A Tour of KL

That's what the locals call it (KL).

On August 3 one of the lecturer's at the college was conscripted to show us around the city. Moaz grew up in Mississauga and has been teaching here for almost three years. He is the resident expert on the local transit system as well as a very interesting person. He has wide ranging interests that include the history, geography and social standards of the country. Most of the newbies (those who came over at the same time as us) signed up for the day long tour. The college provided us with a van and a driver and at 8:30 Saturday morning we were off. We were picked up at our condo. While we were waiting I got a picture of the entrance complete with the security gate and Kim.

Our first stop was to the immediate south of KL in Putra Jaya. This is the newly minted administrative centre of Malaysia. Putra means prince and Jaya means success So it means 'Prince of prosperity' but loosely translated it means 'Malaysia the successful' or 'Malaysia will be successful'; don't ask why but translations here have many "loose" forms. The city, more like one of the old boroughs or five cities of Toronto, is built on an island in a largish lake donated by the local king of Selangor (our state). There are seven bridges to the island each in a different architectural style representing the seven continents. There is obviously some symbolism here. The bridge pictured here was apparently inspired by the European Romantic style. All of the buildings in Putra Jaya are new and magnificently designed to impress. The roads are broad avenues and are impeccably clean by any standards and impossibly clean by Subang Jaya standards.

Once on the island we stopped for a group photo (minus Moaz who was operating cameras). In the background is the main justice office built in the preferred Muslim style with the onion domes. Many other styles are represented. The group includes, from left to right, Ken, Susan, Bill, Kim, Les, Mark, Erin, Steve and Pam. Pam is Steve's wife and is not working here. As we moved on we stopped for about an hour in the plaza below the prime minister's house (palace is more like it). Next to the plaza is a large ornate and very beautiful mosque. In order to visit, all women and men who are wearing shorts must don a robe that is supplied for the visitors. Personally we think the colour suits Bill! We had some time to tour the exterior of the mosque itself but we were not allowed inside because we were not Muslim. Downstairs there is a small market area that sells a wide variety of local goods. Mostly crafts and textiles. Outside on this level we were right next to the lake across which we could see the palace of the king of Selangor. Part of the deal for the donation of the area to the national government was that they would build him this palace to be the official residence of the Selangor royal family. Also nearby is a quay where one could take a boat tour of the lake; we didn't have time but we will go back for that experience.

Once we finished in Putra Jaya we re boarded the van and moved on to central KL itself. The first stop was the palace of THE KING. There are fourteen states and each is ruled by a royal family called variously king, sultan or rajah. They take it in turns to elect a "high king" from among their number and that family moves into this palace. It is like the Governor General's place in Ottawa except that visitors are not allowed inside. The guards, however, perform exactly as the mounties at Rideau hall or the guards at Buckingham palace...they don't move or pay any noticeable attention to the plebes. It must be a tough gig though because they are dressed to the nines and sit still, albeit in some shade, in the extreme heat and humidity. We didn't see any of them keel over.

We went next to the National Monument. It is a war memorial for the first and second world wars as well as the war against the Communist insurrection from 1948 through 1960. The colonial government declared a state of emergency that lasts 12 plus years as teh government forces fought the insurrection by the Malayan National Liberation Army; this was apparently an arm of the Communist movement of that period.

Next stop was the Orchid Garden. Admission here is free on weekdays and RM1.00 (about 30 cents Canadian) on weekends. We paid and wandered in. Next time we'll call ahead because most of the orchids were not in bloom.

We moved on to little India because most of us had already visited Petaling Street and the Central Market. Petaling street is a major 24/7 outdoor market in Chinatown. You can buy just about anything there and we describe it more in another entry. The Central Market is a showplace for local goods and crafts and that too is a subject for another entry. We wandered around for a while and saw more textiles than we thought possible. Every shop save one or two sold brightly colours materials that could easily be made into magnificent saris by the seamstresses invariably working in the back or, rarely, in the stall next door.

We travelled next to KL Sentral; that is not a spelling error it is the name of the very new and very modern transportation terminal for the city. It includes railway, bus light rail and monorail hubs. A stop for lunch was about all we had time for.

The van next took us to the awesome Batu Caves, the sacred place of the Hindus in Malaysia, which are situated thirteen kilometers north of KL. They were discovered in 1891/2. They consist of three main caves and a number of smaller ones. The caves are made of limestone and stretch 400 meters deep into the rock. You have to climb 272 steps (which we all dutifully accomplished) to enter the Temple Cave or Cathedral Cave which is the best known and largest of the caves. The ceiling is 100 m above the ground and this huge chamber is lighted by daylight from several holes in the ceiling which is 100 m above the ground. All the way up the stairs, you are greeted by long tailed-macaque monkeys, which are very friendly, especially if they think that you have food to offer. If you have the misfortune of not attending to your bag of peanuts one of these little beasts will swoop down and grab the whole thing.

On arrival back in KL we stopped at 'Eye on Malaysia'. This is a park near a lake that has a giant ferris wheel (see the picture on the heading). It was put up to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of 'Merdeka' which is Malaysian for independence. It was 1957 when they negotiated independence from the British Empire and took their place as members of the Commonwealth.

From here we had the van drop us off at the Traders Hotel and we sent the driver home. We were across a park from KLCC (that's Kuala Lumpur City Centre). Its the place where the famous twin towers rise to dominate the skyline along with two other landmark buildings. Below the towers is the large multi-story mall and a convention centre that connects to the Aquaria (aquarium to you uninitiated) and eventually to the Traders hotel. On the thirty third floor of Traders we settled into a private booth like seating area next to the hotel's swimming pool. From here we had a wonderful view of the twin towers. We had a few snacks and some liquid refreshment while we waited for sunset. Viewed from this vantage point it was really impressive. Around 7:30 we left Traders and headed over to KLCC to see if we could locate a good restaurant for supper. Moaz thought Madam Qwan's was the best choice. The park and the mall were shoulder to shoulder packed. Apparently there was a PC convention and trade show on in the convention Centre. Malaysians love their toys and can get great deals at these shows so the place was packed. We got to Madam Qwan's only to find it lined up out the door and a longer wait than we had the stomach for. We looked around the level for another restaurant and the main criterion was that it have space to immediately seat eleven people. We found a place and were installed at a large table. Once seated and menued we found that it was Vietnamese. Well, well, another culinary adventure. We had excellent conversation and very tasty, unknown food.

About 9:45 we decided to try to negotiate a taxi ('teksi' in Malaysian) to return us to Subang Jaya. Outside KLCC Moaz tried to negotiate the fare. Because we were a large crowd and it was late the two drivers demanded RM45.00 for a ride that would cost about RM20.00 or less if they turned on the meter. It is the preferred practice of local cab drivers to haggle a set fare rather than use the meter. Moaz thought he could get them down to RM25.00 if he took the time but several of the party decided to try the public transit system so we joined them. It took another two hours to get home due to the rather elastic Malaysian sense of time and schedule.

It was a long day but well worth the effort. We kept the itinerary and any of you who decide to come out can count on a repeat of the trip.

Thanks Moaz!!!