They also had a lovely restaurant there so we replenished with a club sandwich and chips and iced coffees before setting off. First stop was the craft centre where we saw them making batik materials…very clever stuff.
Then on to Beryl’s chocolate house to sample some Malaysian chocs….yumm.
Next stop was the Kings Palace which we could only view from the outside.
Now Malaysia has a unique monarchy; the king rotates amongst 9 regions and only gets to sit on the throne for 5 years before the next region takes over. There have been 13 kings since independence from the British which took place on 31 August 1957.(I know the maths doesn’t work out quite right so some of the kings must have sat for less than 5 years).
Onto the war memorial which was beautifully set out....
..........and then to the State Museum which was also very interesting, especially how Malaysia was formed in 1962 from 9 states which included Malaya, Borneo and Sumatra. Singapore split from the union 3 years later to become an independent state. The native Malays are the most privileged and are the ruling class. They get the top jobs and, for example only pay 19% tax whereas the rest (Indians, Chinese etc) pay 27%. From the Museum we finished up at Independence Square where we left the tour and headed for China Town.
Of course there were other interesting sights seen from the coach including passing loads of Embassies and the Malaysian Parliament buildings. The road which houses the British embassy is known by some as ‘the English Channel’ as the French Embassy is on the opposite side of the road. The US embassy is next door to the Iraq Embassy…funny old thing!
Well that’s our culture afternoon…hope your afternoon’s will be good too and not too snowy. BFN……..D&A.
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