City travel- Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia is one of Asia’s most visited countries but I only made my first visit there last year where I visited Kuala Lumpur. I then visited the city again at the beginning of this year on a second visit to Malaysia. The Malaysian capital is probably most famous for its Petronas Towers, twin titans that are unmistakable for their appearance and which used to be the world’s tallest buildings.

Malaysia might be an Islamic country, but it is also a multi-ethnic one with a Malay majority and two sizable minorities, Chinese- and Indian-Malaysians, as well as indigenous peoples. Kuala Lumpur reflected this diversity as I stayed in a predominantly Indian neighborhood for my first visit, then in Chinatown this year. The city is relatively prosperous and orderly, though it is also a little grubby in some parts. Strangely for an Asian city, KL has a reputation for street crime at night but I was still able to take a few night walks around my hotel without any real concern. However in Chinatown, which was not that impressive, I did pass by a troubled person throwing things onto the road and on another evening, I had another troubled lady shout at me near my hotel.

To be honest, Kuala Lumpur didn’t seem as interesting to me as Bangkok nor as attractive as Singapore. That said, KL has a few decent colonial heritage buildings, a lot of open space and city parks, as well as the aforementioned mighty Petronas towers.

Just outside KL is the Batu Caves, a cave inside a hill which is used by Hindus to worship, which is actually more well-known for the giant golden statue of the Hindu god of war Murugan at the foot of the stairs leading up to the caves. The Batu Caves’ main cave is very tall but not that long as it is basically two connected giant, open chambers. There are smaller, but longer caves at the side of the hill which you need to join scheduled tours to enter.

For me, KL’s most interesting attraction is the Islamic Arts Museum which has a huge collection of artifacts from across the Islamic world as well as China and India, such as these Mughal daggers in the photo below.

KL actually is a youngish city, having only become a town in the mid-19th century before growing steadily and then being made capital of the Federal Malay States (what the four Malay states around KL were then called during British colonial rule). Its name sounds exotic, but it actually means muddy confluence in Malay as the city lies at the point where two rivers come together. KL is a little like Bangkok in that there are fancy malls and towers, as well as some dirty streets and visible poverty. While it was nice to have visited another major Asian city, I feel that two visits are enough.

The Hindu god of war Murugan stands guard at the foot of the stairs leading to the Batu Caves

This monkey was also standing guard too. There were lots of monkeys on the stairs leading to the cave.

Masjid Jamek, the city’s oldest mosque (1909)

Entrance to Petaling Street, KL Chinatown’s main street market

Open-air market next to Central Market (blue building on left)

Pair of “green” condominiums next to the Petronas Towers

Islamic Arts Museum

One of the most interesting exhibits is a room full of scale models of famous mosques around the world. This one is Selemiye Mosque in Turkey.

Central Asian women’s coats

Kuala Lumpur train station, built in 1910 in an Indo-Saracenic style. It’s not the main station anymore, as that would be KL Sentral, which is nearby (one station away on the subway line).