The Air Asia Flight from Kolkata, India to Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia was comfortable and uneventful As this flight took of late it got dark and nothing was visible outside. After flying for approximately three and half hours I suddenly saw a vast area of dazzling lights amidst the pitch-black surroundings. From about twenty thousand feet high up in the sky, Kuala Lumpur seemed so enticing, bedecked in rows and rows of glittering diamonds. Even before landing I had fallen in love with the Malaysian capital.
After clearing Immigration and Customs, we stepped out with our bags & baggage. There were three eager faces waiting for us in the arrival area. The youngest of the three looked very sleepy. As soon as I hugged him he was wide-awake & back to his ‘Spiderman’ antics. Since it was past midnight Malaysian time, we quickly piled into the car and sped towards our destination, my daughter’s house in Jalan Ampang, a good eighty kilometres from the airport at Shah Alam. The roads being excellent, our journey didn’t take us long.
The first sight that greeted me on entering her house was the well – lit twin Petronas Towers, visible from the wide French windows. What a mesmerizing sight that was! We could see the twin towers standing tall in their full glory, lit from head to toe in beautiful glimmering lights. I hadn’t ever imagined that on the first night itself I would be seeing these iconic towers and that too from such close quarters. After waking up it was the same glorious sight again, only this time sans lights they looked mellowed but still very impressive with the steel structure gleaming in the sunlight.
After a hearty breakfast we set out to explore the city. Kuala Lumpur had a very sanitized look and feel. The roads and pavements were scrupulously clean with nothing littered on either. The local populace seemed a little shy and liked to keep to themselves but by no means were they unfriendly. In fact they were the non-boisterous and quiet type.
We decided to visit the Batu caves first. Smooth wide roads lined by tropical rain-forests on both sides proved soothing to our eyes and our nerves. I could drive on for hours along these silky roads taking in the clean air and getting seeped in the green vista of the tall trees with their broad canopies. On reaching our destination we saw huge caves of stalactites and stalagmites perched on top of a hill. Climbing up the two hundred something steps was quite tiring but refreshing all the same. On reaching the top we found ourselves in the main cave with an Indian deity being worshipped there. This was a novel experience.
We then set out for the bird park. The whole area is covered by wire meshing right to the top of the trees, so the birds have the freedom of flying short distances. There were very colourful macaws, cute little budgerigars, owls that looked very sleepy, storks on stilt like long legs frantically trying to filter out fish and worms with their beaks, a couple of peacocks showing off their florescent plumes, huge ostriches, and pelicans with their beaks filled with fish. One big pelican managed to scare ‘Spiderman’, our grandson, by trying to snatch his ice cream. We tried to shoo him away but he just wouldn’t budge. It was quite a long trek around the park, so by the time we finished we were all very hungry. We trooped in to the cafeteria where we had a delicious meal of Thai green curry with sticky and fragrant jasmine rice,.
On our way back we went to the KL Aquaria. There were all varieties of fish – small fish, large fish, rotund fish, slim fish, black ugly fish, very pretty fish of many different hues- and there were large turtles. as well as some snakes and cute little sea horses. In one section we had to go through a fiber glass tunnel and there were huge ray fish and sharks swimming all around us . We clicked a lot of pictures in our attempt at immortalizing these captive creatures
Next day the weather was cool and the prospect of going out without having to face the oppressive heat was very appealing…our destination was Putrajaya, the administrative capital of Malaysia. We drove through silky roads, this time lined with oil-palm plantations. These trees looked more like dwarfed date palms and added a different sort of charm to the roads. Putrajaya was very beautiful…lovely houses with manicured gardens, wonderful parks and a very beautiful pink mosque right on the riverbank. Across the river were seven bridges, each a replica of a world famous bridge. After clicking several pictures for posterity we decided to call it a day and headed for home.
About the Author: Onku Ghosh: I am a home-maker.I am interested in writing poems, painting, cooking, and gardening. I am also interested in net-surfing. Find her on Facebook.
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This is so picturesque. You have captured the beauty of the city so aptly – Beautifully written.
– Ips
I’m amazed you had such an experience. I was there at about the same time (assuming the post date is near the travel date) and, yes, the area around the towers was beautiful and clean, the rest of the areas I explored were not (Bukit Bintang, Chinatown, Little India, Brickfields). The towers are a city within a city, completely different.
I took the KL Kummuter to the Batu Caves and it was anything but tropical rain forests. Overdeveloped–over because the buildings are all run down and empty–areas for more than half of the journey. It’s surprising how different the routes there are.