Kuala Lumpur: Walking to the terminal at KLCC, ominous black
clouds gathering overhead; two minutes inside and all hell broke loose –
thunder and lightning and heavy rain. Welcome to Malaysia Karen and Greg. With
all our luggage, we paid for a taxi voucher 105 RM ($40 NZ ) and settled back
for the 80km trip to KL Sentral in the air-conditioned taxi – Did I mention the
heat ? – Oh yes it was hottttt. We showed the driver where to drop us off as he
did not know the area ??? and we were
welcomed into an oasis on the edge of Chinatown, called the Explorer’s
Guesthouse, a relatively new place we had found online. The lobby/lounge became
our second home, with free coffee/tea and toast/peanut butter/ jam , free TV
and WiFi internet. The hosts were friendly and very helpful, even carrying one
of our heavy bags up to the second floor; the room was small, clean, twin beds
and a glorious new air-conditioner. I will never look at these appliances the
same- Oh, to come in from the KL heat and sweat and switch on the A/C, lie down
on the bed and luxuriate in the cool air flowing over one’s body. By now it was
late afternoon, and not wishing to waste our time here, we headed bravely out
the door into the sauna that is affectionately known as KL.
What met us
was not the expectation we both had; this was not the immaculate, glossy face
of Malaysia portrayed in the media. We were in the older quarter of Chinatown
and little India; not particularly overcrowded, but heavy with exhaust fumes
from the many buses crowding down the narrow streets. Crossing the same,
demanded our attention at all times as pedestrians are fair game for cars and
racing `motasikels’. Feeling adventurous, we ordered a rice with chicken
meal at a corner `restorant’ and soaked
up the atmosphere; supping on a beer,
making conversation with a local and entertained by a friendly rat browsing for
crumbs under the table. Back to the haven of the Guesthouse, to several cups of tea and a firm but
comfortable night’s sleep.
From a
suggested walk in the Lonely Planet Guide for Malaysia, we set out next morning
to explore Chinatown and surrounds; with
video and camera, we were armed and touristy. Did I mention the heat? It was
hotttt and this was with cloud cover ( actually smog cover ) and almost Winter.
Well for Karen and I, this was great. We lapped up the architecture of modern
high-rise buildings, alongside exquisite Mosques, ornate Hindu temples, grand
colonial edifices and decaying, decrepit ruins. No OSH regulations here –
sidewalks were often broken and uneven, drains
big enough to swallow you whole, barely
covered by wooden planks, electrical wiring open and hanging freely and
everywhere the rampant chaos of life in
this charismatic town. Far from being overwhelmed, Karen and I
revelled in it; idling through the covered Markets in Petalling Street,
gently fending off the hawkers selling every conceivable copy and knock-off,
sampling the exotic fruits and treating ourselves to magnum ice-creams, which
tasted so good in this place. By afternoon I was feeling heat-oppressed and
when faced with visiting the Central Market complex, I baulked. Karen prevailed
and I was delighted to find myself in a modern, A/C building with food court
and beguiling stores. Again we ordered Malaysian food; a spicy chicken satay
and a cold beer for me and a rice dish with green tea for Karen.
After a short sleep, we headed for the night
markets and were amazed at the transformation; where there had been streets
lined with booths, the street was solid with hawkers stalls, almost claustrophobic
as we were swept along on a tide of local humanity; Hindu saris, Moslem women
with heads always covered with jewelled scarves, beautiful scantily dressed, Chinese girls,
young men sporting the latest clothing and a melting pot of faces, cultures and
religions. This is Malaysia; a harmonious blend of many cultures, ethnic
backgrounds and religious practices. We loved it all.
Day 2 in KL
saw us rise early and plan our next foray to `Mecca’- not a bad analogy
really; there is a huge Islamic influence
here, particularly in the architecture (see photos in journal). Nearby was a
huge complex - Government offices we think; with a truly magnificent tower
block in classic Islamic style – all white, with the windows hidden completely
by the overlaid geometric lace pattern. Crossing under one of the many
motorways through this sprawling city, we entered the Forest Reserve –
literally, an area of landscaped jungle,
surrounding the much touted `KL
Tower; climbed the path to the top of
the hill and emerged to a very impressive `Auckland Skytower’ look-a-like. Now
as a rule, Greg doesn’t do `towers’ – I mean, from a builder’s perspective, it
ain’t good building practice to balance a large concrete mass on top of a
concrete post, is it? But what the hell,
our purpose on this journey is to widen our experience, so with some
trepidation, we paid our `ringits’ and took the 58 second lift up 526m to the
viewing deck. Well folks, I have to tell you, it was nothing short of
spectacular – 360 degrees of KL spread
below in glorious, hazy sunshine;
reflecting a landscape of beautiful high-rise buildings, multiple,
modern roadways, colossal residential apartments blocks and an infinite array
of houses; artfully spread amid the greenery,
to the horizons in all directions.
