Filed under: city guide, top-feature
Kuala Lumpur: a City on the Move
Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, is a city on the move. Caught between its cultural past and commercial future, the race is on to surpass Singapore in ultra-modern high-rise buildings and shopping plazas with top-quality bargains. The pulse of the city tells that something big is happening. Droves of taxis zoom past. Motorcycles tear along. Monorail trains whiz by. The streets throb with Malays, Indians, Chinese and tourists: a colorful juxtaposition of people from many cultures. Gigantic cranes hover over construction sites for new hotels, new offices and new shopping centers.
WHAT TO SEE:
Little India
Sari-clad ladies crowd the pavement in the buzzing center of the Indian community. Fragments of deep nasal music belt out onto the street as shop owners arrange boot-legged CD’s. The heavy smell of incense and a mixture of allspice, cinnamon and cloves pervade the atmosphere. Glittering Indian fabrics in shop windows draw oohs and aahs from shoppers and tourists alike.
An Indian temple in a Chinese street emphasizes the ethnic composition of Kuala Lumpur. Tucked away on Jalan Tun HS Lee is Sri Mariamman, a Hindu temple. Hundreds of multicolored statuettes of deities adorn the pyramid-shaped entrance gate. The gold lining of Goddess Lakshmi’s red clothes sparkles in the sun. Elephant-headed Ganesh sits next to Shiva who has a snake curled three times around his neck, symbolizing the past, the present and the future.
Chinatown
This district hums with activity. Two-storied shop-houses line the narrow streets. Fronts are embossed with garlands painted in pastel-green, soft pink and heavenly blue. Red and gold Chinese lanterns embellish the covered walkways in front of the shops. Each house has its own family altar decorated with burning joss sticks, sending off an ambrosial smell.
Petaling Street, Chinatown’s main street, is Kuala Lumpur’s number one tourist attraction. Everything is on sale, from mobile phones to edible birds’ nests. Bargain hard to lower the prices. The best time to visit is in the evening when the glitter of thousands of colored lights make the street a true tourist haunt.
KLCC or Kuala Lumpur City Centre
Petronas Towers rise 452 meters, 1,483 ft, above street level. It is the world’s second tallest building and has eighty-eight floors, fifty-eight elevators and thirty-two thousand windows. Its octagonal footprint and repetitive geometric patterns symbolize harmony, unity, stability and rationality – four important principles in Islam. The two towers soar against the city skyline like a gleaming steel-banded candle holder. Its futuristic exterior is a fitting symbol for modern Malaysia.
The towers house Petronas, Malaysia’s government-owned oil company, as well as Malaysian firms and multinational companies. Swift elevators ferry up and down to the sky bridge that connects the two towers on the forty-fourth floor. This is as high as tourists can go. Get free tickets early to avoid the queues as the towers are a popular attraction.
WHAT: Petronas Towers
WHERE: 59 Jalan Ampang
TICKETS: The ticket office opens at 8:30 am, but people start queuing as early as 7 am. The first tour starts at 9 am and then every hour until 7 pm. Once you got your time slot, you will be directed to a lounge where you will see a video showing the construction of the towers. If it still is not your turn, you will watch the Petronas corporate video. And if it still is not your turn, you can go shopping in Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur City Centre in the same building.
WHERE TO SHOP:
Chow Kit Market
A day market where bargain hunters amble past stalls laden with rolls of silk and polyester fabrics, shoes in all colors, sizes and styles, CD’s, DVD’s, and genuinely fake Rolex watches and Gucci handbags.
In the fruit and vegetable section of the market, the heady smell of spiky-shelled durian fruit, the subtle fragrance of papaya, mango, and the pungent aroma of cardamom and coriander thicken the humid air. Smiling vendors wave tourists in and invite them to sample mangosteen, rambutan and other exotic fruits as part of the shopping experience.
