Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur

The Petronas Towers are synonymous with Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia (although not normally with me stood in front of it.  They're nearly 452m tall with 88 floors

Built in 1998, they were officially the tallest buildings in the world until Tapei 101 was build in 2004, but they still remain the tallest twin towers in the world.  They also have the deepest foundations in the world at 120m, due to the depth of the bedrock underneath

Kuala Lumpur was founded in the 1850's when tin mining in the region started.  It's  Malay translation means, 'Muddy Confluence', as it was built where 2 rivers join

Before it was their Independence Square, the British used to play cricket on it, rah, rah, rah

This is Merdeka Square, 'Independence Square'.  Independence from the British in 1957

In 1881, a flood followed a fire that gutted the wooden buildings, so a law passed to say that new buildings had to be built of brick and tile.  You can see the Menara Tower in the background (like the space needle in Seattle)

This is the view of Merdeka Square from the Kuala Lumpur Menara Tower

You are much higher up than the skybridge viewing platform of the Petronas Towers

The views up here are supposed to be the best of Kuala Lumpur, bar hiring a helicoptor.  The top of the antenna is 421m. It's the 2nd tallest freestanding tower and the 6th tallest telecommunications tower in the world.

It's predominately a telecommunications tower and has examples of old phones on display.  Anyone remember this 1921 public payphone? Sunflower, Ros?

Southerners will have no problems identifying buses. Sunflower? Ros?

After going to the top, you can go on a driving simulator of the Kuala Lumpur F1 circuit in a Maclaren Mercedes.... although the PS3 is much better

 

 

It's such a diverse mix of ethnicities. This is a Hindu Temple near our hotel

 

 

Of course, the best thing about KL, was meeting up with Marie and Elie.  To celebrate, we had a drink or 2

So much so, that the next day, Marie wasn't entirely her usual cheery self for the plane up to the beachy areaa, which Paul and I had been missing terribly