Kualalumpur city of surprises an arabian nights cityPrepared by Harold Stephens
Travel Correspondent for Thai Airways International
Even when you know Kuala Lumpur, or think you know it, it comes as a surprise. It was a year or two since I last visited this capital of Malaysia and when I drove into town it was almost as if I had never been there before.
In the early 1970s I lived in KL, as everyone affectionately calls the city, when I was preparing one of the first guidebooks to the country for APA Press, which is Inside Guides today. The city isn‘t even remotely the same today as it was back then. Nor were the Malaysians the same back then. You hardly, if ever, saw a woman in a headscarf or veil.
Sometimes we have to be away from a place for some time to recognize that it has changed. Years ago I made the drive from KL to Singapore at least once a month. It was a difficult drive on a narrow road which they called the Trunk Road. It took almost a day and I had to battle timber lorries and oncoming buses that were a constant threat. Not today. Malaysia is blessed with a super highway that runs all the way from Johor Baharu, across the causeway from Singapore, to the Thailand border. You can do the complete distance in about ten hours, and the highway bypasses all the towns and villages.
This time I drove from Singapore and what was always a bottleneck––immigration at the causeway and then once across the channel finding the highway to KL––is no longer a worry. Today there is a second causeway that leads directly to the super highway.
The Malaysians have done much to beautify their highways. The rest stops every fifty kilometers or so are excellent. The restrooms are clean and there are kiosks, food stalls and restaurants. But I think what came as a complete shock were the trees along the highway. Endless rows of trees all the way from Johor to the outskirts of KL; and, they are teak trees, kilometer after kiilometre of teak trees. They not only add to the beauty of the drive but they will also, certainly, add to the economy of the country in another dozen years when the teak is ready for harvesting. I just hope the authorities don't get greedy and chop down all the trees.
Indeed, KL is a city of sights and, for visitors, it’s an easy, two-hour hop from Bangkok. Royal Holidays has several programmes that help visitors to enjoy the city and sites.
One site you can’t escape is the Petronas Twin Towers, until recently the tallest building in the world. KL is not as crowded as New York or London, where space is limited, so why, we might ask, the construction of such a towering building? It’s Malaysia’s way of expressing to the world that they are someone. It is impressive.
KL is, and always has been, one of the most striking cities in Southeast Asia. To many who see it for the first time, it comes as a genuine surprise. One certainly doesn’t expect an Arabian Nights city to appear in the tropics but Kuala Lumpur does so.
The capital has a most interesting history. Little more than 100 years ago it was a tin mining camp in the jungle at the confluence of two muddy rivers. A dreadful place, sweltering hot, plagued by wild animals and racked with diseases. One month after the first party of 69 miners arrived, all but 19 were dead from tropical diseases. But the mines prospered and more miners arrived, along with con men, prostitutes and gamblers—and Chinese warlords competing with one another to take control.
Frank Swettenham, a young British resident, was sent to clean up the place. He made contact with the most notorious warlord, Yap Ah Loy, gave him the title of "Kaptain China" and put him in charge. A few weeks later, Kaptain China reported to Swettenham. There would be no more trouble. His men unloaded burlap bags they were carrying, presents to the District Officer—the heads of fourteen warlords rolled out onto the floor, the enemies of Kaptain China.
Together Swettenham and Kaptain China built a new town. They laid out where streets and avenues would appear, tore down attap huts, built brick kilns, and began construction of the government Secretariat Building and the railway station, even though they were years away from a railroad. Within 20 years Kuala Lumpur was a thriving metropolis.
KL has gone through several building stages. In the early years the founders wanted the architecture to reflect the country’s Muslim heritage. The city’s proliferation of highways and highrises in recent years, however, has miraculously made the incongruous blend of past and present, eastern mysticism with western technology, into quite a unique city. Steel and glass skyscrapers of every conceivable design sprout almost indiscriminately amongst the older, more sedate buildings of the colonial past. The Twin Towers shadows the Jaime Mosque, built a hundred years ago at the conjunction where the Klang and the Gombok Rivers meet.
Jaime Mosque might be the oldest mosque in town, but the spiritual center of Kuala Lumpur, and indeed the symbol of Islam for the whole country, is the Masjid Negara, the National Mosque. Built in 1965, it occupies a 13-acre (5.2 hectare) landscaped site on Jalan Sultan Himshamuddin. The complex is dominated by a jagged, star-shaped dome and a single minaret rising 240 feet (73 meters) from the centre of a fountain. The 18 points of the dome represent Malaysia's 13 states and the five pillars of Islam. One of the largest in the region, the mosque blends traditional Muslim decorative art with modern day interpretations of Islamic design.
