Malaysia Walking tour through Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur, Travel to Malaysia 5 (2)Not counting the obligatory stop at the Thai embassy, a stop that turned out to be very short since there was no queue (which was more than welcome!), this day was devoted to discovering Kuala Lumpur.Obviously starting with the Petronas Towers, my next goal was to go to Bukit Nanas (a preserved natural forest reserve in the heart of the city), after that a passage to Merdaka Square and from there I had nothing special planned…In the end, I will add a tour towards Chinatown, the Central Market as well as the area towards the Kuala Lumpur station, it is in all a 10 km route all on foot (and one in very hot weather) which will finally allow me to see the essentials of Kuala Lumpur in a single day (compared to 2 or at least 1 and a half days as I had originally planned). Summary hide Kuala Lumpur, a young city Petronas Towers and KLCC Park Bukit Nanas and Menara Observation Tower On the way to Merdeka Square Central Market, Chinatown and Station Area Kuala Lumpur, a young cityKL for those in the know is the capital of Malaysia, relatively small, 243 km² when compared with the enormity of Bangkok and these 1570 km² we can clearly see that we are not playing in the same category... With these 1,6 million inhabitants (7 all the same if we count the metropolis), it is a recent city in full effervescence which came out of nowhere following the discovery of tin deposits in the XNUMXth century.Sometimes, I get a bit sidetracked on the story and forget that it's just a blog whose main point remains the photo, or at least, through what I've done and seen, to give you an idea of the places, guide you in choosing visits etc..., but I'm also very interested in history and geography; hence all this information that I like to distil through my blog.Kuala Lumpur has changed a lot…I wanted to share with you here these images found on the web, while I was preparing these articles on Kuala Lumpur, to see how much the city has undergone a major boom, here is a comparison between a view of the city in the 70s where we can clearly see that it looked like a small town. We can recognize the Merdeka square which serves as a landmark.The other photo shows KL now, with a view slightly more oriented towards the north but we can clearly recognize Merdeka Square, we can also see the Kompleks Daya Bumi tower on the right of the photo as well as the Kuala Lumpur tower and the Petronas twin towers in the background, and in the very background the mountains where we find ourselves Batu Caves.Petronas Towers and KLCC ParkThe famous Petronas Towers, named after the Malaysian oil company which has its offices there, with their 452m height and 88 floors, were in their time (inaugurated in 1998) the tallest towers in the world until 2004 (Taipei Tower). It took no less than 6 years to complete them, the same time as the current tallest tower in the world, the so-called Burj Khalifa in Dubai.I was going there from the Thai embassy and I had just submitted the necessary documents for my visa. So I had just walked 2 km, the heat being quite strong, I took a break shortly before to eat in a small Indian restaurant before continuing on my way.The towers are quite imposing and quite an icon, I remember them especially from having seen them in the film Haute Voltige, with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones.Behind the 2 towers is a nice park. A breath of greenery always welcome in the city. My next stop was to reach the Bukit Nanas reserve, 2 km from the park and the towers.Bukit Nanas and Menara Observation TowerTo get there, I walked right in the heart of the city, there are a lot of offices in the area and so it's teeming with people. I took a raised and covered pedestrian path, with the air conditioning, which was welcome on this hot day (I might say it again...), it's very energy-intensive but it would make you want to see the same in Bangkok.An air-conditioned, elevated sidewalk connects several buildings in the neighborhood.The monorail passing through central Kuala Lumpur.It is a nature reserve, right in the heart of the city, preserving a tropical forest such as the region was covered with. The surface area today is only 9 hectares, compared to 17 before the construction of the observation tower (and a water treatment plant).The tower itself is 421m (including antenna), with a platform located 276m above the ground, offering a breathtaking view of the city and the reserve. Problem being, the price… 52 Ringgit for the observation tower alone! That’s 500 Baht at the current exchange rate. See the information and all the prices on the official website.The forest reserve was being redeveloped and therefore closed, and the cultural “village” was empty… so it was a bad day to come…On the way to Merdeka SquareI then went down and walked along the park to reach the Indian quarter, towards where my hotel is. The goal was to then reach my next stop, Merdaka Square.I first passed by old ruined buildings that looked like beautiful colonial-style houses, then by a church and finally the telecommunications museum, which on the side looks like an ancient Greco-Roman temple. It was time to go out to pray, many people wearing a rug on their heads to go to the mosque and protect themselves from the strong sun.So far I have found Kuala Lumpur really different from what I expected, in this case a more modern city, cleaner, closer to what Singapore is for example, while it is not, it seems almost more "disordered" and "poor" than Bangkok, yet as I said it is a city that seems to be booming, there is a lot of construction in progress, it is not a disappointment strictly speaking since I did not expect more than that from this visit, but it was a little disconcerting let's say.But let's continue this stroll through the city, whose name means "muddy confluences" (it's suddenly less classy). As I was walking back down the street from my hotel, I passed the Indian quarter, which is similar to that of Singapore, in that there is a row of stalls with Indian restaurants, flower sellers and religious products.I walked along the metro line and crossed