Day Trip to the Royal City

Our guide for today is Fazli, a cheery fellow in a hat. We head out along firstly city streets and before long hit the motorway. Fazli gives interesting information about landmarks as we pass them.

The trip takes 45 minutes and before too long we start to ask questions about language, demographics, and the government system. We learn that although it is recognised as an important language, learning English is not required in schools. It is not uncommon for a Malay speaker to also have a knowledge of Cantonese or Mandarin as well as Urdu. The King is not a hereditary position and the role changes from one regional Sultan to another every five years. The present king is the Sultan of Johor.

We reach the Masjid Ubudaiah and are blown away by how breathtaking it is. We understand that we will only be permitted to view it from the outside and look into the prayer hall, not actually enter it. Fazli has brought a head scarf for me and a sarong for Richard and helps us put them on correctly. As we are about to start looking around the custodian, Iskander tells Fazli that we can be permitted into the prayer hall, possibly because there is no-one else there right now.

Adjacent to the mosque is the royal cemetery and we spend some time looking around before leaving. We stop at a small coffee shop for cool drinks before heading to the old Sultanate Palace.

Made from bamboo, the wall panels are woven and painted in black and yellow giving an illusion of gold from a distance. It is now used as a mausoleum for the royal family before final burial at the mosque cemetery.

Our next stop was to the last blacksmith still making the traditional keris sword. Truly fascinating.

We then had lunch of laksa in a village where the food is all local and traditional

Inside the beautiful Royal Mosque: https://www.youtube.com/live/YGUGcY1tcBo?si=ZFr…

Personal Tour of the Blacksmith’s studio: https://www.youtube.com/live/Efgg-qWCAko?si=QDI…Read more