Q: Where do Koalas go on vacation? A: Kuala Lumpur. When we started our cruise in Aukland, NZ one month and one week ago, we had a lecturer from Australia who was Welsh by birth. During each presentation she would interject some corny jokes and with her Celtic accent and laugh we looked forward to each and every one of them. She also challenged us to come up with some of our own, so I gave her this one to use in a future lecture. She loved it.

Klang is a district of Selangor in western Malaysia. You will better know Kuala Lumpur which is about an hour and forty-five minutes NE of where we docked. There is not much going on in Klang on a Sunday for almost every shop and business is closed. We had some excursion options and traveling into Kuala Lumpur was one. But this day was hot and very hazy. We weighed our options, factoring in that the Kuala Lumpur excursion was an eight hour long tour of which more than three hours would be on a bus with most businesses closed. Yes the Petronas towers would have been awesome, but in the immortal words of our dear friend, Nina–– “If you have seen one Teton, you have seen them all.“

Our other option, which we took, was to take a twenty-five minute shuttle to a Mall. Now remember… up until now a Mall in this part of the world refers to covered alleyways with shop after shop of everything and anything.

However…. In Klang Malaysia, a Mall is a Mall as in a Mall– one big complex with stores in it. We did pick up some T-shirts and other clothing staples and I did get a chuckle in the sporting goods section where they were selling women’s surfing silks with attached Hajibi. I now wish I had purchased one for my Stand Up Paddle sessions.

So as the sun began to set, we made our way up to the Observation lounge for a departing cocktail and a backdrop of, “What A Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong; a Crystal Serenity custom for leaving port.

Well… at least we have the dress … and me.