Towers at the muddy confluence

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The value of a hot, overhead shower, cereal with milk and fresh, soft toast should never be underestimated. After a month of cold bucket showers and fried noodles with fish for breakfast, there was nothing in the world I would have enjoyed more as I took all three in turn at my homestay in Kuala Lumpur (which translates as 'muddy confluence'), sitting outside in a shady patio making use of the wi-fi. Ahhh the modern comforts! After staying in a small village for a month, getting back to a big city was exciting, but I felt a little bit out of practice. I also hadn't been in a dorm for a long time, with most of the accommodation through SE Asia and India being hotels, so arriving in my KL dorm was an all-round assault on my senses.

Now, I'll make no bones about this - I love skyscrapers, and KL is full of them. So it was with some glee that I set off exploring the city's Golden Triangle - replacing one type of forest with another. This one, however, is considerably faster growing and much less endangered. I remember seeing photos of the Petronas Towers when they were built back in 1998, and being just as interested in all the other skyscrapers around them, so much of the Golden Triangle was already distantly familiar to me. The scale of recent development is astonishing for such a comparatively small city, with dozens of new towers, each with their own slickly marketed name and lifestyle slogan. However, the heat was punishing and the sky uniformly gray, so I abandoned the photographic stroll and retired to the air-conditioned safety of my homestay. My first little stroll gave me a good impression of KL as something of a unique Asian city. It's undulating terrain and colonial roots means there are no uniform boring city blocks, with road and small lanes winding their way illogically around Bukit Nanas, a small hillock at the centre of town (upon which perches the 421-metre tall Menara KL). Sprinkled amongst the modern skyscrapers are the odd Chinese shophouse and, very rarely, some remnant of British colonial Malaysia. Sadly, away from Merdeka Square, most of this remaining heritage is not well cared for. So because of this, KL feels intimate and walkable despiute the huge shopping malls, traffic and soaring towers.

My first day finished with an ascent of Menara KL, one of the world's tallest observation towers and a structure which vies with the more famous Petronas Twin Towers for dominance of the skyline. The view from the top, around 280 metres up, is unbeatable... although it should be for RM38 (about 10 British pounds)! I managed to wangle my way down for a coffee and then back up to see sunset, which illuminated the shiny steel Petronas Towers beautifully... the contrast with the gray stormy sky behind making it all the more special.

The next day I went for a stroll around the older side of town - Chinatown and Merdeka Square. I was expecting great food and lots of street life, but I have to say I was disappointed. Chinatown is a bit scruffy but not in a characterful way, and Petaling Street feels like a slightly tamer, sanitised Khao San Road (even at night it didn't really have the same buzz). The area links in to Merdeka Square, a pristine patch of turf used for national ceremonies, home to a very big flagpole and surrounded by some finely restored British colonial buildings. Sadly the area is pockmarked by a fleet of ugly tower blocks which pop up in just about every inconvenient spot (a trend with SE Asian cities), an exception being Menara Dayabumi which successfully blends in by incorporating traditional Islamic designs (ala Petronas). By this point though, an allergic reaction on my feet had made walking pretty painful, so after a few hours rambling around Chinatown I was ready for home. I headed back after lunch and waited until the evening, for my 6pm visit to the Petronas Towers Skybridge.

I have to say I was a bit excited about going up the Petronas Towers. I won't bore you with facts, but they're bloody big, very shiny and there are two of them! Oh, and they're amazingly beautiful and elegant for such huge buildings. The word 'icon' is often overused, but the Petronas Towers really have become the symbol of a nation... a remarkable piece of architecture and engineering (and marketing on the part of Petronas). Their identical tiered crowns pierce the sky from all across the city, but it's the mid-level Skybridge, designed to unify and strengthen the two towers, which permits visitors. For free I might add - well done Petronas! After sitting through a Petronas promo video (with dodgy 3D specs), a small group of visitors is ushered up to the 41st floor in the superfast elevators, and has ten minutes to look around. It's a bit like taking part in Supermarket Sweep, trying to grab all the photos you want before the time runs out and you have to return to the lift. But ten minutes is long enough to appreciate the Skybridge for its uniqueness... suspended about 200 metres above the ground, providing structural stability and architectural harmony to the two behemoths either side. The best experience, however, was walking around the landscaped gardens of KLCC at sunset, as the Petronas Towers lit up, playing off the reds and blues of the night sky. For me, they run New York's Chrysler Building pretty close for the title of the world's most beautiful skyscrapers.

After my month of 'work', I wanted to relax for a while, so my next destination was the island of Penang, in far northwest Malaysia.

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Photos

Photo 9
The crowns of the Petronas Towers against an evening sky

Photo 11
Menara Kuala Lumpur lit up like a torch

Photo 14
Contrast at Merdeka Square

Photo 12
Me with them

Photo 19
From below

Comments

[Dad]

Bliss
You must be in heaven!

[SmithyWorldWide]

yep!

[anonymous]

Say, fella, you can do better than that answer to your dad. I'll do it for ya. Dad, it certainly is heaven. Where on earth can one go up one helluva tall tower (even taller than the Petronas towers due to it being perched on a hill) to view a pair of steel-clad towers?

[SmithyWorldWide]

... sure, let's go with that!

[SmithyWorldWide]

Hi Margaret! I've just spoken to mum and she said you were asking about the book... it'll be a priority when I get back, but considering how many photos I've taken, it may take a while!! Congrats to you both on your anniversary, I wish I'd seen mum in action!