The year that was: 2013

On the last day of the year, like so many people, I took time out to pause and reflect on the year that was 2013, a year of unexpected twists and turns, a year of wonderful moments and extraordinary highlights, but also a year when I learnt even more the value of appreciating the small things - of smelling the flowers and laughing at the antics of tiny frogs, and the lesson of living each day as if it was my last.

My first six months of 2013 were spent in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and one of the highlights of that time was the two weeks I spent helping out in the workshops of the Giant Puppet Parade project in February. The project brings together children from local NGOs and staff and volunteers from around the world to build a series of giant puppets. The culmination of the workshops is a night-time parade through the central city with the excited children proudly showing off their enormous and very splendid puppets, with the majority of the city’s inhabitants and visiting tourists turning out to watch.

Cambodian children are wide-eyed, cheeky, desperately poor, smart, smaller and thinner than they deserve to be, cute, capable, hard-working, affectionate, creative, playful, sensitive.… One of the joys of my last few months in Siem Reap was managing the transition of Helping Hands, the project this boy attends, into the Globalteer family. It is so satisfying and rewarding to know that in a very small way I was helping to give these children a better future.

If you know me, you know I am addicted to things old and ancient, so living in Cambodia was a paradise for me, offering regular doses of the ruined and the aged to feed my addiction. One day I particularly remember was a trip to Beng Melea with new friend Jill. The 90-minute tuktuk ride there and back was a joy in itself but the ruins are even more superb, especially as they are distant enough from the main Angkor Wat complex to avoid (most of) the madding crowd. Though the ruins have been much ravaged by vegetation, temple authorities have constructed wooden ramps and stairways that help negotiate the fallen stonework easily. It was a superb day out.

I also fed my addiction with almost daily doses of pagodas and I’m sure I was fast earning a reputation amongst the tuktuk drivers as that crazy old white woman, as my weekends were often spent tuktuking through the countryside in search of more temples. Wat Damnak, pictured here, was one of my favourites and was on my circuitous route into town so an easy place to pop in to. You can read more about it and the many other pagodas I explored on my other blogs.

Wat Damnak didn’t just offer beautiful buildings and quiet contemplative spaces, it was also home to some of the local wildlife, in particular frogs and lizards. The frogs’ antics were often laugh-out-loud funny but the lizards also made me smile, with their hilarious dance-like actions, their ability to change colour when aroused, and their truly impressive tails. Both these Oriental Garden Lizards and the tiny geckos that inhabit every nook and cranny of every building in Cambodia, as well as the Tokay geckos that cry out “okay, okay, okay”, charmed and entertained me, and helped provide me with the memories of Cambodia that I’m sure will never leave me.

The frogs and lizards weren’t the only beasties that made me smile in 2013. I am not a twitcher or even a birder but I’m definitely a bird-watcher and a bird-lover. As the great naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough once said: ‘What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?’ In Cambodia, I enjoyed the birds that visited the trees outside my window and the glorious creatures (like this magnificent Indian Spotted Eagle) at the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity. In Kuala Lumpur, I spent a wonderful afternoon at the bird park, where the huge free-flight aviary provides a very natural environment for the birds to live in. And since I’ve been back in New Zealand, I’ve enjoyed reacquainting myself with my Kiwi feathered friends.

When I visited that bird park in Kuala Lumpur, it was during a short five-day break, a wonderful birthday treat to myself. I loved the cultural diversity of KL. I loved the incredible modern architecture of the Petronas Towers. I loved the Indian and Chinese temples. and the character of the old shophouses. I loved Merdeka Square with its eclectic mix of British colonial brickwork, Islamic arches, Moorish cupolas and Moghul domes, all bordering a rectangular green where the Brits once played cricket. And I loved sharing part of my holiday with my cousin Julie, who flew up from Singapore for the weekend to help me celebrate yet another birthday.

