April 26, 2006

Derosa Daily - Enjoying the Horseless Part of the Journey in Kuala Lumpur

On Our Way to the World Cup Finals

The flight was pretty uneventful and a good opportunity to get some rest. When we landed we went the usual route of customs, getting our luggage and finding our tour guide, Kien Wong, and driver, Fred Soon. They would be our guides for our entire stay in Malaysia. KLIA or Kuala Lumpur International Airport is quite impressive and a lot of tourists travel to Malaysia as it has much to offer. The airport was built in 1998 and construction is ongoing. In 2005 it was rated as the fifth best airport in the world. It was designed by a Japanese architect, Kurukawa, whose concept was a forest in the airport, because the airport is built around a forest theme as its nucleus.

Their economy is based on manufacturing first for such things as petroleum and palm oil, and then tourism. The tiny palm fruit grow in bunches on the tree and from this is squeezed the oil. On the ride from the airport our guide pointed out all the Palm trees, which is where the palm oil comes from. The drive took us over an hour to get to the city center because we were driving during morning rush hour.

As we got closer to the city on this foggy morning we were able to see their famous Petronas Twin Towers, which are the second largest in the world. We would end up going inside that building the next day. The rest of the City at first glance reminded me of any large city except for the signage around town in a language I was not familiar with. The buildings are mostly made out of cement and the roofs out of clay. The cars tend to be smaller. But the traffic was similar to anywhere else – it was a mob scene.