Kuala Lumpur (KL), the capital city of Malaysia, has a population of 1.4mil (year 2000 statistics). There’s no great mystery behind the name Kuala Lumpur which, when translated into English, literally means “muddy confluence”. That’s because the city derived its name from its location at the confluence (what else?) of the Klang and Gombak rivers.
Situated midway along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, KL functions as the commercial and business capital of the country and up until 1999, was also the administrative capital, which has since been moved to Putrajaya.
People from all over the country and all types of ethnicity are drawn to the big city in search of fortune. The mass exodus back to hometowns (the balik kampung phenomenon) during festive holidays such as Hari Raya, Chinese New Year and Deepavali is evidence of that modern culture. It is only at times like this that the bustling city becomes relatively quiet.
Places of interest
In just over a century KL, which is also known as the “Garden City of Lights”, has undergone a phenomenal growth into a world-class city. However despite that, it still retains much of its past splendour with many interesting attractions ranging from various heritage buildings and monuments to gardens and parks.
Old colonial buildings add a dash of nostalgia to the modern city. Among them are the Sultan Abdul Samad Building – the most photographed building in Malaysia – and the Kuala Lumpur Railway Station along Jalan Hishamuddin. Nature lovers will enjoy the beautiful Lake Gardens and its various surrounding parks such as the Bird, Butterfly and Deer Parks and the Orchid Garden, all of which can be found at Taman Tasik Perdana. There’s also the forest Reserve in Bukit Nanas – the oldest gazetted forest reserve in the country, which is located right smack in the middle of KL.
Take a walk through the forest reserve and you’ll end up at one of KL’s most prestigious modern structures, the KL Tower. The tower, which was completed in 1996 and stands at 421 metres, is also the world’s fourth tallest telecommunications tower.
Visitors to the tower will get a bird’s eye view of the entire city from its observation deck. However, KL again created a new record in 1997, when it became the proud owner of the world’s tallest buildings, the Petronas Twin Towers, two 88-storey skyscrapers at 452 metres each.
The impressive Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, which is home to the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, is located at Tower 2. Nestled at the foot of these towers is the Suria KLCC shopping centre, which also houses Galeri Petronas, an art gallery and the Petrosains the discovery centre. The towers, Suria KLCC and the surrounding park and gardens make up the Kuala Lumpur City Centre.
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