In spite of being an Arabian Nights city at heart, KL does ring with a colonial past. Behind the Jaime Mosque, starting from the corner of Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman (Batu Road) and Jalan Raja, stands a row of former colonial built buildings, all designed in the distinctive Moorish style. These are the old City Hall, the High Court, the former colonial Secretariat (now the Supreme Court) and the former General Post Office, all completed around 1890 to 1900. They remain largely in defiance to the changing times, functional and visually stunning monuments to a romantic past.
The Supreme Court is the most photographed building in the city, with a 130-foot (40-metre) clock tower—the Big Ben of Malaysia—topped with a golden dome and flanked on either side by two dome-topped towers. During state occasions, coloured lights brighten the arches of the Supreme Court, giving it a fairytale look.
Opposite these buildings, facing the Padang, is the Selangor Club, or the Spotted Dog as they called it. The mock-Tudor-style club became the centre of colonial society after its construction in 1890. The green lawn Padang is used to this day for playing cricket and it serves as the venue for Independence Day celebrations which are held on August 31 each year.
At the other end of the Padang is an impressive plaza, Merdeka Square, symbolizing the country's independence. It features a huge national flag atop a 100 meter high flagpole.
Across from the railway station is another Moorish masterpiece, the Malaya Railway Administration Building. Down the road is the former Majestic Hotel, KL's contribution to grand colonial hostelries. Rescued from the wrecking ball in 1983, it has been converted into the National Art Gallery, housing a permanent collection of works by Malaysian artists in what used to be the hotel dining room and lobby.
A reminder of the colonial past that you don't find in travel brochures is the Coliseum Hotel & Restaurant on Batu Road. It was the first place to which I headed when I got back into town. I feared it might be closed down but it was still there, doing business as it has been for the past century. They no longer have hotel rooms upstairs but Mr. Ho is still there serving up meals in the restaurant. He has been there 48 years.
This is the place to go for lunch if you like kidney pie and Yorkshire pudding served in old British atmosphere. The only thing missing is the solar topee that once hung on the coat rack. Many years ago a rubber planter came in from his plantation and hung up his topee, but having drunk too many stinghas that night, he left forgetting his topee. He never came back for it and it hung there for years until someone stole it.
No visitor to KL should bypass Chinatown, an area bounded roughly by Jalan Bandar, Jalan Petaling and Jalan Sultan. Along these and adjoining side streets, a dazzling array of textiles, fruits, flowers, live animals, herbal medicines and other exotic delicacies are available around the clock, or so it seems. Shopping here reaches a frenzied peak at dusk, when the middle section of Jalan Petaling is cordoned off and transformed into an open air night market called pasar malam.
Down in the heart of Chinatown is a Chinese temple I’d advise everyone to see. Finding your way through the crooked streets and narrow alleys is half the fun. It’s called the Sze Ya Temple and is opposite the Central Market off Jalan Hang Kasturi. The temple, the oldest Chinese temple in the city, was built by Yap Ah Loy, Kaptain China, the warlord who helped Frank Swettenham found the city.
As I mentioned, dominating the skyline of KL is the 88 storey Petronas Twin Towers. At 452 metres above street level, the Twin Towers is located at the intersection of Jalan Ampang and Jalan P. Ramlee.
Construction on the towers began on September 15, 1992, and 41 months later, on February 13, 1996, Prime Minister Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad officiated its opening. The geometric shaped towers have an area of 341,763 square metres for offices, executive amenities and conference facilities.
The Twin Towers is not to be confused with the Menara Kuala Lumpur, the Kuala Lumpur Tower, at the other end of Jalan P. Ramlee. The tower, 515 metres above sea level, is a telecommunications tower with a revolving restaurant and a viewing gallery at the top. It is the highest telecommunications tower in Asia and the fourth highest in the world.
While we are on the subject of records, other than the tallest building, the tallest flagpole and the tallest communications tower, Malaysia holds a few other records.
Malaysia is the world's largest exporter of semiconductor chips, thanks largely to the presence of the U.S. chip manufacturers.
Malaysia is the world's leading producer of rubber, palm oil and commercial hardwood, and she has abundant oil resources.
Malaysia is also Southeast Asia's most racially mixed nation, with Malays—most of whom are Muslims—making up 57 percent of its 18 million people, Chinese 32 percent and Indians 11 percent.
Next week we will take a a look at Singapore outdoors.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERSQ. Dear Mr. Stephens, I applaud your stand on sticking to the bright side regarding travel destinations and let those that can't see much of anything good cover the remainder. Most writers seem to enjoy looking for only the downsides in wherever they go and can't wait to gleefully express their opinions of other societies' shortcomings. It probably doesn't hurt much in some areas that are dangerous, and don't really have all that much to offer anyway, to warn prospective travelers as long as it's kept in perspective. Keep the stories coming. Ed Boden, N.C. USA
A, Dear Ed, I thank you for your nice comment. And I shall keep the stories coming. —HS
Harold Stephens
Bangkok
E-mail: ROH Weekly Travel (booking@inet.co.th)
Note: The article is the personal view of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the view of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. | 
