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Published: January 11th 2007
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Petronos Towers, KL
This used to be the tallest building in the world before it was usurped by Taipei 101 in 2004. Takkan Melayu Hilang di Durnia
(Malays will never vanish from the face of the earth)
Hang Tuah I have a confession to make. I did no research on Malaysia before I entered the country. That's not like me.
Usually, I do research a destination before I arrive. As a result of my lack of research, I am astonished at how little I knew - I was downright ignorant.
The list of things I didn't know is too long to list but I'll mention a couple.
I didn't know that Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy of an unusual variety. It is one of the few elective monarchies in the world. The Malaysian monarch, the
Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the "Supreme Head") is elected by a Council of Rulers to hold office for 5 years. The Council or Rulers is made up of all the Sultans of the Malaysian Federation. All the states in Malaysia except 4 have hereditary Sultans. The states without Sultans are Penang, Melaka, Sabah and Serawak.
I had also never heard of Hang Tuah. Hang Tuah is a Malay hero, known to every Malay schoolchild. He was one of the greatest admirals of the Sultanate of Malacca in the
Big Bang
New Year in KL 15th century. If you want to know more about the romantic myths of Hang Tuah I suggest you follow this
wikipedia link.
However ignorant I may be, one of the greatest pleasures of travel is learning about the cultures, politics and lives of places that are new to me.
Cameron Highlands
In my last blog (Yo! It's Xmas!), I was in Penang. I caught the bus on the 29th of December from Penang to the Cameron Highlands. The Cameron Highlands were named after William Cameron, a British surveyor. After the sweltering tropical heat of Penang, the cool temperate climate of the
Cameron Highlands, at 1,500m above sea level, was a welcome relief.
I stayed in the small town of Tana Rata, from where I visited a tea estate and other local attractions. This area was a very popular Hill Station with the British during the British colonial period. As a result there are many part timbered "mock Tudor" buildings that would look at home in Britain.
Kuala Lumpur
Next I carried on to
Kuala Lumpur on the 31st of December. So, I was
in KL for the firework display heralding the new year. KL has come a long way since 1857 when it was a tin mining camp. Today it is a major international trading city, where many cultures and religions live side by side.
Going back in time, in the last blog I didn't mention that I phoned back to England on Christmas Day on my cell phone. The cost was very reasonable because I had put a local SIM card in my phone. Talking to people back in Blighty I mentioned the recent floods in Malaysia. The floods in southern Malaysia in December were the worst in 50 years. Up to 100,000 people were displaced from their homes and 14 killed.
60,000 of those displaced people were in the province of Johor. Talking to people back in Blighty on my cellphone I gathered that there had been very little coverage in the British media about the floods.
Why am I not surprised?
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Armchair Traveler
non-member comment
Travel on, Dude!
"However ignorant I may be, one of the greatest pleasures of travel is learning about the cultures, politics and lives of places that are new to me." You said it Stuart! That's probably one of the reasons I have been following your adventures. I am vicariously ltraveling/learning. That we should all be as open to the lives of others as you! -A.T.