WHAT: Chow Kit Market
WHERE: North of Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman (map)
WHEN: daily 9 am – 5 pm
Central Market or Pasar Seni
A popular hub where locals slurp mee soup and tourists snap up kinky t-shirts. Colorful batik, carved masks, mother-of-pearl inlaid boxes, a multitude of trinkets and souvenirs are a feast for the eyes. This pale-blue Art Deco building is a potent reminder of colonial days when it was the city’s wholesale and retail wet market which traded in fish, meat, fruit and vegetables.
WHAT: Pasar Seni
WHERE: Jalan Hang Kasturi (map)
WHEN: daily 10 am – 5 pm, Sundays 10 am – 6 pm
The Golden Triangle
Lot 10, Sungai Wang Plaza and Imbi Plaza are some of the multi-storied shopping paradises with a high concentration of branded goods, designer clothes, sports gear and cosmetics. Low Yat Plaza is the place to load up on digital cameras, laptop and personal computers. If these are too bulky to take home, stock up on memory cards and stacks of one hundred rewritable CD’s or DVD’s.
Berjaya Times Square is just behind Sungei Wang and Imbi Plaza, and it is more than just another shopping mall. Besides its one thousand retails shops, sixty-five restaurants and cafes, IMAX 2D & 3D theater and Malaysia’s largest bowling center, it is home to Cosmo’s World Theme Park. Supersonic Odyssey, the 800-meter long indoor roller coaster with a top speed of 80 km, will give riders an adrenaline rush.
WHAT: Shopping malls in the golden triangle
WHERE: Bukit Bintang (map)
WHEN: daily 10 am – 10 pm
WHAT TO EAT
Chinese Stir-fry
The best place to find Chinese stir-fry is Jalan Alor, a street dedicated to food, and packed with restaurants and food stalls. Very quiet during the day, the street kicks into full gear with the setting of the sun. A busy cook wipes his hands on his apron, steam billows from a wok. A slender Chinese lady stirs a family-size pot and adds some noodles. A young man paints Chinese characters on a menu board. Tourists are presented with a book full of appetizing colored pictures to bridge the language gap.
Indian Banana Leaf Meal
Most Indian restaurants serve banana leaf meals, which refer to the plate on which the meal is served: a fresh banana leaf. A mound of white rice is accompanied by curried mutton or beef, vegetable curries and raita, yogurt mixed with spices. Traditionally it is eaten with the right hand. When tourists have struggled enough and eaten very little, a helpful waiter will release them from their sufferings and provide them with spoons.
Malay Rice Dishes
Nasi campur is a pleasure for the palate: steamed rice accompanied by dishes of peppery hot beef, fish submerged in a fragrant coconut sauce, satay barbecued chicken or beef doused with peanut sauce, green vegetables with finely chopped red chillies. Every bite is an adventure. Nasi lemak is the all favored breakfast dish: rice cooked in coconut milk and served with tiny fried anchovies in hot chili paste, topped with a fried egg.
WHAT: Coliseum Café
WHERE: 98-100 Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, known as Jalan TAR (map)
WHEN: daily 8 am – 10 pm
Western Fast Food
Rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner for days on end can be a heavy strain on tourists. Fortunately, hamburgers are only one step away. The food courts in the shopping malls offer an alternative to oriental food through McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Starbucks coffee outlets.
Kuala Lumpur is a modern city. Air-conditioned malls help making shopping a national passion. Orderly traffic flows along four-lane roads. Public transport is convenient and fast. Its latest asset, the monorail, whirs overhead, its elevated stations full of disciplined passengers.
The city is a mix of slick skyscrapers and Victorian architecture and institutions. The cricket ground and the old British Club still flourish. Chinese businessmen enjoy working lunches in the Coliseum Café, a meeting place for the British in colonial days. There is no air-conditioning, but ceiling fans swirl the stagnant heat. Faded cartoons and a newspaper article – What to Do When your Servant has Malaria – still decorate the wood-paneled walls. Apart from the incessant ringing of mobile phones, the whole scene is straight out of the 1920s when Somerset Maugham frequented the Coliseum.
Blending exotic eastern cultures with the modernity of the west, Kuala Lumpur makes for a sophisticated destination for any traveler.
Photo credits: Marianne Crone
