{"id":80,"date":"2005-12-25T18:00:30","date_gmt":"2005-12-25T16:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yachtquovadis.com\/?p=80"},"modified":"2009-09-28T19:54:39","modified_gmt":"2009-09-28T17:54:39","slug":"kuala-lumpur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yachtquovadis.com\/?p=80","title":{"rendered":"Kuala Lumpur"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We took a trip to Kuala Lumpur for the day. From Port Dickson it was a 40 minute taxi ride to Seremban and then a hour on a commuter train to downtown Kuala Lumpur.
\nThe city is known for its extreme architectural achievements, the main railway station<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

a fitting introduction.
\nBuilt in 1911 in what they call an extravagant ‘neo-Moorish’ style after the design of a British architect, it is also a grand hotel;<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

then over an uncrossable road is an almost equally impressive Malaysian Rail administration building.<\/p>\n

It’s not an easy town to visit as a pedestrian as it’s criss-crossed by wide roads, expressways and overbridges. There is often no way to walk from one part to another and although there may be one, it is often a long walk to the next underpass beneath the obstruction.
\nThere is however, a network of light rail and monorail around the central city, that makes getting about easier. However, unlike the efficient integrated system in Singapore which never seems busy, is fast and easy to use on one multi-use ticket for bus, train and light rail; in KL it is different. The several lines are all owned and operated independently and although they are modern, they are very busy, even to the extent of becoming uncomfortably crushingly crowded.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But; with Lonely Planet guidebook in hand, we braved the traffic and toof a recommended walk to see some of the sights in the short time available.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The ‘Colonial District’ is a mix of grand old European styled buildings and impressive new, like the Kompleks Dayabumi with an Islamic theme.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Central in the area is the large Merdeka Square where the Colonial British played cricket but which now has a 100m flag-pole (said, like other KL landmarks, to be the biggest in the world…)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

and on one side the old Royal Selangor Club<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

still a gathering place for the elite, but not as grand as in the days of tin mining.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Nearby there’s St Mary’s Cathedral from 1894<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

and on the opposite side of the square the Sultan Abdul Samad building dating back to the late 1890s. It’s also designed with a ‘moorish’ look, by the same British architect who designed the cathedral and who was an associate of the man responsible for the gloriously towered Railway Station.
\nIt’s now the Supreme Court.
\nWe were there shortly before an ASEAN meeting and soon after another when important heads of state were visiting;<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

so the gardens and fountains were looking their best<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

with many flags flying.<\/p>\n

Next page \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n

Over a couple of expressways is the junction of the Klang and Gombak Rivers from where the city got it’s name, Kuala Lumpur appropriately meaning ‘muddy confluence’…they say…<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong>On the point is the Masjid Jamek<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

a grand mosque in classic style. Maybe or maybe not it is a surprise that it too was designed by the man who designed the Railway Station!
\nIt was Friday midday so we couldn’t enter, but that was an excellent reason to walk another block into the Indian quarter for lunch…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

and, as it often is, saving dishwashing, but making for messy eating, served on a banana leaf.
\n(With so much good cheap and interesting food everywhere, that was just the first lunch of the day!)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This is a South-Indian Chettiar community, a street of shop-houses, busy with food, moneychangers<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

and street-side sellers…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

… the Indian woman above posed obligingly and smiled nicely for the photo, but she was also right alongside some beautiful ceramic tiles with a peacock design…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In Chinatown the old Central Produce Market is now converted to shops of craft and food<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

and a little further on the whole street of Jl Petaling has been taken over by market with stalls selling everything;<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

it’s one of the places that give KL the name for being a place of bargains.
\nEverything is as cheap as; there’s no respect for copyright or licence; and just sometimes, some of it actually works…<\/p>\n

This Chinatown seems to be a watered-down Chinese culture, but still has it’s share of temples<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Next page \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n

From the fussy and neglected over-decoration of the Chinese we took light rail to the other extreme, the maybe tallest buildings in the world, the landmark Petronas Towers over in the business district.<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong>They certainly go a long way up<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

and even on a dull day are shining metallic in the light.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In their base it’s all shops, there must be thousands, and it’s very busy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Christmas is coming, although this very Westernised shopping area is one of the few places where you would know it…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Outside there is a wide recreation area of outdoor theatre, lakes and swimming for the family.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On a clear day the view over the city from the towers must be dramatic and even then with a lot of cloud about the queues to go up were impossibly long. We couldn’t afford to spend that time as we were only in town for the day, instead we joined the crushing crowd on the underground back to the railway station for the train back to Seremban and Port Dickson.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-malaysia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yachtquovadis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yachtquovadis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yachtquovadis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yachtquovadis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yachtquovadis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yachtquovadis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2850,"href":"https:\/\/yachtquovadis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions\/2850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yachtquovadis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yachtquovadis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yachtquovadis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}