Sandy, the Armchair Traveller: Malaysia

Day 5,Diversity of Malaysia

what would a vacation be without a little shopping, right ladies ;-)???...OK, lets take a little bauble home with us....24K gold hibiscus pendant......

Why did I choose a hibiscus?? well, its the national flower of Malaysia . The flower is found in abundance throughout the country, and for this very reason, was chosen to be the national flower (in 1960) by Malaysia's first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman

What a pleasure it has been to travel through this diverse country called Malaysia-

with its tranquil islands,

Langkawi

Penang

ultra modern cities with rich cultural heritage

and breathtaking natural beauty :-)

We are driving past a tea plantation.....tea anyone???

I hope that you enjoyed this leg of the journey as much as I did.

Good night

Day 5, places of worship in Malaysia

Now, let's take a spiritual tour of the numerous and amazing centres of worship in Malaysia.

....where's my bottled water?? This place is really hot and humid!!!

Let's cover our arms and legs as skimpily clad people will be denied entry! We must be respectful of local customs at all times throughout our journey.

Hindu Temples

Founded in 1873, the Sri Mahamariamman Temple is the oldest and richest Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur and has typical South Indian architecture! When looking at it, you think that you were back in Tamil Nadu!

Let's go North of Kuala Lumpur to Batu Caves, a limestone hill, which has a series of caves and cave temples and is said to be over 400 million years old!!

The cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, dedicated to Lord Murugan. Guess what?? Its the Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia and we are going to join the other 1.5 million annual pilgrims (making it one of the largest annual gatherings anywhere in the world)

So, how fit are you???

Be careful, as you walk up the very steep flight of 272 steps as the numerous, territorial macaque monkeys pose a biting hazard and steal the offering of fruit etc

Wow, this swirling crowd is simply "lifting" me along........as the different fragrances of incense sticks permeate the air.....

Rising almost 100 m above the ground, Batu Caves temple complex consists of three main caves and a few smaller ones. The biggest, referred to as Cathedral Cave or Temple Cave, has a 100 m-high ceiling, and features ornate Hindu shrines.

Chinese Temples

The Thean Hou Temple (Chinese: 天后宫) is a landmark six-tiered Chinese temple in Kuala Lumpur.

Mosques

The Putra Mosque, or Masjid Putra in Malay language, is the principal mosque of Putrajaya, Malaysia

The Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque is the country's biggest mosque and also the second biggest mosque in Southeast Asia. The Mosque is also known as the Blue Mosque owing to its blue aluminium dome covered in a rosette of verses from the Qur'an. The dome is one of the largest in the whole world, measuring 170 feet in diameter and 350 feet in height from the ground level. The four minarets are the second tallest in the world at 460 feet. In its early years, the mosque was also listed in the Guinness World Records as having the tallest minaret in the world . This impressive mosque is large enough to accommodate up to 16,000 worshippers!!

Day 5, Daily life in Malaysia

Let's observe some of the local people

A rubber tapper
Rubber tapping is the process by which rubber is gathered. An incision is made in the bark of a rubber tree, which cuts through the latex vessels that flow between the bark and the cambium. The latex then drips into a vessel.

Trishaw driver

Batik printer

Chinatown
Petaling Street

A shopper's paradise....bargains galore......every "fake" designer label that you want....hahaha

Kampong houses in rural Malaysia
Travelling through the countryside,we see a lot of Malaysian houses and villages called "kampongs"
Did you notice that they are built with stilts below and they have large windows. This is mainly to keep the building cool and the stilts elevate the building to keep them away from floods. Kampong houses are detached houses and they usually have no fences around them, and all the neighbours are just one big happy "family:-))

Local market
Pasar Besar Siti Khadijah is a central market that is located in the heart of of Kota Bharu, Kelantan
This market sells fruits which are normally locals such as ciku, guava, jackfruit, many types of mangoes, binjai, cempedak, orange, durian, mangosteen, watermelon, hog plum, langsat, papaya, pineapples, duku, banana, starfruit; datepalms, grapes, lychee, mata kuching, apples, mandarin oranges etc, etc

Day 5, Malaysia

Selamat Datang ke Malaysia

Welcome

Apa Kabar?

How are you??

What would a visit to Malaysia be without a visit to the Petronas Twin Tower in KL? This was the the world tallest building from 1997-2003 . The 58.4m double decked Skybridge is located on the 41st and 42nd floors joining the sky lobbies situated in both towers. The design of the Petronas Twin Tower is based on geometric principles typical of Islamic architecture, with each floor plan based on an eight-point star.

Lets check out the UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES of Malaysia

Kinabalu Park, in the State of Sabah on the northern end of the island of Borneo, is dominated by Mount Kinabalu (4,095 m), the highest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea.It has a very wide range of habitats, from rich tropical lowland and hill rainforest to tropical mountain forest, sub-alpine forest and scrub on the higher elevations.

Gunung Mulu National Park, on the island of Borneo in the State of Sarawak, is the most studied tropical karst area in the world.The Sarawak Chamber, 600 m by 415 m and 80 m high, is the largest known cave chamber in the world.

Melaka developed over 500 years of trading and cultural exchanges between East and West in the Straits of Malacca.The influences of Asia and Europe have endowed this town with a specific multicultural heritage .