The Perplexation of Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Ahh, the capital of the galactic universe as we know it. Oh, wait, I'm not in Hollywood! Damn you movie tycoons for destroying my image of the world.

KL is our first big city since Bangkok a month ago. It's kinda weird to see a Starbucks every few streets and a 7-11 on every corner, wake up in the morning to hear the horns of traffic, and have a hot shower (a rare luxury). There's a McDonalds at least once every third block, KFC once every five (they love chicken over here). On the plus side, KL is the home of the world's largest Border's Bookstore. Talk about a bibliophile heaven!

The biggest surprise about KL, however, is the city itself. This morning we went up to the Skybridge between the Petronas Towers (see el photo) and looked out over the city. It confused me at first; there was a sea of green in between all the buildings and roads. What was this?
Jono pointed out that it was something called 'trees'. Greenery? Across an entire capital city? The first perplexation occurred.
The second confounding thing was that the urban landscape of the city just made no sense. Large commercial districts were literally across the road from low income housing. High rises poked up randomly across the cityscape, giving the whole place a disjointed, unorganised feel. It was as if the city was completely unplanned and just grew, without any thought to structure or functionality. Perplexation Deux.
Perplexation Treux was earlier on in the day when I mentioned to J that the sheer amount of hotels in the city boggled my mind. The entire function of the place was eluding me. Why was it so green? Why was everything decentralised? How come it looked like no other city I've seen?
After mulling it over for most of the day, I had an epiphany and the puzzle slotted into place.

Those weren't hotels around town. They were apartment blocks, the homes of the city's residents.
Kuala Lumpur is the first city I have ever seen that was created to be lived in.

It explains the greenery (aesthetics), the decentralisation (ease of access to work and amenities), and the fact that it seemed to grow rather than be planned. Every other city I've seen has had an "urban" feel to it, function over form. KL works both ways; form and function. The architecture isn't jarring and square, it's got a natural flow to it, especially the high rises. It all just works together in harmonious collusion, as Drew would say. I wonder whether this was planned, or whether it was subconscious and a natural cultural progression? Someone who is a geographer please answer my quandry.

I just wanted to share that with ya'll, cos it blew my mind. It's not often I get to experience something brand shiny new, and KL just took the cake with "First City Designed To Be Lived In, Not Just Worked In" I've ever seen. I've got the warm and fuzzies.

Tomorrow we're seeing more of KL (thought it'd be boring, how wrong was I!), and then we're catching an overnight train down to Singapore! It's gonna be awesome. A wee bit expensive, but Awesome nevertheless. Awesome with a capital A.