1/5–Kuala Lumpur

Today, we were scheduled to take a tour with the cruise critics folks.  In a very convoluted story, we ended up being the assigned tour leaders, but as fate would have it, neither of us are feeling well enough to get into a mini-van with 12 other people for 8 hours.  Ed has a bronchial cough, which is probably not contagious at this point, but is terribly irritating and I have the beginnings of a sinus infection – making me want to just sleep the day away.  Thus, we meet the group at the assigned time, and hand back the reins to the original tour leader, along with our tour fee for our unexpected absence.

So, today is a relaxation day.  And if there is any port we would want to miss, it is probably Kuala Lumpur.  After grabbing a little bite to eat, and some coffee, we make our way out into the port terminal facilities right before the crew has their safety drill.  We figure it is the best time to be off the ship – and the best time to use the free wi-fi in the terminal!  There is a huge hall with lots of seating, where we spend an hour or so catching up on the world and downloading books to the kindle.  There is also a “crafts” market, with stalls set up selling clothes and souvenirs, that we peruse for a while, wasting time until the drill onboard is over.  Down one of the long corridors in the terminal is also a nice display of facts about Kuala Lumpur.  That takes about half an hour of our time too – and is a great way to learn a little about the port we are missing. Just as good as taking the tour (at least in our opinion!).

There is a small convenience store where we used a few of our Malaysian Ringgits to buy some Cokes, then headed back aboard the ship for a quiet afternoon (including a nap for me).  Oh, and btw, did I mention it was raining cats and dogs out there most of the day too?  Made for an even better decision to stay on the ship.

As it turned out, the group found another couple to take our place on the tour, so we got our money back in the end – all’s well that ends well. 

Oh, and PS, we are recovering nicely day by day.