Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's Powerhouse

KL as the locals call it started in the 1860s when a group of tin mining prospectors landed at the confluence of the Sungai Klang and Sungai Gombak rivers. This settlement quickly turned into a mining boomtown, ruled in succession by Sultans, the British, the Japanese in between the British again before independence in 1957 and self determination by Malaysia's people...

KL is a real melting pot of cultures with large populations of Malays, Chinese and Indians that seem to live together side by side in harmony. These eclectic cultures are one of the major draw cards of this fascinating and frenetic metropolis.

For me before visiting here, KL made me think of the Colonial past, pollution and the awe inspiring Petronas Towers - well I certainly got far more into the bargain than that and left wanting much more from my new found young friend! :-)

Our choice of hotel was decided by arriving at the chaotic Puduraya Bus Station and basically finding the first place outside towards Chinatown and ended up in a rather nice room at the Hotel Impiana as they were having a special offer...

Quick Tips:

About the pollution. When we were there in January the air was fine – equivalent to London on a hot day... Perhaps 'summer' is worse however we are so close to the equator I am not sure it makes that much difference?

The world famous Petronas Towers are a must see and they have a viewing bridge halfway up where you can get FREE tickets to see the rest of KL laid out below you...

Another more historic area to visit is the Merdeka (Freedom) Square, which was the centre of the British colonial power as evidenced by the imposing mock Tudor Royal Selangor Club.

Chinatown is another great place to visit and to stay, as it is a crowded and vibrant area packed with colourful shop fronts and is home to the hectic Jl Petaling Night Market and the enclosed Central Market.

KL also boasts a number of impressive mosques of which the most famous and accessible is Masjid Jamek at the site where KL's founders first landed.

Further afield are the Batu Caves which we were most fortunate to visit during the annual Hindu festival of Thaipusam...

Best Way To Get Around:

KL's public transport is in a weird transitional period where there are a number of new developments such as the excellent overhead LRT (Light Rail System), however unaccountably none of these different lines seem to integrate and it can be quite an exercise getting from one place to another if you need to use more than one kind of transport.

The Putra Line is the best of the three LRT lines as it seems to link all the major attractions together quite well and integration is finally starting to happen now that the new KL Sentral station has opened as this now links the rest of the city to the national rail network quite well.

There is also a confusing bus system which as we were in central town we only used once as a special charter out to the Batu Caves for Thaipusam (it only had one destination so we had no fear of getting lost, and worked brilliantly!).

For all its craziness, KL traffic and transport was actually very efficient and fast moving - even when catching a bus 15km out of town into a seething throng of 1.2m people the journey only took 45mins!

Visiting the ‘Twin Towers’ was the one thing that I was REALLY looking forward to in KL!

A great deal was made about how the Petronas Towers was the tallest building in the world at 1483ft (452m), but really that’s not quite true as the CN Tower is actually the tallest building at 1815ft (553m) as I can personally attest. The Petronas Towers was in fact the tallest office block in the world, although the Sears Tower in Chicago still had the highest occupied building floor, more than 200ft higher than the highest occupied floor of the Petronas Towers – so the jury was out on that claim as well, especially considering the Taipei 101 building has now surpassed that record this October

Erm, the record for the world's tallest two freestanding towers?

But it DOES look far swankier than those buildings, and I’m sure there was no coincidence that the hotel room we booked had a clear view of it.

That first night we hightailed out to KLCC for a look round and gazed in awe up at the sheer majesty of the beautiful structures above us!

The next morning we woke up early to make sure we got a couple of only 800 daily free tickets for the Sky Bridge on level 41 (closed on Mondays!), so you could miss out if you turn up late! Once you have your tickets you go into a sort of mini museum on the construction of the building, followed by a guided tour up on the Sky Bridge itself.

The tapering twin towers share an Islamic-influenced geometric octagonal plan with 88 floors (all these ‘8’s are on purpose as they signify the lucky Chinese number. If you fancy some background revision, check out the movie Entrapment, which features the Petronas Towers in some detail.

There is also a fantastic shopping centre here and we got to see the spectacular movie Hero on its opening day in Malaysia, a film that had yet to see general release in the West at the time.

As fortune would have it we were in KL for the annual Hindu Thaipusam Festival which was held this year between Jan 20-22 with an estimated 1.2 million people making the pilgrimage...

Thaipusam is a pilgrimage for devout Hindus who come to the colossal Batu Caves situated in a bluff of limestone karsts 15kms north of KL. Many set off from the Sri Mahamariamman Temple in Chinatown in the early hours of the morning on a route culminating with a long stairway of 272 steps leading into the enormous Temple Cave at the top.

Thaipusam has a number of meanings for Hindus, with the most spectacular and visible one being those that come to do penance for misdeeds or being unworthy of their gods. This penance takes the form of what look like incredibly masochistic feats of atonement such as seeing the endless procession of men who have attached limes, oranges or small silver urns to their backs and chests with hooks directly into their skin! Some add to this by attaching these hooks to rope which would be held by family members providing resistance and keeping these ropes taut against the devotee straining against it.

Others wear enormous 'kavadi's' (meaning "suffering at every step"), which are basically ornately decorated shrines assembled upon a steel frame that is supported around the bearers waist. Many of these kavidis weigh from 100-150 lbs and upwards and also have to be manhandled up the steps into the temple above.

Not all worship involves self inflicted pain, and many men and women make the walk to the Caves barefooted with a simple silver urn of fresh milk on their head in thanks for any children born that year.

This was without doubt one of the most spiritual experiences I have ever had and I was so glad to be a part of it, being surrounded by so many people devoted to their religion in this manner. It was a very peaceful event and we met many people only too happy to explain the significance of this event to a pair of curious westerners...