Days 73-77 of 138 cruise days traveling Fort Lauderdale to London on the Viking Sky.
After leaving Singapore, we had a casual sea day going up the very busy Strait of Malacca (which has to be the busiest shipping lane for trade between India and China) as we headed towards Kuala Lumpur, then heading to Georgetown (Penang) in Malaysia followed by Phuket in Thailand.
In an earlier post, on that schedule change to Bora Bora, I wrote about the key to world cruising is that you have to be flexible – well that came into play for us as after leaving Singapore, Gina caught a bug (not the flu thank god) and we needed to take a couple of days to feel normal. So arriving in Kuala Lumpur we we told that the ship docked in the port of Klang and that the bus trip to Kuala Lumpur was an 80 minute bus ride from the port. So, we opted to play the long game of for health recovery and stay on board the ship, get better, not passing it on to others and while we were at it, get some laundry done. Oh, well would have like to seen Kuala Lumpur but we will save that for another time.
Arriving in our 2 day stop in Georgetown Malaysia, capital of the island of Penang, we enjoyed a nice little walk around little India, saw some sites of Chinatown and walked around some of the historic landmarks near the port that date back to the British occupation of the area. It was certainly hot and humid, and the people of Malaysia were simply wonderful.
Leaving Georgetown, we sailed overnight to Phuket, Thailand were we had the excursion called Shrines and Temples which was 4 1/2 hour tour the grounds of a Buddhist temple, a visit to a Chinese shrine and shopping at the Phuket old town and a Thailand souvenir/variety store selling every imaginable trinket/t-shirt and Phuket’s memorabilia. Shopping was amazing as the stores had fantastic prices and we could not believe the inexpensive cost of things in Thailand – my first experience with that sort of culture – where a fantastic men’s dress shirt was only $11 USD.
Back at the port, which was located in Pa Tong we ate at Thai restaurant- and get this – our selection off the menu was two spring rolls, plate of Pad Thai, Fried rice with chicken, 2 bottles of beer, a large bottle of water and the total bill was $15.50 USD! All good size portions that all tasted wonderful!
We left Thailand and now headed to SriLanka which is 2 sea days away crossing the Bay of Bengal. Until then, hope you enjoy our blog on our adventures so far!
