MALAYSIA SO FAR!

This is what I’ve learned so far! Malaysia was a colony of the British and became independent in 1957. At that time Singapore was part (it’s on the tip of the peninsula) but Kim said the leader, Lee (someone) - he was Chinese - was VERY strong! The rest of Malaysia offered Singapore, a huge Asian port, to be a city/state and it did! and has stayed that way! 

In Malaysia, it seems much more modern and upscale than Indonesia/Bali. KL started with tin mining, in 1857,  which Kim said involves a lot of sand, excavating, and straining when the tin falls beneath the sand. There is a lot of MUD resulting from this mining,  Kuala Lumpur literally means, in Malay, “muddy confluence,” of Klang and Gombak rivers. Now not much tin mining is done. We noticed as we landed huge fields of what looked like palm trees. Turns out palm oil is one of this country’s main products. They also produce rubber and oil - like gasoline. 

Malacca on the coast was a major stop along the “Spice Route.” Magellan stopped here (we learned about this in the Asian Museum in Singapore) and he picked up a Malay slave Enrique Malacca, who ended up actually sailing completely around the world (Magellan was killed along the way and never completed the circumnavigation). So now it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and supposed to be historically interesting. 

Kim took us downtown yesterday to see the sights of KL. Mainly we parked under the shopping mall at the base of the major tourist sight - the Petronas Twin Towers and Park. Built in 1998, they once were the tallest buildings in the world at 452 meters and 88 stories. There is a skybridge gaining them at the 41st and 42nd floors but we just took photos from outside in the lovely courtyard with a musical fountain (wasn’t running; being worked on). 

Lunch with Esther and Kim Tan

Inside the mall, beneath the twin towers

Altar at entrance to Tan house. Thay on right; Kim's parents on left.

Beautiful parquet floor/stairway

The other site we drove through was “Chinatown” but it wasn’t too impressive. We were looking for some “shophouses” that used to be wooden, but after a huge fire, I’m guessing there were shops on the ground floor and then the family house was on top. There are still some stone ones we saw. Kim pulled over and we got out for a few pictures. We also passed a few old looking temples.