Where to Go in KL? A General Guideline
Kuala Lumpur, founded as it was in the mid nineteenth century, represents the core culture of Malaysia. KL has never been coherent in style and the situation aggravated by the fact that unprecedented growth and change has been taken place in the city contributing to its fame and recognition. With its diversified and multicultural base, this capital city of Malaysia forms the most visited of the cities in the world.
Having developed over the years, Kuala Lumpur has a number of attractions that have brought in millions of tourists every year.
The Butterfly Park is one of the most unique attractions of Kuala Lumpur. It is located inside the Lake Gardens in Kuala Lumpur. The park spreads over one hundred and twenty acres and consists of an extensive collection of butterflies that go over six thousand. Beautiful flowers are displayed all around and the park breathes a plenty of greens. The butterflies present in the park are in various colour and sizes.
While the Butterfly Park offers a saturating experience to the adults, kids and children may not be as exhilarated unless they have some quality amusement. The Aquaria is the place the kids would love to be in. The visitors are transported to a different world altogether as they enter Aquaria. The only thing that stands between the visitors and the aquatic world over them is the glass of the aquarium. The glass structure beautifully mimics the natural habitats of the aquatic animals. The marine creatures range between tiny fishes and killer sharks.
Kuala Lumpur offers theme parks and zoos for the amusement of families. The kids can have fun with the number of fun activities to keep them engaged and entertained. Kuala Lumpur has other iconic attractions as well that include the famous Petronas Twin Towers.
The caves and galleries in the city also form a part of the tourist attractions. The Batu Caves, one of the most eminent places among the Hindu locals and Hindu visitors, is a sacred place for the followers of Hinduism. There are 3 main caves along with numerous small caves. Most of these caves consist of Kavadis for sacrifice to god. Kavadis are frameworks that are decorated brightly and are made of a number of metals combined together. The kavadis can pierce through tongue, cheek, and skin. During Thaipusam, over 800,000 devotees visit the Batu Caves.
Kuala Lumpur also locates the most famous gallery of Malaysia, the National Art Gallery. The gallery was established in the year 1958. The gallery had begun with a very humble style. There were a total of four artworks that had been donated. The gallery shifted to its new location rather recently. Prior to this, the gallery was in a borrowed space. As many as two thousand and five hundred pieces of artworks are permanently housed in the gallery. There are also rotational exhibitions of Asian as well as international art take place regularly here.
The cultural matrix of Kuala Lumpur is rich and diverse. Despite the face-pace development, its spiritual roots penetrate deep within to hold on strongly to the people here. Here, you would find different religious places owing to the different religions. There are Hindu temples, Chinese temples, mosques, churches, and Buddhist temples abounding in Kuala Lumpur.
The oldest and richest among the Hindu temples located in Kuala Lumpur is Sri Mahamariamman Temple. The temple is famous not just among the local followers but is also famous among the visitors from all points of the world. The oldest Taoist temple is the Sze Ya Temple which is located in the area around Chinatown near the central market. Among the Chinese temples located in Kuala Lumpur, the largest is Thean Hou Temple which spreads over an area of 1.67 acres.
Kuala Lumpur has a large number of mosques too. The oldest of the mosques in Kuala Lumpur is Masjid Jamek situated at the confluence of Gomak and Klang Rivers. It was built in 1907. Masjid Negara has been distinguished as the national mosque of Malaysia. Spreading over thirteen acres of beautifully landscaped gardens, the mosque is among the largest in Southeast Asia.
Christian community is large in KL. St. Mary’s Cathedral, located along Jalan Raja, is the Anglican Bishop of West Malaysia’s chief office, other than being the mother church of the Diocese.
It would not be wrong to address Kuala Lumpur as the shopping capital of Malaysia besides being the capital city. In fact, it is the most ideal place to roam about and eat. It offers a quality experience to the shoppers that crowd to the city. There are a number of shopping centres and malls consisting of a several retail outlets selling both local and international brands. The growing modernity of the city is nowhere better evidenced than in the shopping malls. The city has a number of shopping districts. While on the one hand there are high end and modernized shopping malls, on the other hand there are little shops selling the typical Malay and Chinese clothes and accessories. The tourists here love to shop the antiques and local relics.
Malaysian food is another phenomenon among the tourists. The streets are lined up with a number of restaurants that range between high end ones and moderate to budget options. The restaurants offer typical Malaysian delights and also serve international delicacies. Chinese, Japanese, Western, Asian and Malaysian foods are offered at the restaurants. There are street foods corners as well that are as much famed and reputed as the restaurants. The street food corners generally offer the typical Malaysian servings. And they excel at preparing quality seafoods. Apart from tasting the ethnic Malay foods, the tourists also love to taste the fusion foods prepared at the restaurants and eateries.
Though the international lifestyle that the city exhibits has touched the different facets of the people’s life here, the local Malaysian delights retain their original flavour and tourists coming to Kuala Lumpur from all over the world prefer to taste the Malaysian dishes rather than the foreign dishes.