I’ve spent the second half of 2013 back here in Auckland, New Zealand and, though I certainly didn’t expect to still be here as 2013 drew to a close, I am enjoying so many things about being back again in this beautiful city: the history of her heritage architecture and creativity of her public artworks, the green of the expansive parks right on my doorstep and waking to the sounds of tuis, walking the seaside boardwalks and bush-lined pathways, my tiny but perfectly formed apartment and the convenience of city living, watching the weather and the ships come and go across the sparkling waters of the Waitemata harbour, catching up with friends and the latest movies, and so much more.

Though this return to Auckland was not in my ten-year plan to travel the world, I am reminded of the wise words of the Dalai Lama: ‘Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.’

Kuala Lumpur: the highlights

Julie and I at the National Mosque

I have such great memories from my short birthday break in Kuala Lumpur and I’ve already posted about some of them – the bellisimo birds at the KL BirdPark, the striking architecture – but here are a few highlights from those delicious five days.

Cousin Julie comes too

It was so wonderful to see a familiar face and share some of my explorations of KL with my cousin Julie, who flew up from Singapore for the weekend. Gem that she is, she brought Moet, though we had to drink it lukewarm, and treated me to a superb sushi birthday dinner.

She shares my entrancement with Islamic arts, so was as captivated as I was with the National Mosque, the Moorish influences in the heritage architecture, the Islamic Arts Museum. We walked miles, talked more, and, considering neither of us is that keen on clothes shopping, we shopped well. The sale prices and ‘Auntie’, one very persuasive saleswoman and shop owner, also had a lot to do with our success in that quarter, though Julie may not be thanking me when her next credit card bill comes in!

The turrets of the city railway station

I would've gone hungry without the help of this lovely young woman

Charming people

From the delightful elderly Indian gentleman who walked me from his hotel the ten minutes to my hotel after my taxi from the airport dropped me off at the wrong place and I got a little lost to the young Malaysian girl who helped me select some delicious delicacies at a local foodstall where the menu was incomprehensible, I found the people of Kuala Lumpur heart-warmingly helpful and friendly.

At the Petronas Tower, the smartly dressed guide inquired oh so politely as to my age and then delicately suggested that I would qualify for a senior citizen’s discount if I wanted to go up the tower (I didn’t, as it would’ve meant waiting for 3 hours). The Hop-on Hop-off bus tout relinquished his chair and fetched a cold bottle of water for this red-faced, sweaty tourist, then proceeded to tell me some local history while I waited for the next bus. And, by my third visit, the staff at the Secret Recipe were welcoming me like a long-lost friend and all came over to wish me a very happy birthday when I mentioned the cake was my birthday treat.

South Indian food for breakfast one morning

Colourful culture

I was so glad we chose the Golden Triangle area to stay in. Our budget hotel, the Hotel de’Grand Orchard, though difficult to find initially, was perfectly comfortable and had an inviting rainforest shower, but it was the location I particularly loved.

The mostly Indian Muslim neighbourhood is really colourful, with great street food (even if you're not exactly sure what you're eating!), a nearby market selling everything from traditional Muslin headgear to knock-off brand watches, local streets that transform into a bustling market on a Saturday night, and plentiful shopping at cheap prices. It's an easy walk to the Merdeka Square area, to the Central Market, Chinatown, the National Mosque and National Textile Museum.

Check out the little slice of Kiwiana in a stall at the Central Market

From Chinese temple to Petronas Towers

Convenience and contrast

Kuala Lumpur has all the conveniences of a modern go-ahead city yet still manages to retain its small-community charm. There are huge air-conditioned shopping malls, and an efficient transport system of buses, subway and monorail, plus the KLIE express train to and from the airport – for a completely hassle-free experience with no queues you can even check in for your flight at the city station!

In the central commercial area, skyscrapers and tower blocks loom over the tiny pedestrian, yet I still managed to find a fascinating Chinese Buddhist temple just a city block from the Petronas Towers. Heritage shophouses huddle between concrete and glass office blocks, and a vibrantly coloured Hindu temple sits cheek-by-jowl with Chinese shops and supermarkets. 

