Kuala Lumpur: Forward, upward - at any cost

On Monday morning I landed in Malaysia's de facto capital, Kuala Lumpur, an unusually pleasant flight hour and five minutes north of Singapore. Quickly and efficiently I acquired my KLIA Express transport card airport-central station return including two days of public transport plus the opportunity to top up the card at most newsstands. And off at high speed the 45 km to Kuala Lumpur Sentral.

My Hotel Ascott Sentral is a five-minute walk from the KLIA terminal/central station/huge shopping mall on the edge of the area called Little India Brickfields. Just take the latter literally: Here, the present Indian/Pakistani immigrants used to produce enormous quantities of bricks on a huge area. They stayed. The area is - a little more - more original and characterized by significantly lower (and cheaper!) buildings than the capital's tourist magnets. But the glass and steel giants have begun their inroads into the neighborhood.

Kuala Lumpur is a relatively young city, where most of the man-made things it wants to show off are less than 150 years old. Often much younger. One of several interpretations of the name's meaning - the most popular - is "the muddy meeting place of two rivers."

Kuala Lumpur is not really one city. A bit like Los Angeles and Kathmandu, it is more like several urban areas spread over such an enormous area that - despite the name - there is not really a real city center. Hence my choice of accommodation in a place where several transport lines meet, so that I can discover the city like a star race. And get to and from the airport smoothly without having to walk far in a tropical climate in an infrastructure created for cars.

Monday afternoon I took the red line to the Menara Kuala Lumpur TV tower, where there was no queue. Why? As Obelix says: There must be a great view from up there! It was there, because the weather was clear, the smog was limited and so was the smoke from Indonesian forest fires. And then it's a bit funny to be able to look the Petronas Twin Towers in the eye. Equally interesting is HOW huge the city is - and how there are still single-storey tin buildings in between the enormous, new conglomerate-owned high-rises.

From there I went (yes, I'm not exactly smart, but the hull has to be kept going) to Chinatown and let myself get lost in the myriad of smells, sounds and faces (and food!), which we certainly don't have at home in 6400😁

Tuesday: red line again, this time a few stations further to the 120-year-old Sultan Abdel Samad Jamek Mosque, built after the inspiration of the Indian Taj Mahal. Off with my shoes and on with my loosely hanging pink and white scarf. In the largest of the prayer areas, I was seated on a chair by a scribe with Morgan Freeman's eyes and Kristian Leth's theological insistence. His task: to de-dramatize Islam and show how many similarities there are between the three monotheistic religions (and perhaps also to demonstrate that 24 messengers - including Isaac, Moses and Jesus - showed the way to the Prophet😁). It may be that I have actively opted out of a religious life (my choice), but I love listening to and talking to religious scholars (their choice) who have their stuff under control - and who speak with humor and without preaching. Did I agree with him: no. Did I become a little wiser: yes!

From there on to the brand new, fancy, polished, impressive, crazy, enchanting, repulsive and completely indescribable KLCC, Kuala Lumpur City Centre. It is completely anti-Jante. Freudians get a slap in the face. Here they want to go down. Here they want to go up. This is the new Malaysia. It costs money. And they like to show it. Here are the ultra-expensive and wild malls. Here are the sidewalks wide and without meter-deep holes (yippee!) and with neat planting. Here are the 452 meter high Petronas Twin Towers (which you have to book tickets for well in advance, so I had done that). Here is the man-made city park with greenery and paths and a swimming hall for probably the youngest in the family - and then the large symphonic fountain, which, with Las Vegas' Bellagio and Dubai's Burj al Khalifa as models, impresses the masses every evening on the hour from 8 pm. It is impressive. It is free. It is worth staying for.

Today the city's monorail took me to the tourist favorite Bukit Bintang, which also offers the whole spectrum from luxury malls to the night street Jalar Alor Streetfood Market. A few decades ago this was a den of sin (where good people are, good people come), but the city government has since reportedly gotten a handle on the worst prostitution. Come on, it's still there. Neither I nor my hunger could last until dark, so I ate my claypot rice at 5:30 p.m., while the final preparations for the evening and night's trade and commerce were being made. At least what I saw seemed to be hygienically in order.

This city is too crazy! Good night!