* SIGHTING THE INFAMOUS HAZE *
With a fast developing country such as Malaysia undergoing such rapid change, it’s not surprising some important ideas tend to get left behind. One of these is caring for the environment. Not that Malaysia is doing that badly relatively, but evidence of some great developmental leaps over the last few years are clear on the landscape.
Landing at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), anyone looking out of the window will be amazed at the acres of oil palms that stretch all around the airport. Once upon a time, the area would have been covered in rainforest, but like most of Peninsular Malaysia, rainforests tend to be limited to the hills. And now as land is increasingly becoming prized real estate, many remaining rainforests have been protected by the Malaysian government. Whilst some may question whether it’s too late, one can only commend the government for taking such a stance, particularly at the risk of stifling economic development.
But one of the key reasons why an environmental stance has emerged is the development of the ‘Haze’. In 1997, ‘slashing and burning’ of rainforests mostly in neighbouring Indonesia, but also most of South East Asia, led to an enormous volume of smoke being released into the skies. Coupled with extremely hot and dry weather conditions, this actually led to smog covering the whole of South East Asia with visibility dropping to just a few hundred metres. Years on, the risk of smog is still here as ‘slashing and burning’ still takes place, often illegally.
This month, it had been nearly three weeks since the last significant rainfall. As the landscape became increasingly parched, some wildfires were reported on the peninsula. On our trip to Putrajaya last Thursday, it became clear how fragile the air quality was. A smoky mist covered the area and in the evening, a rising red full moon appeared due to refraction of light from the smoke particles in the air.
But it only took one night of rain to clear the air and the next morning, the air was clear. Just in time for us travelling to KL.
* UP GREAT HEIGHTS *
Kuala Lumpur boasts two tall structures, the KL Tower (Menara KL) and the Petronas Twin Towers. The KL Tower is the fourth tallest communications mast in the world, something the Malaysians are deeply proud of. It is a beautiful structure with intricate designs on its exterior. Being up there, there are great views of the city, which seemed to be dwarfed by the two tallest structures.
The Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest office buildings in the world, until the construction of Taipei 101 and a new building in Shanghai will take away their crown. Unfortunately, you can’t get to the top of the towers (but imagine owning the penthouse…), however, you can get up to the ‘Skybridge’ on the 41st floor of this 88 storey building.
An interesting fact is that before September 11, evacuation of the towers involved the footbridge with people crossing from one tower to the other in order to exit. However, around September 11, a bomb threat was received and both towers needed to be evacuated. Chaos ensued as people tried to cross over to the other towers. Now, though, procedures have changed, so the bridge is no longer used in emergency.
It is amazing seeing both the KL Tower and the Petronas Twin Towers. Having now been up more tall structures in the last few years than I can remember, I think I’m beginning to love the heights.
* FAMILY TIME *
One of the primary reasons for coming to Malaysia for me, of course, is to see family. My mother is Malaysian Chinese and was born in Seremban, a city some 60km south of Kuala Lumpur, the capital. As my mother is one of nine children, our family is not surprisingly quite large.
It’s amazing now seeing four generations of the family. Particularly at a dinner last night, where thirty family members, including spouses, descended upon a restaurant in Seremban for a feast, and seeing all the kids there. It’s strange to think, that almost twenty years ago, I had made my first trip to Malaysia with my parents and my brother to pay a visit. At the time, I was only slightly older than most of the kids there last night. My parents were being referred to as granduncle and grandaunt, which means I’m being called ‘uncle’ officially rather than it just being a nickname given to by some cruel friends (Kev 
).
Most of my cousins are now married and obviously have kids, some when I visited last time were cute and small, but Kitty and Vincent are now in their mid to late teens. And no doubt next time I come, it will all have changed yet again, with more cute (and screaming) kids and probably Kitty and Vincent will be in university by then.
It is strange and eye-opening. Time flies by so fast and I obviously have so much to look forward to. Just one more day left in Malaysia before I fly out to Hong Kong on Wednesday to treat a completely different side of my life. On this Family & Friends tour, the family bit’s nearly over. Friends, here I come to party… =)
Links:
KL Tower (aka Menara KL)
Petronas Twin Towers (KLCC site)
Tagged: Places