As you can no doubt tell, I was enchanted with KL and highly recommend a visit to anyone passing through Asia. And now I can't resist adding a few more architecture shots!

The Royal Palace

The Sri Mahamariamman temple

The Petronas Towers sparkle at night

Kuala Lumpur: the shophouses

Of the many architectural works that attracted my eye during my recent short break in Kuala Lumpur, the old shophouses were some of the most colourful and character-filled.

As the name suggests, these buildings were a practical combination of shop on the ground floor – which might also include some kind of service provider like a barber, or a cottage industry like a lantern maker, or a community space like a school – and living accommodation, for one or more families, on the upper one or two storeys. 

This building type is common throughout southeast Asia, where examples can be seen in those admirable cities that have preserved their historical heritage, and is similar in many ways to the British terraced house, with no separation but rather a single partition wall between the individual structures.

Kuala Lumpur suffered a massive fire in 1881, devastating for the people of the time but fortunate for lovers of these architectural gems, as, afterwards, the British Resident instructed the locals to rebuild a version of traditional attap (wooden houses) but with clay bricks and tiled roofs. Though many shophouses are now sadly crumbling and decrepit-looking, and overshadowed by modern concrete and glass monstrosities, the use of more permanent construction materials has ensured that many have survived into the 21st century.

These are narrow but deep constructions – an approximate size would be 20 feet x 80 feet but there is nothing standard about these buildings! Their narrowness may reflect the fact that buildings were traditionally taxed by the size of their street frontages, or it may be due to the practicalities of obtaining wooden beams to span the building’s width (rather than having to build inner supporting walls).

There is usually an open court-yard in the middle of the building to provide natural light and ventilation throughout the structure, and all shophouses were required to have a five-foot-wide covered walkway (called kaki lima in Malay) along the street frontage, to allow pedestrians to walk in the shade during the summer, to keep dry during the rainy season and to shelter from vehicular traffic. This eminently sensible idea dates as far back as 1573, when Phillip II of Spain included a similar decree for constructions in South China, and can also be seen in the historical buildings of Manila and Singapore.

In inner-city Kuala Lumpur the oldest shophouses can be found along what was High Street but is now called Jalan Tun H.S. Lee (jalan is the Malay word for road). The oldest examples date from the 1880s but the more common are the neoclassical buildings dating from the early 1900s. Their facades incorporate elements of Chinese, Malay, Indian and European design, including Ionic columns, intricate egg-and-dart and Chinese mythological motifs in the plaster mouldings, and ornate wooden window frames and fretwork.

Another interesting feature along these old roads of Kuala Lumpur is that the roads are often higher above ground than the shop frontages. The repaving of roads and the addition of sewers and other utilities has, over the years, raised the road surface above the level of the five-foot walkway.

Though traditionally the shophouses would have been plastered an off-white colour, many of the modern survivors have been painted a riot of bright colours, ranging from sunshine yellow and peppermint green to lipstick pink. In Kuala Lumpur, some of the heritage walking tours incorporate shophouse-lined streets in their itineraries but it is easy enough to discover these beauties for yourself, simply by wandering the old streets of the Chinatown area. They are a feast for the architectural eye and deserve to be conserved and restored to their former beauty.

Kuala Lumpur: the heritage buildings of Merdeka Square

In Merdeka Square, on 31 August 1957, the lowering of the Union Jack brought an end to the British colonial rule of Malaya and the raising of the Malaysian flag marked the proclamation of Malaysia’s independence.

It’s not surprising then that this is a national heritage site and the focus for many other slices of local history.

The square is the big green area in this image, taken from the top of the KL Tower

The square was developed by the Brits in 1884 and used as a venue for social activities, including the odd game of cricket. The flag pole itself, at 100 metres tall and sporting a huge Malaysian flag, is very impressive and supposedly one of the tallest in the world. Malaysians do like their superlatives!

