Kuala Lumpur Perfect Blend of Business And Leisure

From scrambling to the forty-second floor of the technological wonder that is Petronas Towers to buying batik, Devika Rajan lives it up in this multi-ethnic city.

Some say that too much of a good thing is barely enough. And I was beginning to see reason in this anamoly as I prepared to take my flight back home from Kuala Lumpur. Even after spending a week in Malaysia, a country that seems outrightly modern and yet essentially traditional, it seemed that I hadn't had enough of the place.

Although mine was a leisure trip, the country is a major business hub, especially Kuala Lumpur, the capital city. The soaring Petronas Towers dominating the skyline is a symbol of modernity and commerce and, one can say, exudes the essence of the city. Constructed in the heart of the city, it houses the Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC) and is the central business district plus a major tourist attraction.

Business On Your Mind

Kuala Lumpur has emerged as a global business destination and is giving Singapore and Hong Kong a run for their money. What makes Kuala Lumpur a great place to do business is its location and the facilities that it offers. The city is very well connected and is just 45 minutes from Singapore by flight. But executive coaches that run between these two countries are more comfortable and take about three to four hours one way, making air travel almost redundant.

I had the opportunity to travel between the two cities on three previous occasions and each time I opted for a different mode. I first travelled by flight, then by bus, and finally by the night train. And I would say that each one is an experience by itself. But personally, I found the train journey the most interesting with a narrow, yet cosy and an absolutely clean sleeper coupe. It halts at Johor Baru, an hour's ride from Singapore, where one is required to complete immigration formalities.

However, for all its modern infrastructure, business deals here cannot be clinched in the American way - rushed and up front. Relationships, even if they are corporate, are built gradually after many social meals. Here, politeness and courtesy go a long way.

Twin Towers Of The East

Completed in 1998, the Petronas Towers attract hordes of tourists. They stand 452 meters high and are billed as the 'world's tallest structures', although the Sears Tower in Chicago is 200 feet higher than the Malaysian contender making it the highest occupied building. The first six floors of the glinting chrome and steel towers houses the Suria KLCC, a shopper's heaven with more than 200 stores, food courts and restaurants. To go up the towers, and this is worth doing, one needs to be there by 9:00 am waiting in line since only a limited number of people are permitted up each day. For security reasons, perhaps.

When I went to make that memorable trip, we were first split into smaller groups and shown a video that gave information and facts about the structure before being ushered into a roomy lift. But to my disappointment, we were allowed to go only till the 42nd floor where the sky-bridge connects both the overwhelmingly beautiful towers. What a pity!

KL, An Oriental Oasis

Situated on the central western side of the Malay peninsula, 35 kilometers from the coast, Kuala Lumpur is the most populous (with over 1.8 million people) and prosperous city in Malaysia. The political center of Malaysia, it has had the distinction of hosting the 1998 Commonwealth Games and is the second Asian venue (after Japan) to host the prestigious Formula 1 races.

A peek into its past reveals that Kuala Lumpur came into existence in 1857, when a group of Chinese tin miners established settlement at the spot where river Klang meets river Gombak. And that is how it got its name, which means 'muddy confluence' in the local language. In time, Kuala Lumpur grew to be a successful tin mining town. However, a fire in 1881, followed by floods almost wiped it out. But like a phoenix reborn, the city renewed itself in a frenzy of construction and activity and became the capital of the newly-formed Federated Malay States in 1896. Later, Britain took over Malaysia and held sway there till, during the Second World War, the Japanese defeated them in Singapore and took over control.

Finally, the Malay states attained independence in 1957 with Tunku Abdul Rahman as their first prime minister. Today, Kuala Lumpur is an independent federal territory. Malaysia itself is a constitutional monarchy and the kings are elected for five-year terms from the nine sultans of the federated states. The executive powers remain with the prime minister. Currently, these powers are vested with Adullah Ahmad Badawi. The troubles, however, didn't end there. The city was affected by the economic crisis of the late '90s but it seems to have staged a total revival.

Sightseeing

The Petronas Towers and the Suria KLCC, China Town, National Museum, the Thean Hou Buddhist Temple (in China Town), the KL Tower OR the Menara (located in central KL) and the Lake Gardens that has Butterfly Park, Orchid Gardens, Hibiscus Garden, Deer Park and the National monument. On the city outskirts on can visit the Sunway Lagoon, the Batu Caves (limestone caves with Hindu temples), the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Mosque and the Genting Highlands.

