2008 Trip to Malaysia

KL Bus Ride

FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Today, we plan to take the Hop-on hop-off bus around KL. Here, Jenni talks with the concierge about it. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 We catch the bus at stop 11 just near the hotel. Our next stop is the Muzium Negara (National Museum). Muzium Negara opened on 31 August 1963 and is a repository of Malaysia’s cultural and historical heritage. This gallery contains tributes to the Orang Asli, the aboriginal people of Malaysia. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 The walkway to the main museum. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Our room is on the 26th floor on the far left side, 7 floors from the top.
FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 This attractive garden is on Jalan Damansara and is visible from our hotel window. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Looking back along Jalan Damansara, part of Malaysia's splendid freeway system. Note the excellent condition of the road. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 We turn off Jalan Damansara into the KL Lake Gardens. Tugu Peringatan Negara (the National Monument) is a sculpture that commemorates those who died in Malaysia's struggle for freedom, principally against the Japanese occupation during World War II and the Malayan Emergency (Communist threat) , which lasted from 1948 until 1960. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Part of the bird cage in the gardens.
FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 I've been here a couple of times and it is quite interesting. It houses more than 5000 birds, from more than 50 species. Out of these 5000 birds, 90% are local birds and 10% are imported from overseas. The size of the bird park is around 7-16 hectares. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 The National Mosque of Malaysia (Masjid Negara) is the national mosque of Malaysia. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 It has capacity for 15,000 people and is situated among 13 acres of gardens. Originally built in 1965, it is a bold and modern structure built in reinforced concrete to symbolise the aspirations of a then newly-independent Malaysia. Its key features are a 73-metre-high minaret and an 18-pointed-star concrete main roof. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 A proposal was made to name the mosque Masjid Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj to recognise his efforts in guiding the country towards independence. However, Tunku refused this honour and he named it Masjid Negara to commemorate the country’s peaceful independence that was achieved without bloodshed .
FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 This is the tower of the Dayabumi complex. It houses several commercial facilities and is one of the earliest skyscrapers in the city. It was designed in a modern Islamic style and construction began in February 1982. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 The Dayabumi complex is on what was once the site of the Malayan Railway workshops and depots. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 The Sultan Abdul Samad building. The structure takes its name from Sultan Abdul Samad, the reigning sultan of Selangor at the time when construction began. It now houses the Commercial Division of the High Court of Malaya. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 It was designed by A.C. Norman and built in 1894-1897 to house several government departments during the British administration. A.C. Norman spent time in Africa and saw Muslim mosques in India that led him to use Islamic architectural themes in the building's design.
FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 St Mary's Cathedral. The foundation stone was laid on February 3, 1894 in a ceremony officiated by Bishop G.F. Hose and consecrated one year later by the same bishop. This church replaced an earlier wooden church constructed at Bukit Aman just above Merdeka Square. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Our bus journey takes us along Jalan Raja Laut, the road that runs beside the Klang River. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 The bus was very nicely air-conditioned but we spent most of our time outside to get better photographs. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Large parts of old Kuala Lumpur still exist.
FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 One feature of Malaysian traffic is the huge number of small motorcycles. The risks some of them take are plain stupid: for example, lifting the helmet up, talking on a mobile phone hand while steering one-handed between our bus and moving cars. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 More of the original Kuala Lumpur. Notice the open air cooking in the Restoran Mehran. Mehran is the Persian word for kindness and the clientele appears to be Arabic. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 This is near Titiwangsa, the last station on the northern end of the monorail system . We're staying at KL Sentral on the southern end of the system. We now turn right and travel down Jalan Tun Razak (named after Malaysia's second Prime Minister). FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 The Istana Budaya is the Palace of Culture. It was founded in September 1999 and is Malaysia's main venue for all types of theatre including musical theatre, operetta, classical concert and opera from local and international performances.
FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Construction began in 1995 and was completed three years later. The Istana Budaya was officially opened by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed in 1999. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 The National Library. The building's design concept is based on the tengkolok, a traditional Malaysian headgear. The building stores Malaysia's important historical documents and contains various reading and seminar rooms. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 As we circle the city on Jalan Tun Razak, the Petronas Twin Towers come into view. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Just before we do a U turn at Jalan Bukit Bintang, we get a view of the Royal Selangor Golf Club.
FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 With its ornate balconies, this building is almost Spanish in style. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Along Jalan Ampang the bus passes by a very ornate Chinese temple. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 It is the Po Ling temple but is not really a tourist destination. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Farther along Jalan Ampang, we get another view of the Twin Towers. They were the world's tallest buildings before being surpassed by the Taipei 101.
FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 The towers were designed by Argentine-American architect César Pelli and were completed in 1998. They were built on the site of Kuala Lumpur's race track and, because of the depth to the bedrock, the buildings were built on the world's deepest foundations. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Tower 1 was built by Hazama Corporation and Tower 2 by Samsung Engineering & Construction and Kukdong Engineering & Construction (both of South Korea). FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 I liked the picture of the camel on this building. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 The bus now takes us to the KL Tower. We've been here on previous trips so we didn't get off the bus. It was our intention to return here one night to take some nights shots of KL, particularly of the twin towers which are spectacular at night.
FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 The Menara Kuala Lumpur (KL Tower) was built in 1995 and it is used for communication purposes. It features an antenna that reaches 421 m (1,381 ft), which currently makes it the fifth tallest tower in the world. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 We enter the Golden Triangle area of KL where 5 star hotel building continues at a frantic pace. This one has an oriental theme. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Parts of the hotel are complete. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 The bus takes us along Jalan Bukit Bintang past the monorail station. This is where we started our adventures a couple of days ago.
FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Along Jalan Bukit Bintang are places offering foot massages - reflexology. When you walk past, they don't understand no and are complete pests. The guy on the left waves to me as I take the picture. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Women have equal opportunity in employment and education in Malaysia. Wearing the scarf is optional as the Police woman (see the guns?) on the left shows. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 This is the hotel at which we stayed when we visited Kula Lumpur three years ago for the MotoGP. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 We wind our way down to China town.
FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 A policeman gives a driver a ticket while he ignores a stream of Police weaving in and out of the traffic. The rider at the very front of the queue was not stopped or booked. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Jalan Petaling is the site of the night markets. Hidden deep in one of the buildings is a shop that sells pirated software. It seems to be the only place left now that does this. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 We work our way through the traffic back to our starting point - Stop 11. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 We pass by the old KL railway station which now serves as a suburban-line station. It was completed in 1910 and was Kuala Lumpur's railway hub until KL Sentral assumed much of the its role in 2001.
FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 We stop at the King's Palace on Jalan Istana. The Istana was originally a double storey mansion built in 1928 by a local Chinese millionaire, Chan Wing. During the Japanese Occupation from 1942-1945, it was used as the Japanese Officers’ mess. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 After the surrender of the Japanese, the Selangor State Government bought the building. After renovation it became the palace of the Sultan of Selangor until 1957. The Federal Government then bought the palace in 1957 and converted it into the Istana Negara for the newly created sovereign post of Yang di-Pertuan Agong. FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER 2008 Yang di-Pertuan Agong when translated loosely into English means 'King'. Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy with a monarch as head of state and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is one of the few elected monarchs in the world. A new palace is under construction due for completion in 2009. Next: Qualifying day at the Malaysian MotoGP - We visit Putrajaya  
Sepang Qualifying PutrajayaNext: Sepang Qualifying Putrajaya Cameron HighlandsPrevious: Cameron Highlands
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