Kuala Lumpur was the third stop on my trip to SE Asia in February 2023. I had no special reason for going there, it happened to be a large city in between Bangkok and Singapore, so it made sense. Though it had moments of beauty, the city had none of the sleek efficiency of Singapore (though it seemed to want to head in that direction), and little of the urban vibrancy and chaotic beauty of Bangkok. There is much to recommend it, for instance, I found that the skyscrapers were frequently beautiful, there was quite a lot of greenspace, and surprising hilly vistas. Still, I found in general that Kuala Lumpurians were a chilly bunch, often it seemed to me that people were making an effort not to observe me passing by, like it was better not to observe me. This was striking after having spent time in Bangkok and Vientiane.
Photo List - (Total 445 Photos) Click bolded headers below to view, or click "just the best" for quick tour
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Merdeka Square and Area (96 photos) - Merdeka Square (Independence Square) is the heart of Kuala Lumpur, though most of the intense commercial development has occurred well east of the square. It is a rather large and grassy area, due to its origin as a cricket green. It is surrounded by lovely historical buildings, a number of them housing museums. This gallery starts at the square and the buildings around it, including the cathedral and two museums, then moves over to the confluence of the (perhaps unfortunately named) Gombak and Klang rivers, where the city was founded and where there is the pretty Jamed Sultan Abdul Samad Mosque now. It ventures north of the square to the commercial zone past Jalan Tun Perak, combining photos from a few different walks here. It ends with a few photos and a bit into nearby hills.
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South of Merdeka Square (81 photos) - The area immediately south of Merdeka Square is not easily accessible from the square, though not far away. I went down to this area twice. The second time I took transit, in a convoluted manner that maximized my exposure to different lines: overhead walkway connecting Meduan Tuanku to Sultan Ismail, train to Bandaraya, walkway to Bank Negara, and commuter train to the old Kuala Lumpur train station. The gallery starts with that journey, then continues with the National Mosque, the Islamic Arts Museum. It then seques into my first visit, up Jalan Parliamen to the small and pretty ASEAN Sculpture Garden, and the nearby Tegu Negara, which is a monument to those who have died for Malaysia's struggle for freedom. After that, I walked from one end to the other of the Perdana Botanical Garden, arriving at Muzeum Negara.
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Chinatown (56 photos) - Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown is just across the river from Merdeka Square. This gallery starts at the Central Market, continues through Chinatown, and then goes south of the horrible Jalan Kinabalu to an interesting area where I believed there would be an art gallery, but in fact there was not. The gallery ends with a visit to the massive and neglected Hokkien Cemetery. I got there by walking some improbable paths, and then through dull pastoral streets filled with private schools. The cemetery was more or less scary, with a pack of wild dogs, and a guy on a motorcycle who drove by me twice and gestured to me about something or other. I could have died.
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Bukit Bintang and the East (106 photos) - Kuala Lumpur's main business district is somewhat east of Merdeka Square. The area is quite varied, from the highrise commercial district around KLCC Park to the grungy parts of Bukit Bintang to extremely high end shopping malls. I visited the area three times, and this gallery brings those together as logically as possible. It starts with the Kuala Lumpur Tower, and then moves to the collection of buildings around the Petronas Towers and the KLCC Park. I thought the city had quite a lot of attractive tall buildings, perhaps mostly in comparison to Bangkok. Then I walked into the grungier areas of Bukit Bintang to have some lunch, and took the monorail home. There are a few photos of the MRT subway then, because they didn't fit anywhere else. Then the gallery starts with photos of the high end shopping around the Starhill mall, and continues with a walk to the low end Pudu, and then some dallying about on transit.
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Titiwangsa (62 photos) - I went to the north of my hotel one day to go to the National Art Gallery. My plan was to take the monorail to Titiwangsa station and walk; this was a bad plan. The walk after the station was rather long and unpleasant, and I got caught in the median of one of KL's many's surface expressways, for about 20 minutes. Titiwangsa Lake Park, with its fabulous views of the city, was a relief after that. Though the National Art Gallery building was terrible outside, it had a show based on the theme of "nura", which is a sense of home, and which I found very lovely. There were not many people there. After, I walked to the Chow Kit station and had lunch along the way.
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Batu Caves (27 photos) - I had tendonitis in Kuala Lumpur and despaired of seeing everything I wanted to see in the city. But I gamely took a cab on my last day to the Batu Caves, a Hindu Temple nestled in some rugged hills on the north end of town. It's such a big deal that there's a rail stop there. Yvon really wanted me to see the caves. While I'm glad I went, I found the experience mostly funny. While the caves had the promise of beauty, they were junked up with temple crap and tons of garbage, too many people. Lots of stairs. Though there were monkeys.
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Other (17 photos) - These photos didn't fit easily into any other gallery. They include a few shots at my very sweet hotel and in the immediate neighbourhood, and at the airport and on the airport train.
