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Published: March 14th 2008
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Steve & Sue Nah
My fabulous hosts in KL. Steve's a shutter bug, Sue has the patience of a saint, and they both love to eat. It was perfect. Having happily survived the harrowing bus ride and received lots of TLC from the Nahs, we embarked on a whilrwind tour of KL's best sights.
Our first goal was to scope out the train station and get me booked for the next trip up to Penang and Bangkok. During the bus ride the night before, I befriended a pastor and missionary originally from Penang who insisted I stop and spend at least one night in her hometown before leaving for Thailand. I couldn't resist. Once that was booked, it was GO GO GO all around town. Not only did I get the inside scoop on Malaysian politics and diversity, I got a good dash of history and context to go with the fantastic architecture.
We visited both a Chinese Temple and a Buddhist Temple. Thean Hou temple is up on a hillside and the compound (for lack of a better word) is sizeable. When we arrived, they were preparing one of the halls for an Indian wedding and the bride arrived while we were hovering and taking in the building. The temple itself was on the top level and had a fairly steady stream of visitors praying and lighting
KL Sentral
Ceiling inside the new train station incense. Maha Vihara Temple is in an area known as the Brickfields where they used to shape and bake bricks for construction. While there, Steve struck up conversation with a monk visiting from Sri Lanka and he offered to perform a special blessing for us. He is in KL studying with the monks at Maha Vihara to develop his chanting skills. So we experienced a chant and received our blessing from the young monk. I've still got three little yellow threads tied around my wrist. Steve tooks some pictures which are posted on his facebook website and if I get his permission I'll link to them here.
Afterwards, we headed to Lake Gardens and drove around the 200+acres of lush landscape, old colonial houses, and major attractions contained within the Gardens. The National Monument, Planeh-A-rium, and Islamic Arts Museum to name a few. While I didn't get the chance to pop in, both the Bird Park and the Butterfl Park are supposed to be lovely.
The National Mosque was breathtaking during an overcast dusk and just as we were leaving the mullah's call to prayer started up which sent chills up my spine. Sounded like a very different
call than the one I became accustomed to in Singapore's Kampong Glam from the Sultan's Mosque.
Moving a little closer to the center of town, we hit the Central Market which is just what it sounds like, and wandered around Merdeka Square which is the open patch of green in the center of the city. On one side is the Selangor Club, on the other is the Sultan Abdul Samad building, formerly the high court building. Federal Administrative functions were moved to a new city called Putrajaya (see the next entry for more information on that) and the building is still marginally used for small cases.
As Stephen explained the existence and history of some of the building we were viewing, I was struck by how many architectural gems were underutilized or in complete disrepair having been replaced by modern ones. There seem to be a lot of interesting and dynamic places that are simply rotting away. I'm not clear on the extent to which any of it has been labeled of historic significance/value. Kuala Lumpur strikes me as such a dynamic place heavily investing in its evolution and has some major new landmarks to show for it.
Thean Hou Temple
Celebrating the Chinese New Year It would seem a shame to let all of the history be buried in the reach for progress. Made me a little sad to think of it. Especially since I love old, creaky, worn out places. 😉 It will be very interesting to see what happens as a result of the election results and shift in power.
We also wandered through Chinatown where I had my first taste of a warm soy drink with brown sugar. I think it might have just been the equivalent of street vendor soy milk, but it tasted way better than anything you get in a box at the store. Then again, my senses are completely hightened all the time, particularly careening through narrow walkways and vendors in Chinatown. The energy was intense. Not only was I being constantly prodded and poked to buy buy buy, there was a crazy blend of locals bargain hunting and tourists drinking cold beer in buckets and flipping through photo menus of the daily specials.
We wore ourselves clean out and called it a night around 11pm. Not bad given our 4:30am train station rendezvous and morning nap. The next day, we visit Batu Caves and then
they turn me loose on the KLCC!
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Mom
non-member comment
Fab!!
Great photos, I can see you are gettingi nto the new camera!!!