Petronis Towers, The Aquarium, Chinatown and a foot massage

The Proton, (Malaysia's homegrown car manufacturer), the new International Airport (KLIA), and the Petronis Towers. All are the aspirational symbols of becoming part of the industrialised world. To be honest they're all pretty damn impressive.

Well maybe not the Proton.

The Towers briefly held the title of the worlds highest free standing structure. Taipei 101, seen in an earlier post, currently holds the accolade. When the Prime minister was asked if he was disappointed that the Malaysian buildings had held the distinction for such a fleeting moment , he replied

" Well no, we are still number one. We have TWO buildings....and they're connected. None of the others are joined buildings."

Good point. None of the others look like they belong in a science fiction movie either.

This was my third visit to the Towers. I've always hoped to get a chance to be one of the lucky few to get tickets to walk across the bridge between them. Strike three. No luck. The tickets go fast and the numbers are strictly limited due to some sort of bureaucratic, safety, "gotta control access and keep it exclusive" policy thing.

Shanghai and Dubai are building their own pretenders to the throne. All are in Asia. There's a pattern developing don't you think? Shiny new airports and super tall buildings put a nation on the map. These "new landmark" nations increasingly seem to be the holders of the West's public debt in the form of bond holdings and currency reserves. Its a strange state of affairs that countries aspiring to raise the standard of living of fairly poor general populations are underwriting the standard of living of the richest countries in the world......The next century will be Asian (ish).......... maybe.

Best not to overthink these things as the contradictions and inconsistancies seem never ending. The house of cards is all going to come crashing down!!

No it won't.

It will just continue to meander like a river, finding a way to work, somehow. These trips tend to throw all of my "Economist reading, liberal, quasi-socialist", (read capitalist with misgivings), views into confusion. The old adage that the more you learn, the less you realise you know, holds true. Enough psuedo political commentary.

Here's a pic which makes the Towers look like buildings rather than Soviet rockets.

The Towers sit smack in the middle of downtown and preside over a pretty impressive urban space. People hang out in lanscaped gardens with fountains and a man made lake. The KCC mall which sits under the towers, is as upmarket as it gets, featuring as it does, Cartier, Hermes, Coach, Armani, Gucci, etc. I was struck by the easy vibe in the air as school children mixed with the mega rich to stroll along the promenades, or sit on "misted" terraces sipping frozen lattes, (yes Starbucks again).

The building boom has matured in KL, with a rather high commercial vacancy rate for the downtown area. There are however, continuing developments of super luxurious apartments. I came across this advertisement for a new building going up. The mind boggles.......

Kelvin, one of the guys from the office told me that he rarely saw much of KL. Spending the day with me was his way of being tourist in his own town. I think that we can all relate to that. I never see much of London or Cambridge unless a visitor kicks up.

Throughout the morning, Kelvin was doing a sort of "foot to foot dance", alluding to some place he really wanted to see, but figured I would never be interested.

" OK Kelvin....Where and What?"

The Aquarium..."THE BRAND NEW PRIDE OF KL....THE STATE OF THE ART AQUA WORLD"

Please?

I confess, that I'm of the mindset that these sorts of places are overhyped. Initially interesting, it gets old fast. There's a big fish....and another one. Fish of the Pacific....the Amazon..etc

Ok Kelvin...quick visit.

WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Awesome is not a word I use often. But Awesome it was. My limited photographic skills cannot do it justice.

Yes, there was a tunnel. An "oh so cool tunnel". A little conveyor belt thing, moved you through a stupendous, imaginative display. There was also a huge exhibit of fist sized hairy spiders and scary scorpians. Not behind three inch thick tiny fish tanks, but out in the open.

Odd and vaguely disturbing was an exhibit entitled "Malaysian feats of genetic engineering". Tanks of bright neon blue beetles and fluorescent tropical fish, were presented in a way that gave no thought to the potential implications of such manipulation.

Jaded, cynical, 42 year old Terry, became as entranced as these kids and their school teachers.

After the Marine Wonderland, I went to one of the oldest parts of KL, China town.

I keep getting bounced on this connection, so I'll post about it later. Its 42 degrees celsius with 50% humidity here in Dubai. The sun just sucks the life out of you........

T