Mark Meek's Ideas: Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is the capital and largest city of Malaysia, in southeast Asia. All major religions are found in Malaysia, but about half the population is Moslem and it is considered as a Moslem country. Malaysia has been an independent country since 1957. It is easy to write a visit to Kuala Lumpur because it is not a very old city. There is not a lot of history to go over. It began as a settlement in a tin-mining area.

Do you really want to know what the name of "Lumpur" means? It means literally "mud". When has a city with such a lowly name turned out to be so magnificent? This is now one of the leading cities of the world.

Malaysia is a country in two geographic halves. The western half is the southern portion of the long Malay Peninsula. The eastern half is part of the island of Borneo. Kuala Lumpur is in the western half. Malaysia is a highly-regarded Commonwealth country that is known for it's "New Economic Policy", which subsidizes health care and a high level of education for all.

The following scenes begin in the Central Market, which was established in 1888. All around are scenes of the central part of the city. The first three scenes of the Central Market are from Google Street View.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@3.1455612,101.6954956,3a,75y,249.59h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNbY876DXO8Q-8j-4GeZ-4_hoADlQc3czY0ToLX!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNbY876DXO8Q-8j-4GeZ-4_hoADlQc3czY0ToLX%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-5.436595-ya316.73694-ro-5.9081297-fo100!7i5376!8i2688

This is the National Palace of Malaysia, the Istana Negara. The flag of Malaysia bears a similarity to that of the U.S. as it has horizontal red and white stripes. The first three images of the National Palace are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@3.1611697,101.6653481,3a,75y,127.81h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMBcUatiU6HEl3T0yTOpkiW-5Y_ulPB3qUocBMx!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMBcUatiU6HEl3T0yTOpkiW-5Y_ulPB3qUocBMx%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya196.84857-ro0-fo100!7i7168!8i3584

Yellow seems to be Malaysia's favorite color. But it is the most cheerful of the colors. I believe that McDonald's has been so successful partially because it is a celebration of this cheerful color. When I was a young boy I wanted one of those bright yellow raincoats, but my parents didn't think it was necessary. The following two images are from Google Street View.

The following scenes begin near the twin Petronas Towers. These were the tallest buildings in the world, for several years at the beginning of the Twenty-First Century. You may remember, in our visit to Pyongyang, that there is a smaller-scale copy of the Petronas Towers there, two buildings joined by a bridge. The first three images of the Petronas Towers are from Google Street View.