Insider's Kuala Lumpur (3rd Edn)

Seng Fatt Lam

Description

Kuala Lumpur, once a sleepy backwater, is today a sprawling metropolis and one of Asia's most exciting destinations. Insider's Kuala Lumpur takes the reader on a tour of KL's various districts-the City Centre, Chinatown, Jalan Ampang, Lake Gardens, Bangsar, Bukit Bintang-and gives the inside scoop on the stories behind the city's famous landmarks and personalities. Author Lam Seng Fatt's collection of captivating stories will make you pause, think and appreciate the city in its historical totality. Hear about the disputes over the real founder of the city; the brothels and gambling dens; the adventures of the early pioneers, coffee planters and infamous criminals; the rich towkays who built themselves European-inspired mansions; and the first warders of Pudu Jail-named Fish, Currie, and Rice! In this updated third edition, the latest developments in the cosmopolitan capital are covered, adding a whole new dimension to the already fascinating story. Maps, colour photographs, suggested itineraries, and information on attractions make this an indispensable travel companion.

Sujets

• Malasia
• Malaysia
• Malaisie

Informations

• Publié par: MarshallCavendishM
• Date de parution: 01 mars 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789814435390
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

2000 Times Media Pte Ltd
2004, 2011 Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Pte Ltd
Published 2011 by Marshall Cavendish Editions
An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International
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National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Lam, Seng Fatt.
Insider s Kuala Lumpur / Lam Seng Fatt. - 3rd ed. - Singapore : Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2011.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN: 978 981 4435 39 0
1. Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) - Description and travel. 2. Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) - History. 3. Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) - Guidebooks. I. Title.
DS599.K8
915.951 -- dc22 OCN704471649
Cover concept and layout design: Lock Hong Liang
Map Illustrator: Ang Lee Pheng
Photographer: Lam Seng Fatt
Printed in Singapore by KWF Printing Pte Ltd

CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction to the City
Travel Facts
THE CITY CENTRE
Where Rivers Meet
From Mining Town to Megalopolis
Mosque in the Middle
Point of Sales
The Golden Mile?
Shopping Before Sogo
The 20-Million-Dollar Man
The Spotted Dog Evolves Into An Asian Thoroughbred
The Grand Old Lady
Field of Independence
God Has Eyes
Insider s Tips
Short Walk
THE CHINATOWN AREA
The Mother of All Markets
On Higher Ground
Helluva Hazard
New Lease of Life for Stadia
Hundred Stories High
Insider s Tips
Short Walk
JALAN AMPANG AREA
Nightmare Turns Into Sweet Dream
Still the Tallest Twin Towers
The Malaysian Eiffel
The Golden Age of the Golden Rooster?
Urban Kampung
The Famous Chow Kit
Insider s Tips
Short Walk
THE LAKE GARDENS AREA
A Celebration of Minarets
Colonial Style with a Dash of YMCA
The 15th Mile
Venning s Labour of Love for Lovers
Monument with a Chequered Past
A Desirable Dwelling
The Resident s Residence
Home of Kings
Insider s Tips
Short Walk
THE BANGSAR AREA
Mostly Multi-Millionaires
Old News
Insider s Tips
Short Walk
THE BUKIT BINTANG AREA
Starry, Starry Hill
Fish Curry with Rice?
An Institution in Education
Insider s Tips
Short Walk
THE REST OF KL
The Iron Bullock Cart
The Klang River Highway
Stinking Discovery
Baldie and the Bentong Kid
Insider s Tips
Short Walk
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
PREFACE
When I started writing this book, I thought it would be a breeze. After all, I was born and bred in Kuala Lumpur and I had written several articles about the city before.
But problems arose when I started researching the pieces. Writing an impression piece about Kuala Lumpur is very different from writing a historical piece. The latter deals with facts and figures while the former, opinions and abstractions.
Thankfully, newspaper libraries had cuttings and microfilm records of journals, books and magazines from the early part of the 20th century. However, there were still gaps to be filled.
My search for further information inevitably led to earlier writers like Gullick and Middlebrook. I had in my collection J. M. Gullick s Kuala Lumpur 1880-1895, A City in the Making and The Story of Kuala Lumpur 1857-1939 , which proved invaluable. Somewhere in a dusty corner of my library, I found a copy of Malay Sketches by Sir Frank Swettenham, which had greatly influenced Gullick and other writers.
Although Yap Ah Loy was hailed as the founder of Kuala Lumpur, little information about him could be found in newspaper clippings, and much of that was inaccurate. However, after some searching, I dug up much information on him from S. M. Middlebrook and J. M. Gullick s book Yap Ah Loy in University Malaya s well-stocked shop. It was also here where I found another rarity-Isabella Bird s The Golden Chersonese .
After completing the manuscript, I bought a copy of H. S. Barlow s Swettenham , a well-researched book that revealed a different, darker facet of Swettenham. After flipping through all 730 pages of the book, it was necessary to amend several of my essays.
I would like to express my gratitude to Marshall Cavendish commissioning editor, Christine Chong, for giving me this opportunity to delve into the city s history, and my editor, Justin Lau.
Kuala Lumpur at the start of the new millennium is a city on the move. The pace has accelerated and property prices in prime areas have shot up. Malaysia s strong economy has attracted investors and workers from around the world, making Kuala Lumpur a very cosmopolitan and exciting city. Its new symbol, the Petronas Twin Towers, for a time the tallest building in the world, has given Malaysians a great sense of pride and boosted their confidence. Kuala Lumpur is no longer a sleepy backwater, yet it still has a long way to go before it can be in the same league as the great cities of the world. Civil servants may have shifted to Putrajaya, the new administrative capital, but Kuala Lumpur is still happening with an intoxicating mix of fizz and razzle.
Lam Seng Fatt
THE CITY ITSELF WAS PURE, TRANSPARENT GOLD, LIKE GLASS. THE WALL WAS MADE OF JASPER, AND WAS BUILT ON TWELVE LAYERS OF FOUNDATION STONES INLAID WITH GEMS... REVELATION 21:18-19
INTRODUCTION TO THE CITY
Kuala Lumpur, or simply KL to her residents, is a city built on tin. The irony is that in the new millennium, the sun has long set on the tin mining industry and the only tin you will find in KL these days comes in the form of pewter, a tin alloy, which is handcrafted into souvenirs, key-chains, utensils and vases, and displayed at tourist spots. The mines have since been converted into middle-class residential neighbourhoods and water theme parks.
While KL is not the most ancient, trendy, pretty or exciting city in the world, it exudes a charm all its own. Thanks to conservation policies that have preserved rows of crumbling prewar shophouses, it still retains an old look that evokes the same kind of nostalgic emotion the way a fading photograph does. But this old world ambience sits in stark contrast with the city s most easily-identifiable new landmarks-KL Tower and the Petronas Twin Towers, which rank among the tallest buildings in the world.
KL is a city in transition. Even though Putrajaya, Malaysia s new administrative capital about an hour s drive south of the city, has a sizeable population of civil servants, the movers and shakers of the economy and the party animals have stayed put. And even though the pace of life has picked up quite dramatically in recent times, stressed-out KL folks will still flash you a smile and try to help in some way or other.
Over the years, KL has become more cosmopolitan. American, European, Taiwanese and Japanese investors, lured by an economy that has healed from the wounds inflicted by the 1997 financial crisis, moved into the upmarket suburbs of Bangsar, Pantai Hills, Ampang, Mont Kiara and Sri Hartamas. Globalism has been embraced whole-heartedly by KL and you can expect more changes to come in this vibrant city.
At the same time, KL has become more Asian in character. Also lured by the buoyant economy are contract workers from Burma, Bangladesh, Indonesia, China, Cambodia, Philippines and Nepal. You can have a quick Asian experience just by visiting different parts of KL-Brickfields and Sentul for an Indian flavour; Petaling Street and Pudu for a Chinese accent; and Kampung Baru for a Malay atmosphere. Explore deeper and you will discover that Chow Kit has become very Indonesian. If you venture into many of the coffeeshops in the city that sell Shandong noodles and dumplings, you will find these manned by Burmese and Chinese nationals. It is common to see mainland Chinese students hired as part-time workers.
Malay may be the official language but many people in KL still consider English their first language. And since most Malaysians are multi-lingual, the English they speak is spiced with elements from the Malay and Chinese languages. In Malaysia, this patois is called Manglish (in Singapore, it s Singlish). One distinct, and perhaps likeable, feature is the addition of the Malay suffix lah to English sentences. One often hears sentences like You can eat here- lah and Have a cup of coffee- lah . While some Chinese speak Mandarin, the most common Chinese dialect in KL is Cantonese. Amongst the Indians, Tamil is widely used. On thing is for sure-if you are fluent in English, you will feel at home in KL because many KL folk can speak English and signage is mostly in both Malay and English.
When in KL, be prepared for a culinary adventure and some weight-gain. You will find a bewildering