The biggest little city
The reason for Kuala Lumpur's compact size may also explain its vitality: its youth, at least compared with other major cities in the region.
K.L., as the abbreviation crazy Malaysians invariably call their capital, began life as a collection of shacks built by Chinese tin miners by the junction of the Kelang and Gombak rivers; Kuala Lumpur translates as "muddy comfluence".
It is easy to pinpoint the moment that Kuala Lumpur emerged as a major world city: August 28, 1999, when the Petronas Towers officially opened. The headquarters of the national oil company, the matching skyscrapers were the tallest buildings in the world until 2004, when they were surpassed by 'Taipei 101', in Taiwan's capital. Other skyscrapers have been rised in K.L. since Petronas, but the towers still dominate the skyline and the commercial real estate of the city's business center.
The structure's design, by the Argentine-American architect Cesar Pelli, neatly encapsulates the soul of modern Malaysia: while sheet size makes a strong, ambitious statement of modernity, a gleaming glass-and-steel façade echoes motifs of Islamic Art, reflecting the nation's fidelity to tradition. At the base of the towers themselves are a six-level luxury shoping mall, and the Dewan Philarmonic Petronas, one of the most beautiful concert halls in Asia.
Platicabulo