And nearby there’s a Victorian-era fountain, that was apparently brought in from England in pieces and assembled in situ. My guide book tells me it features some lovely Art Nouveau tile work but it’s currently partitioned off for renovation so the tiles weren’t visible. It did have some rather scary looking gargoyle-like creatures, though.

It’s the buildings that most impressed me about this heritage area, so let me take you on a tour around the square, starting on the side of the square that’s bounded by a very busy main thoroughfare. Here we find some government offices that, when built in 1896, functioned as the city’s General Post Office. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo of the building's ‘polygonad (I kid you not!) corner stair towers’.

City Theatre

I did get a photo of the adjoining building, the former City Hall. Built in 1896 and now used as the City Theatre, this shows the influence of the local Islamic culture in its curvaceous arches and its chhatris, the dome-shaped pavilions on its roof. It also has a very grand porte-cochere – that roofed structure out front under which carriages would once have been driven.

The former High Court

Next door is the 1909 former High Court building, with more wonderfully curving arches, these with more of a Moorish influence, and its four towers are finished off with lovely black cupolas.

Across a side road, we come to the magnificent Sultan Abdul Samad building, built between 1894 and 1897. It was formerly the home to the Federated Malay States administration, then from 1972 the High and Supreme Courts, and now houses the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture. My pamphlet says: ‘The first example of Moghul architecture in Malaysia, this elegant symmetrical brick structure features a 41-metre-high clock tower, arched colonnades and stunning copper-covered domes.’

I've included two photos of this building because I just love those copper domes, especially with the Petronas Towers in the background.

On the next city block is the National Textile Museum, built in 1905 and previously the Federated Malay States Railway Station and Selangor Works department. Unfortunately I don’t have an image of the whole of the building as I was focusing on the contrast between those wonderful onion-shaped domes and the modern but equally stunning building in the background. The museum building features alternating stripes of red bricks and white plaster bands, and also shows Islamic influences both in its façade and in those divine domes. Inside are some fascinating displays of the diverse range of textile designs, patterns and materials produced by the broad range of ethnic groups found in Malaysia.

Crossing the main road and continuing in a clockwise direction around the square, we come first to a building that now houses a restaurant but was the home of the Chartered Bank when it was built in 1919. No photo of that, I’m afraid, but I do have the neighbouring building, what is now the KL City Gallery (note the absence of the word art in that title). Built in 1898, it is another example of Moorish style architecture with a large open interior that was purpose-built to house the large printing presses from its days as the Government Printing Office. Today that space is home to a shop, selling all types of local souvenirs but featuring, in particular, products made of intricately carved and assembled wood veneers. The photo display in an adjoining room was interesting, and the scale model of the central city in an upstairs room was very photogenic and provided an excellent city overview (see below).

One of the City Library's domes

In the corner next to the City Gallery is the City Library. You can see the entire building in my first image as this shot only shows one of its glorious domes. This 1989 building was built to emulate the older buildings that surround it and includes under its roof an auditorium and conference hall, as well as the library itself.

Moving around to the long side of the square facing the road, we find the most bizarre group of buildings, of black-and-white mock-Tudor design with a fake half-timber façade. Built in 1884, these now house the Royal Selangkor Club, an institution that harks back to the days of English gentlemen’s clubs and still bans women from its Long Bar. I could say that I refuse to post a photo of the building in protest against this discrimination but the truth is that I just found the buildings ugly and didn’t take any shots of them.

The scale model of the city inside the City Gallery

Kuala Lumpur: the streetlights

You’ve got to love a city that pays such close attention to its streetlights. No single-style, boring dullness for Kuala Lumpur!

I have been delighted by the vibrancy and cultural diversity of Kuala Lumpur, by its lush tropical greenness, by the contrast between its go-ahead modernity and its sense of history. All of these things are reflected in the different styles of street light I’ve seen in the central city.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I have.