Kuala Lumpur Travel Guide

General

Since its modest beginnings in 1857, as a British tin-mining outpost at the confluence of the Gombak and Klang rivers, the capital that takes its name from the muddy swamp upon which it was built has grown into one of Southeast Asia’s most progressive cities. Located on the Western Peninsula of Malaysia and home to 1.8 million people, Kuala Lumpur (or KL, as the locals affectionately call it) is a truly cosmopolitan city.

At first glance Kuala Lumpur appears to be just another soulless Asian metropolis brimming with concrete and gleaming steel. However the city has retained much of its traditional fabric and atmosphere, thanks to its composite Malay, Chinese, Indian and Eurasian population. Visitors move seamlessly from the dazzling skyscrapers of the Golden Triangle into the ethnic enclaves of China Town and Jalan Masjid India (Little India), where life continues much as it has for more than a hundred years. Little India bombards the senses with vibrant colours, the blare of traditional music and the tantalising smells of cooking spices. Just south of Little India, in China Town, traditional Chinese shops operate alongside lively street markets, budget restaurants and street hawkers. Kuala Lumpur’s myriad ingredients come to a buzzing climax as the night market (pasar malam) opens for business. The rich cultural diversity on show at these nightly markets is the essence of this city’s charm. In contrast to its troubled neighbour, Indonesia, Malaysia is a bastion of tolerance, where every faith and its traditions are respected and protected. Kuala Lumpur, to many Malaysians, is quite simply Ibukota, or the ‘Mother City’.

Reminders of the old Kuala Lumpur are on display in the form of colonial buildings dotted around the city centre. The most poignant symbols of British rule and Malaysia’s subsequent independence are found in the area around Dartan Merdeka (Independence Square), where the Malaysian Flag continually commemorates the country’s gaining self-rule (31 August 1957) and one of the city’s best examples of colonial architecture, the Royal Selangor Club, still remains. The modern face of a city that has largely left the economic crisis of 1997 behind is most strongly recognised in the area known as the Golden Triangle, at the heart of the city centre. Here visitors will find the towering landmark, the Petronas Twin Towers, as well as the Menara Tower, the city’s Symphony Hall, the high-tech Istana Budaya theatre, the city’s major hotels and air-conditioned shopping malls. Kuala Lumpur’s most recent development is the new Sentral Station, which opened in April 2001 and looks set to revolutionise the fashionable western suburb of Bangsar. The Express Rail Link (ERL) to the city’s international airport and the monorail, both slated to open in 2002, will again alter the face of this constantly evolving city. Even more ambitious plans for a Multimedia Super Corridor are set to place Kuala Lumpur at the forefront of the technology industry by 2020.

Nevertheless, one constant in Kuala Lumpur is the climate, with its consistently warm daytime temperatures, balmy evenings, and afternoons that are often punctuated by thunderstorms, usually passing quickly to leave the evenings cool and rain free.

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