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Having spent most of my grownup life outside Malaysia, I have very vague memories of visiting many touristy sites around Kuala Lumpur.

It was time to get reacquainted. So I took a day tour around Kuala Lumpur.

I found a guide and arranged for him to bring me to certain places in KL. The National Monument being the first.

The granite base of the monument bears inscriptions in English and Malay.

Interesting to note that a Jawi script is used for the Malay inscription. I didn’t know there was an adapted form of Arabic alphabet for writing the Malay language. I always thought that it was arabic. Malay is usually written with Roman scripts.

It reads :-

“Dedicated to the heroic fighters in the cause of peace and freedom,
May the blessing of Allah be upon them”

Very nice compound. Lots of open space.

Constructed in 1966, the monument is 15 meters (49.21 feet) tall, made of bronze and was designed by Austrian sculptor Felix de Weldon, who was also responsible for the famed USMC War Memorial in Virginia, United States.

The National Monument pays tribute to those who died in Malaysia’s struggle for freedom.

The original National Monument was a cenotaph.

It commemorates the struggles and losses from both world wars (1914-1918 and 1939-1945) as well as a local guerrilla war now referred to as the Malayan Emergency.

History is fun isn’t she!

Something to read.

The National Monument is called Tugu Negara in Malay.

I also visited the National Mosque, Masjid Negara, which is just about a stone throw away from Tugu Negara.

The National Mosque, built way back in 1965, was originally designed by a 3-man team consisting of a UK architect Howard Ashley and 2 Malaysians Hisham Albakri and Baharuddin Kassim.

The main prayer hall. Couldn’t enter. Only Muslims were allowed in.

That’s a nice view KL Tower from the mosque.

One must be respectful of other religions and customs. Ladies are required to coverup before entering the mosque. Luckily, help is provided.

Shoes and any form of footwear isn’t allowed too.

Clocks with different prayer times throughout the day.

Also made a trip to this large open field in KL. Care to make a guess what this place is called?

It’s Merdeka Square. Merdeka means independence in Malay. It was here where the first Malaysian flag was hoisted on August 31, 1957.

It was here where Malaysia became a sovereign nation.

A very tall flag pole.

The Sultan Abdul Samad Building used to house the Supreme Court. Now it belongs to the Ministry of Heritage, Culture and Arts.

Stopped by Central Market for a little souvenir shopping.

Now at lunch.

On the table, bak kut teh (right) and pig stomach soup. The pig stomach soup was nice and peppery. Just the way I like it.

The best bak kut teh is in Klang, but in KL, this place is pretty good. Total cost including some herbal drinks came out to be RM35. That’s just a little shy of ¥1000.

Restoran Sun Fong along Medan Imbi.

Next stop was Royal Selangor.

You might know about Royal Selangor. They have a long history of making quality pewter wares in Kuala Lumpur and have many shops around the world. Pewter is an alloy of Tin, Antimony and Copper.

Took a guided tour through their factory. The tours are very well organized. A tour guide will bring you around and explain everything there is to know about Royal Selangor and making pewter wares.

At the end of the tour, there’s a huge shop where you can purchase just about everything and anything from the Royal Selangor catalog.

I bought myself a nice paper weight tiger.

This is the year of the Tiger afterall.

Only thing I couldn’t bring home is the world’s largest tankard.

I found this rather interesting.

After 5 years of working in Royal Selangor, valued employees get their own hand prints on the wall of fame at the factory.

Final stop of the day is the Batu Caves. A limestone hill and a place of worship for Hindu devotees.

It’s always extremely crowded during the annual Thaipusam festival.

The gold statue of Lord Murugan is a recent edition. Only 4 years old to date. Apparently it’s the world’s tallest statue of Lord Murugan. Malaysia does have a few world’s first. ^^.

It’s my third visit to the Batu Caves. Always got there on four wheels.

Saw a new train station being built right next door. Seems like the area will be more accessible once the trains start running.

Lots more information on the Batu Caves at Wikipedia.

272 gravity-defying steps.

Although it’s quite steep for most, I’m no stranger to climbing stairs. It was a piece of cake. ^^.

How fit are you?

Nice view of the highways at the top.

Further into the cave at the top lies a few more stairs to climb.

More Hindu temples.

The limestone forming the caverns is said to be around 400 million years old!

Isn’t that amazing!

A quick climb up, a quicker one down.

A nice cool coconut awaits.

This is a must before leaving the Batu Caves.

Drink all you want. Less than ¥100 each.

Tour guide of the day, Mr Yong. He also speaks excellent Japanese. If you need a tour guide in KL, let me know, I’ll make an introduction.

T’was a good day. Educational too.

Now if any Japanese friends ask me if I’ve been to the National Monument, I can proudly, with my head held high, say YES.

And then I’ll ask them back, “Have you visited Tokyo Tower?”