Michael's | World | Through | The | Lens

KL as in Kuala Lumpur

Is it only me or do you also like the sound of the word “Kuala Lumpur”? It gives kind of a mystical impression, maybe like Mandalay or Marrakech. I spent the last week there and learned that the name of the capital originates from the Malayan meaning “muddy river”. So much for that mystical part…

It also surprised me to read that the city is actually pretty new. Founded only in the 1850s, it quickly grew from a small tin mining village to the biggest city and capital of the country. As you can see, the skyline is dominated by the KL tower and the magnificent Petronas Twin Towers. For six years they were the tallest buildings in the world. Today, 5 others are higher (located in Dubai, Mecca, Taipei, Shanghai & Hong Kong).

More fascinating than buildings is the mixture of Malayan, Chinese, Indian & Western traditions, religions & food. So if you go to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), it’s likely that you eat chicken curry, visit Hindu temples, pass by a mosque before eating dim-sum. Then maybe a bit of strolling around in China town before lighting some candles in a Anglican church. And that’s only what I did on the first day.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, April 29th, 2012 at 9:13 PM. It is filed under Moments and tagged with Malaysia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.