Travel Articles - Malaysia - Kindly supplied by the Good Travel Guide Magazine |
MALAYSIA: KURANGKAN LAJU.
My attention is stolen by stalls selling traditional, brightly-coloured batik material, strangely-shaped mangosteens next to the tribal blow-pipes, and the ever-changing olfactory sensations of cooking ginger or pungent curry powders wafting from the spice merchants' stalls.
These are my first, striking impressions. One hour into Malaysia and I'm enthralled, bleary-eyed from the flight, but already under its intense magical spell. But it's the fifth time I notice this sign painted on the tarmac. I ask my driver what it means. "Kurangkan Laju.. it mean slow down, apply brake!" he laughs, as we drive carefully through an area of downtown. "Of course!" I say.
Landing in the capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (or "KL"), I'm suddenly aware that two worlds meet here, the old and the new, and that this is what KL is all about. The twin Petronas Towers, the tallest buildings in the world, sit comfortably beside Moorish buildings and rambling colonial palaces. It's where the past, present and future merge together in one spectacular city.
Sandwiched between Thailand to the north and Singapore to the south, Malaysia beckons as an unspoilt paradise destination. Not ravaged by the excesses of package tourism, it's a 500-mile peninsular, containing the oldest tropical rainforest in the world (130 million years old, and covering an area the size of the UK), a startling coastline of white, virgin beach, the world's most futuristic city, KL and much more. A thousand miles to the east, Malaysia also incorporates the states of Sarawak and Sabah with more than 200 heavenly isles in between.
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