that first of all, no one is allowed in the lobby except guests and restaurant patrons. They have a big dude decked out in his Rajah finest to ensure that the riff-raff doesn't get in.
And second of all, the famous Long Bar where one can order a $35 Singapore Sling was closed for refurbishment. So, our group was the only people there who were in dress code, because roaming the courtyards is a come-as-you-are proposition. Nice courtyard with plenty of Sling advertising...and maybe this was the 1800's version of a pool.
Singapore was the segment turnover point and 180 guests came and went before we left for Port Klang, Malaysia. This new segment had an interesting story: We were originally scheduled for Kuala Lumpur, Myanmar, and overnight in Phuket before heading for India. The itinerary was changed with the a story about the water levels in Phuket and the plan was to spend four days (four DAYS!) in Myanmar. The crowd was not amused. So, the water levels suddenly improved and we wound up in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Phuket, no Myanmar at all, and the addition of Sri Lanka. Some of us conspiracy theorists thought that the whole thing may have had more to do with security than water levels...
Anyway, Port Klang is one of the busiest in the world and serves Kuala Lumpur. The city is a study in contrasts.
Independence Square:
Thean Hou Temple:
Sri Kandaswamy Kovil Temple (blessing a new Toyota):
The Blue Mosque:
And (everyone's seen them on TV), the Petronas Towers:
Next stop, Penang, Malaysia.
Every morning, Elvis performed live, making espressos at the coffee bar (his name is really Elvis and he does Elvis in the crew show, too). And every day, we heard...
Cruise Director Jamie, all announcements begin with: "..aaaand....."
Captain Atanas: "partly Cwowdy"
Our favorite waiter, I Gede: "so far, so good"
