Tuesday – April 7, 2026 – Port Klang/Kuala Lumpur
The featured photo for today was taken at Batu Caves. It shows the 272 steps up the hillside to the caves and the 141-foot-tall statue of the Hindu god Murugan. This statue is the tallest Murugan in Malaysia and the second tallest Murugan in the world.
Today we are excited to be on an excursion that will take us to a variety of locations in and around Kuala Lumpur. We docked at Port Klang which is about 27 miles from Kuala Lumpur. On the way to Kuala Lumpur, our first stop was Batu Caves. The caves are a major attraction in the area. They are reached by climbing 272 stairs arranged in groups of 17 stairs (16 sets). Each set of stairs is painted a different color from those above and below it, so it makes a colorful staircase. I did not make the climb – I didn’t want to put my knees through that torture. Jan and Kelsey did make the climb up and down and provided photos from and at the top. While they were climbing I walked around the area at the base – there was plenty to see there as you’ll see from the gallery.
Next stop on this excursion is the Petronas Twin Towers. These towers are quite impressive and for 8 years were the tallest buildings in the world (until replaced by Taipei 101 in 2004). We didn’t go inside but did have time to admire the construction from a park near the towers. The history of the building and its construction make interesting reading – click on the link above.
Our group had a reservation for lunch at Kampung Kitchen on level 10 at IBIS City Centre. This was a buffet lunch with plenty of choices. There is a photo of some of our choices – the only item I know all 3 of us chose was spring rolls. Meal was not a tasty as yesterday in Singapore but still very good – I would go back.
Next stop was the National Monument to honor the sacrifices of Malaysian military. It is reminiscent of the US Marine Corp War Memorial in Arlington County, VA. That is because the Malaysian official who commissioned the design in Kuala Lumpur liked what he saw in Arlington, VA. Also at the National Monument site is the Kuala Lumpur Cenotaph. You can read about it if you click on the link above for the monument. While at the monument area we had a more clear view of the tallest building in Kuala Lumpur – Merdeka 118. Merdeka 118 is the second tallest building in the world – second only to Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Next, and final, stop of the excursion was the Sultan Abdul Samad Building. It originally was the home of British administrative offices and was renamed in the 1970’s. I has an iconic clock tower and is usually seen when you request images of Kuala Lumpur. We didn’t go inside but had a good look at the front of the structure. We returned to the dock in Port Klang and did some shopping in the cruise terminal before walking back to Magnifica. Our original departure was to have been 6:00 pm but we didn’t leave until around 7:30 pm after the last excursion bus returned to the dock. It had been caught in traffic that was stopped due to accidents on the highway. There is a time-lapse of our departure from Port Klang in today’s gallery.
You’ll find today’s gallery here.