Truly Asia

One is often tempted to draw comparisons between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur because of all the industrialisation one perceives. But that is where the similarity ends. Underneath all the commercialisation is a city that has determinedly held on to the Islamic culture and the traditional way of life without eroding its multi-ethnicity.

What really intrigued me was the pluralistic society of Malaysia that is based on a vibrant and interesting fusion of Malay, Chinese, Indian (almost 10 per cent of the total population) and indigenous cultures and customs. All these communities coexist peacefully and business houses have people of all races working together. However, businesses cannot be established here unless one of the directors of the company is a 'bumiputera' or a local Malay, which translates to sons or princes of the soil. Almost all Malays are Muslims although Islam here is less extreme than, say, the Middle East.

Tradition is important for Malaysians and local festivals are serious rituals. It is heartening to see them celebrate Thaipusam (a South Indian festival where devotion to Lord Kartikeya is shown by piercing little trishuls through tongues), Diwali, Ramzan, Christmas, Chinese New Year as well as Indepenence day (August 31) with equal fervour.

Exploring The City

I had put myself up in Corus Hotel mostly because it was within walking distance from the towers. And I decided to go about exploring the place like the conventional tourist - complete with Lonely Planet in hand and camera dangling from neck. The city is sprinkled with a generous number of minarets and mosques, high rises and green patches, all at once. One can visit the Lake Gardens that has a lake surrounded by imaginatively landscaped gardens. Or the Bird Park from where sounds of chirping and chirruping emanate constantly. Then, one can go to the Merdeka Square that has the tallest flagpole in the world and look at the Sultan Abdul Samad building that harks back to a Moorish influence with its 40 feet clock tower and copper domes.

Also, one can't really miss the railway station with beautiful spires and minarets built in the early 19th century, a walk down Jalan Ampang that houses some of the oldest mansions of tin tycoons, and the Menara - a communication tower - that is said to be the fourth-tallest TV transmission tower in the world. But my favourite (after the towers, of course) was the national monument - seven soldiers sculpted in bronze - to commemorate those who gave their lives fighting for their country's independence during the Second World War.

KLCC is a good place to shop, but if one is looking for a bargain, one must head to Jalan Petaling, also known as China Town. From needles to electronics, the place has everything that one could possibly want to buy. In fact, I did buy a set of steel needle-threaders for just RM 3 from a roadside hawker. The place is also swarming with fakes and they can be broadly graded into 'fakes', 'good fakes', and 'damn good fakes'! And when I say 'damn good fakes', I mean it looks exactly like the real stuff. It could cost slightly more than an ordinary fake but it offer as much value as the original.

I also bought some Ferrari caps and T-shirts to wear at the Formula 1 race being held in Sepang at a fraction of the cost of the original that was being sold at the official Ferrari outlet at the race venue. Another hot favourite of tourists is to shop at night in Petaling, which is an experience in itself. The frenetic activity, the noise, the lights, the continual buzz of selling and bargaining and the energy makes the bazaar come alive.

Food was obviously a priority. It is an important element of a destination that can, in parts, capture the essence of the place one is visiting. And to say that food in Malaysia is varied would be an understatement. Apart from the local cuisine of Malay, Thai, Chinese, Korean and Indonesian dishes, Little India has food joints that offer anything from south Indian to Punjabi and even Pakistani gastronomic delights. Food courts all over the city offer inexpensive fare of vegetarian, meat dishes and sea food as well. Little India also has roadside musicians singing Hindi songs from Bollywood movies or their own Malay versions of the popular numbers. Shahrukh Khan seems to be a favourite here and DVDs of Hindi movies with Malay sub-titles are easily available.

However, what caught my eye amidst all this chaos were the messages written in Malay on the signboards. Written in the English script, the language seemed to be a mélange of English and Indian words. For instance, 'selamat datang' meant welcome, 'teksi' is taxi, 'kedai' (kadai in Tamil) is shop, 'buku' is book, and 'waktu' is time. 'Apa nama anda?' (What is your name?) sounded to me like a hybrid of Hindi and Malayalam.

Apart from Malay - Chinese, English and Tamil are also spoken and we easily managed with English except perhaps once when a taxi driver of Tamil origin discovering that we spoke the language, insisted on speaking to us in a version of Tamil that sounded vastly different from that spoken in Chennai today.

I smiled at the thought of this taxi ride as I sat, a tad sadly, at the Kuala Lumpur airport waiting to board my flight back to New Delhi. I could not help but reminiscence the last one week in Malaysia: three bustling days in Kuala Lumpur, two days at the Formula 1 racing in Sepang, a couple of days amidst the hills and casinos of Genting with a good measure of Batu caves thrown in. Sigh!