‘Muddy Waters,’ Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur, March 27 — Before this trip, the name Kuala Lumpur (translated roughly as ‘muddy waters’) didn’t conjure up much except the Petronas Twin Towers. For a while, they were the tallest building(s) in the world, but ‘bloody Dubai,’ as one guide put it, has since taken that title. Malaysia now boasts it has the world’s tallest twin towers. I was back in Malaysia proper, and back to Tin, one of the country’s main resources. Chinese prospectors arriving here in the mid-1800’s cleared the jungle to open up tin mines, and it eventually became a major export, along with rubber. Today, major industries are electronics, tourism and agriculture — their main product is palm oil. New foreign cars are taxed at 200% in order to protect the Malaysian auto industry. As in Sabah, Malaysia, which I visited a month ago, there are still indigenous people living in the jungles. They do have electricity, supplied by generators, and the government subsidizes motorcycles so kids can get to school. After hundreds of years of ‘discovery’ and colonization, today the capital city of Kuala Lumpur is a mix of Moorish, colonial, Tudor, neo-Gothic and Grecian-Spanish architecture mixed in with modern skyscrapers.
Around 1.73 million people live in the city proper, and 7.25 in the whole Klang province. The highways are excellent and, except for Malay signs and license plates, look like the best American roads — but their landscaping is much better. The religious breakdown is roughly 60% Muslim, 20% Buddhist, 9% Christian, and 6% Hindu. The country is a ‘monarchy,’ but the king-ship rotates among the 9 sultans in the 14 states. Every five years, the Conference of Rulers select a new ‘king’ from the 9.
While we had an excellent guide who has been doing this for 27 years, I didn’t take many notes. So here’s Wiki: ‘Kuala Lumpur is ... the seventh most visited city in the world. The city is also home to three of the world’s 10 largest malls. Forbes has also named Kuala Lumpur at No. 6 in its list of 10 best cities to retire abroad, and the best in Asia, with factors including world class healthcare, affordable cost of living and widely spoken English.’ Once again, we were docked in a port — noisily named Port Klang — 30+ miles from the city. So we worked our way towards downtown. We stopped first at the National Museum, a modest but interesting collection of maps, costumes, weapons, tracing the country’s complicated history. (What country doesn’t have a complicated history?) As in several other nations I’ve visited, it was Arab traders who brought Islam to this part of the world.
I guessed this was a royal marriage bed. Wrong. It is a royal throne.
The National War Memorial honors those who died fighting for freedom during the Japanese occupation in World War II and in the ‘Malayan Emergency’ of 1948-1960, when British and Commonwealth forces defeated a communist revolt. The statue was designed by the Austrian sculptor Felix de Weldon, who also created the Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington.
The day ended with a ukulele concert in our Star Theatre! Ukebox, five charming and affable Liverpudlians, sang and played; they did an encore show two nights later. Of course, I was there both times! There were a bass uke, two soprano ukes including a kazookulele with a KAZOO attached to the neck(!), a tenor uke and a banjulele. I took my uke to the show and uked Ukebox off the stage, then convinced them to have their picture taken with me afterwards. #