a bridge spanning the Klang River, which no longer looks like a river since they have concreted its entire bed... I pass by the Jamek Mosque which is therefore under renovation and continue to the large independence square (from the United Kingdom in 1957), Merdeka Square.Around the square one can see several buildings of historical interest, such as the Ministry of Information, known as the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, the Royal Selangor Club, a club favored by high-ranking officers during the British colonial period.You can also see a beautiful fountain, the observation tower in the background as well as the recognizable tower of "Kompleks Dayabumi". It is a good spot to get a glimpse of the diversity of Kuala Lumpur without even needing to gain height.The facade of the former Chartered Bank.The top of the tower of the "Kompleks Dayabumi", a structure consisting of this very recognizable 157 m tower, one of the first skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur (early 80s) as well as the city's main post office and a shopping complex.Front view of the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, named after the sultan who ruled the area at the time of its construction (between 1894 and 1897, around the same time as the theatre). The building housed government departments of the British administration and was the seat of the Federal Court of Justice until 2007, when it has since housed the offices of the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture of Malaysia.Central Market, Chinatown and Station AreaI continue my wanderings by heading towards the previous station Masjik Jamik, Pasar Seni. To do this, I walk along the platform to Komplex Daya Bumi where I cross again, several homeless people sit in the area, I take a photo of the view of the train leaving from Pasar Seni station, then while I'm there, I tell myself I might as well visit the Central Market, in passing, I will take advantage of the air conditioning and especially treat myself to a break after 5 hours of almost continuous walking, including a meal taken in a kind of "food court".After that, I deviated from my originally planned route seeing that I was suddenly right next to Chinatown (I was just thinking of going along the subway before).In fact, it is not a temple, but a "kongsi" or "clan houses" which were associations of popular origin of the Chinese diaspora. They brought together people with the same clan name who helped each other, particularly economically, while Chinese immigrants were often denigrated and victims of oppression.Today the word is used to refer to a business, as was often the case back when kongsi operated as real businesses and many believe that the success of Chinese trade would come from the establishment of these kongsi.Here I am in front of the Chan She Shu Yuen clan association, built in 1906.After finally, since it was my goal for the day, I reached the Kuala Lumpur station.The station which also has (or had, since the website no longer exists) an integrated hotel, the Heritage Station Hotel, housed in this building that is almost 100 years old. The area is only a few minutes from KL Sentral and the national mosque Masjid Negara, inaugurated in 1965 (and already renovated in 1987) with its 73 m minaret and especially its capacity of 15 people, it is one of the largest mosques in Southeast Asia, I will pass 000 m from there without stopping there, because I did not see it…As is often the case, bridges serve as shelters for the "homeless".And I take the time to chat with one of them. He has been in this situation for 5 years! And yet, he has a job! He explained to me that he is a courier, but that due to lack of means, he has neither a bicycle nor a motorbike so he does everything on foot… I will give him 10RM (equivalent to 100 baht) which will make him happy at the time, but which deep down seemed so illusory to me… In these moments, even though I do not have a pasha's life myself, I always think to myself "don't complain, look..."And conversely, I always think to myself how this could end one day, how not to eradicate this scourge that is poverty simply because man is too selfish and the system wants to be "that way", the equation seems so simple, fewer very rich for more "less poor" and while we have the means, financial first, but also emotionally, compassion, mutual aid, these are unfortunately things that we have, but which we forget...I salute you, you who are struggling but keep smiling!I'll stop there before I get into the act, but there's so much I could say about this subject that particularly exasperates me.On the way back, I will only think about my hotel, my room and resting... But before that, I will take the time to have my shoes repaired... My soles being more than unstuck, but the rest of the shoes being in rather good condition, I said to myself while taking a photo of this shoemaker that it was a good fit and that I was going to give him a bit of work after all.The old Kuala Lumpur main railway station.After walking for a good 20 minutes, I passed by Independence Square again and crossed the river again to arrive near the Central Market (behind me in the photo) where I had eaten earlier in the afternoon.First for the photo, but seeing this resourceful shoemaker, I immediately thought of my shoes, not so young anymore, but still in good condition apart from the soles which are coming off, so I said to myself, well, this is a good opportunity to repair them.I expected him to glue it back on, but no, he firmly reattached the sole with thread, 1/2 hour for the 2 shoes (he lent me a pair of flip-flops while waiting) 12 RM, another customer had the patience to wait more than a quarter of an hour while this good man even had to turn away female customers, which shows that these are professions that we no longer have here, but which are still proving themselves here.I'll end this article with a few atmospheric photos of the city, taken on the way back to my hotel, taking me back through Chinatown which was becoming more active, as the stalls were already being set up when I was last there. 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