 |
| Joe, Stella and Peter in the center of Kuala Lumpur. |
For Chinese New Year we decided to take a trip to Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi, Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur is about a four hour flight from Hong Kong. Spiro was stuck at Indiana University in sub-zero weather and was unable to join us.
 |
| The Kuala Lumpur airport. |
The Kuala Lumpur airport is a long way from the city. We jumped in a taxi and it took about an hour to get to our hotel. On the way, we passed row after row of huge palm trees for miles, something we had never seen before.
Kuala Lumpur is a very modern city. It has beautiful highways and many modern skyscrapers, with many more under construction. Peter was surprised and impressed by how developed and modern Kuala Lumpur seemed.
 |
| One of the Petronas Twin Towers. |
We quickly checked in to our hotel, the Mandarin Oriental, and then rushed to meet our tour guide. The Mandarin Oriental was absolutely beautiful, fully decorated for Chinese New Year. It is right up the street from the Petronas Twin Towers, which are taller than the Sears Tower and much more aesthetically pleasing.
Our tour guide, Povan, was a heavy-set Indian fellow, who has lived in KL all his life. We met him at the Railway Station. The Railway Station was constructed in 1910 by a British architect using a Moorish style. According to Povan, the Railway Administration Building across the street was the original railway station built by the same architect in the 1890s, “but then they realized that they didn’t want the tracks coming from over there, they wanted them coming from over here,” so they built another railway station across the street in 1910.
After that, we walked under a tree and Povan told us a little about Kuala Lumpur. According to Povan, “Kuala Lumpur” means “where two muddy rivers meet.” Kuala Lumpur was originally built as a tin mining town. Then, according to Povan, the British brought just nine rubber tree seeds from the Amazon and Malaysia became one of the biggest producers of rubber in the world. After World War Two, when synthetic rubber came into use, Malaysia’s big export shifted from rubber to palm oil. At this point, during a long talk about how palm oil is in everything we use from shampoo to toothpaste (eighth wonder of the world, according to Pavan), we understood why there were so many palm trees lining the highway.
 |
| The original railway station. |
 |
| The new railway station. |
Malaysia’s most profitable export, however, is offshore oil. That is why the tallest buildings in town are named after Petronas, the national oil company.
 |
| Details in the Mosque. |
Povan then walked us over to the National Mosque. According to Povan, Malaysia has three major ethnic groups, the Malays, who are about 67% of the population, Chinese, who are about 24%, and Indians, who are about 9%. The Malays are Muslim, so Malaysia’s national religion is Islam. Because Stella and I were wearing shorts and she had no head scarf, we got to wear very nice purple robes for our tour of the Mosque. The National Mosque was designed by a British architect in 1965 and is very modern. It may be the only Mosque in the world without a dome.
 |
Stella and Joe wearing very nice
purple robes in the Mosque. |
 |
Peter very happy not to be wearing
a polyester purple robe. |
 |
Peter, Povan and Joe
at the National Mosque. |
 |
Queen Victoria Fountain
by the first Anglican Church. |
From the Mosque we walked to the center of the city, where the British built a group of buildings, including the first administration building, the first post office, the first bank, the first country club, the first Anglican Church and, of course, the first cricket field, all in about a two-block area. Behind those buildings is the spot where the two rivers actually meet. There is a big market there and lots of restaurants.
 |
| Fresh fruit stand in the market. |
 |
| The center of Kuala Lumpur. |
 |
| This is the spot where the two rivers actually meet. |
From there we walked into Chinatown. Until relatively recently, the majority of the population of Kuala Lumpur was Chinese, because the Chinese were brought there to work the tin mines and rubber plantations. Being from Hong Kong, Chinatown looked very familiar. Also familiar was a small Chinese temple Pavan pointed out.
 |
| The outside entrance of the Hindu temple. |
|
After that, we went to a very elaborate Hindu temple. Povan, who is Hindu, had a lot to say about his religion. He said that in ancient times, Hindus made everything they couldn’t explain a god. Don’t understand how the Sun can be warm? It’s a god. Don’t understand how the wind can be invisible yet blow? It’s a god. Thus, according to Povan, the Hindus have 33 million gods, which we presume includes the new 2019 Rules of Golf. Can anyone understand them? We think not. The other interesting thing Povan said was that on the roof of every Hindu temple there are brass containers. They channel the energy from the sun and the moon down to the copper-lined base of the temples, they act as lighting rods to protect the temples from lightening and they are filled with seeds, which are replaced in a big ceremony every 12 years. Thus, if the end of the world comes, you can pull the seeds right off the roof of a Hindu temple and start over.
 |
| Inside the Hindu temple. |
 |
| Details of the outside entrance of the Hindu temple. |
 |
| The brass containers on top of the Hindu temple. |
 |
| Details of a wall mural in the Hindu temple. |
 |
| Details of a wall mural in the Hindu temple. |
|
 |
| Geo-forest. |
Our final stop was a little geo-forest that is preserved right in the middle of the city. Povan pointed out a nearby church and said that when the Japanese invaded in World War II they turned it into a noodle factory. “Anything to humiliate the British.” Povan then explained how the movie the Bridge Over the River Kwai was all wrong. “The English all ran off to fight the Germans long before the Japanese got here. The only people left to fight were the Indians. We and the Chinese were the ones who the Japanese forced to build that railroad over there. There weren’t any English guys at all. You can’t trust Hollywood. They never get it right.”
 |
| Peter in the geo-forest. |
After that story, Povan, who was probably getting hungry after a long day of hosting us, began to talk about how great Malaysian food is because it is a spicy fusion of Indian, Malay and Chinese. “We have the very best food over here.” He was very disappointed when, at the end of our tour, Stella asked for directions to the only Irish Pub in Kuala Lumpur. We had a couple pints and some relatively bland food. After that, we headed back to our room. Joe fell asleep immediately, but Stella and Peter played gin rummy late into the evening.
Early the next morning, we took a taxi back to the airport and headed to Langkawi. Langkawi is a lovely Island full of monkeys (we must have seen 50 on our way from the airport to our resort) and mountainous rainforests, surrounded by beautiful beaches.
We stayed at the Andaman, which is a wonderful and relaxing resort in the middle of the rainforest on Northwest side of the Island, with a meandering pool and a secluded beach. We laid by the pool all day and had cocktails and dinner on the beach in the evening.
We all returned to Hong Kong happy and relaxed.