On the wall behind us were depictions of the 12 tallest communication towers in the world; KL rated 4th highest after Canada,
China and Russia. Auckland Skytower was shown 9th, with Sydney 8th
as I recall.
The descent
took just 52secs, and after another tasty `magnum ice-cream’; we ventured
outside ( adjusting from A/C to KL sauna was always shocking ) to a Malaysia
village, re-created for the tourists. There was a 4 piece band
playing traditional music with great enthusiasm, surrounded by the different
styles of village buildings – we showed interest in their instruments; drums and a setup of inverted brass bowls
suspended on strings in a wooden frame;
an octave of piano notes (black
& white) with bell-like resonant sounds. They played several songs just for
us, as there were only a few people there at the time and I
later learned more about the history of these instruments - and that the
leader’s name (a large Polynesian looking man) was Bob – I had to laugh, I
wasn’t expecting just, `Bob’. As luck would have it, a spectacle of
Malaysian dance was about to start inside the A/C stage; ( by now you probably
get that in KL, one seeks the coolness of A/C at every opportunity) – Here, we
were treated to a wonderful half hour of colourful, rhythmic routines, displaying the dress and movement of
many of the diverse peoples that
make up Malaysia culture. Loud but truly delightful.
Now the
iconic Petronas Twin Towers are to KL what the Opera House is to Sydney; and
with these to guide us across the city, we finally arrived at their feet. Each curved balcony around the circular
towers, has a wide stainless steel rail which gives this building it’s
distinctive and visual appeal – somewhat reminiscent of a silvered banksia cone
– ok, look at the photo – you’ll see what I mean. Looking straight up, it was
indeed a dramatic sight. There’s a walkway
between the two towers called the `Skybridge’ which is recommended by
the guidebooks but when you’ve just come down from the KL Tower, this seemed a
little tame, so we contented ourselves with an amble around the glitzy, high
class shopping mall and a lazy lunch in the best and most taste-extensive food
plaza, experienced so far.
KL has an
extensive LRT or light rail system which sends it’s steel tendrils out from KL
Sentral to the outer suburbs – fortunately, there was a station right at the
Petronas Towers. Greg was hesitant to tackle the automatic ticket machines but
we wanted to travel out to the Batu Caves; one of those 'must see' attractions.
It was surprisingly easy and after one small hiccup (panic, get off train too
late we thought, return to last station and catch next train, pretending
nothing had happened) arrived on the outskirts of KL at a mountainous outcrop
of sheer-sided, jungle clad limestone/rock. Strangely, with little signage to
guide us, we ventured around the corner to the entrance to a riot of Hindu
coloured temples, figurines, hawker stalls, buses, monkeys and people, in no
particular order. Directly ahead of us rose the steepest set of stairs
possible; all 170 of them. Now apparently, every year at one of the Hindu
festivals, devout priests hang heavy weights on their body piercings and yes,
you guessed it, they drag themselves up those steps! At the top of course, is
the famed Batu Caves. I should probably also mention the insignificant Golden
Budda, sited to the left of the stairs, and nearly as tall( see photos). So here one learns a great lesson in life: see
the goal, set the intention and proceed step by step ever upward. The view was
reward enough, but he cave itself was memorable by it's sheer enormity; cool,
lit by shafts of light from high above, a constant flow of people along the
floor, and here-and-there, carved, Hindu figures adorning the the rockface;
even several temples with ritual and loud music eminating. Another set of steps
at the rear led to an enormous shaft or open cave to the summit, the edge
of which was overflowing with
vegetation, reaching down into this great pit on the top of this piece of rock
on an otherwise relatively level area of KL.
That night,
we attended a `festival of Malaysian Marriage’- quite an extra-ordinary affair,
so it turned out. We were invited to sit in the front rows with several other
`not from around there’ couples. On stage, a back-lit shadow box and beautiful,
expressive shadow puppets enacted a very funny, possibly satirical, probably lewd play – how do I know that, as
it was all in Malay? By the riotous laughter erupting around us and the tone of
the puppets themselves – I’m guessing. The amazing end to this was the exit
from this smallish shadow-box of just one small man, who had produced all the
voices and movements alone.
Next, the
stage was taken by 5 couples in traditional marriage dress, representing the 5
main ethnic groups – everything from the ornate to the primitive, bearing
ceremonial weapons. They then proceeded to cut a large two-tiered wedding cake
and distribute this and fish paste sandwiches to the assembled crowd,
especially to those in the front rows.
That was great as we hadn’t eaten yet. This was followed by several groups of
performers from the local TV talent show. These guys were really entertaining
and we were truly astounded by a 7 year old boy belting out a rock song in
Malay, complete with the moves. The compare of the show then singled us out for
some light relief and on the next song, we ended up line dancing with the
marriage couples in front of the crowd. You just don’t get that watching TV, do
you?
Day 3 in KL
and we started out early, with so much to see and so little time left. You were
right Karen; we should have stayed longer. With two bottles of bought water,
and cameras at the ready, we powered through the streets to the east, heading
for the Lake Park, the largest covered bird sanctuary in the world, the Main
Mosque and many other attractions in this area. The sun was pouring down like
honey this day (acknowledgement to Leonard Cohen) it was so hot, I would seek the
shade wherever I could find it. We photographed the concertina’d,
blue roofed octagon-round Mosque with it’s exquisite Islamic design but
declined to don heavy robes and hoods to venture inside. You gotta be kidding
me? Down the road we came across another incredible building; the old railway
headquarters, now KTM communications – The plaque outside detailed how it was designed by an Englishman and each storey
was a different style of architecture; Gothic, Greek and Moorish – all in cut
stone and immense in visceral impact – who were these guys ?
Pushing on, looking for the `bird park’, we
detoured to the Islamic Museum of the Arts. You’d expect a magnificent
building, wouldn’t you? Well you’d be right – 3 storey, white plastered, 4
domed edifice – and yessss! air-conditioned of course – thank you! Shielded from the relentless heat by those
intricately, differently decorated, vaulted domes gilded with gold and blue and
white; we wandered the many rooms displaying examples of Islamic architecture, jewellery,
porcelain, weapons and religious works. One large room was given over to scale
models of many of the famous and beautiful mosques to be found around the
world. Another to images and descriptions of Islamic buildings throughout
India. We were suitable impressed by the time we left the building. Just up the road is the sprawling Lake Park
with native orchid gardens, hibiscus gardens, the bird aviary, the new
amphitheatre complex and the landscaped lake environs; all in the middle of KL
city. We chose to forego the birds this time and explore the rest of this
amazing place; on the premise that we would be back sometime in the future.
There were large crowds at the aviary but strangely, not many in the Park on
this sunny, Sunday afternoon – The picturesque Amphitheatre was all but
deserted and only a few, wandered with us along the banks of the Lake itself.
At the end of the Lake we visited the National
Museum and whiled away the rest of the afternoon, perusing Malaysia’s history
and relics. For a hundred years, Malacca was the trading centre of the known
world, but such wealth attracted the bandits of the time; the Portuguese first
and then the Dutch and lastly the British. Malacca was fought over for many
years until gaining independence after the 2nd World War. as part of
the Federated States of Malaysia, still ruled by the King but regulated by the
Parliament. As was the policy of Malacca, to accept all peoples as one; the King now dictates the same for Malaysia-
large banners hang proudly in the streets, proclaiming `Malaysia 1’. Perhaps New Zealand could take
a lead from the Malaysians.
Packed and
ready for the next leg to England, we said goodbye to our hosts, piled into the
a/c Taxi and did the 80kms back to KLLCC
airport – LCC stands for low cost carrier, a point taken as we were
handed umbrellas to walk the 100 m to the aircraft, waiting on the tarmac
outside the terminal building; in pouring rain. Actually, both flights on
AirAsia were very comfortable as we had a spare seat beside us; allowing one of
us at a time to stretch out over the three seats with head on the other’s lap.
This is just one of many events which have facilitated our journey, so far –
that spare seat on the England leg, was the only one on the aircraft. ????
