Up close and personal with KL

MANILA, Philippines - This is easily one of the hottest cities I’ve experienced in Southeast Asia — and I mean that both lit-erally and figuratively.

I was amazed by the friendliness of the locals and the splendor of Kuala Lumpur or KL, Malaysia’s capital city. Not surprisingly, it feels like home to a person who lives in a hot tropical climate such as the Philippines.

Everyone with me on this particular tour appreciates the history and architectural beauty of any great city. KL has great attractions, such as the Petronas Towers, Merdeka Square, KL Tower, Golden Triangle and much more, although I wasn’t able to go around KL city because of tight shoot schedules. But for me it’s not really all about sightseeing, but taking a closer look and getting intimate with the everyday life of the people and their religion, culture and cuisine.

The two towers: Kuala Lumpur’s impressive Petronas Towers — truly breath-taking

KL is one of the most mystical places I’ve ever seen with its mix of many races, ethnicities and cultural influences — particularly with Arab, Chinese, Indian and Malay people. You have every chance to experience different religions and places of worship. You’ll find mosques, churches, Buddhist and Hindu temples.

The local tour that we joined wasn’t your typical sightseeing tour; it was an educational excursion. I saw stainless steel being transformed into art pieces. I saw how their famous chocolate is made, Malaysian-style; how cups and souvenirs are made in Royal Selangor Pewter. And for those looking for more, they can take a tour to Melaka a couple of hours away from KL.

We went to Central Market, and this what we found: local arts and crafts, paintings from local artists (unfortunately no photography allowed).

After the rush tour around the city of KL, the group went to our hotel to check in and get some rest for next day’s travel to Johor Bahru — the highlight of my photo assignment. Johor Bahru opened its first Premium Outlet named JPO or Johor Premium Outlet, the first in Southeast Asia. The upscale outlet shopping center is a joint venture between Genting Berhad’s subsidiary Genting Plantation Berhad and Premium Outlets. The outlet is strategically located at the intersection of Malaysia’s North Expressway and Second Link Expressway.  

Flowing on: The Melaka River shaped the history of the land. It is the key reason why the city thrives today.

The 173,000-square-foot JPO features 80 upscale outlet stores that offer impressive discounts of 25 to 65 percent every day. Adding to shopper excitement is the list of impressive brand names such as Burberry, Armani, Gap, Guess, Lacoste, Coach, Canali, Esprit, Michael Kors Ralph Lauren, Royal Selangor, Salvatore Ferragamo, Timberland, Tommy Hilfiger, and many more.

The group spent hours shopping, then it was off to the hotel to rest and prepare for next day’s trip: a tour to Melaka three hours from Johor Bahru.

The tour wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t get to experience being one of the locals, so part of the itinerary was to home-stay at Johor Bahru before leaving the city the next. The home-stay in Johor offers some of the most elaborate, comfortable and affordable home-stays you can find. Most of them are fully furnished to give guests comfort and convenience during their stay.

From skeletons to sandals: Even the miscellaneous in Melaka’s Jonker Walk can create indelible memories.

Home-stay programs allow guests to live with a participating local family and villagers of designated village. Participants have to meet certain requirements set by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism. They need to be certified by the agency before they can operate a home-stay program. The program is a community-based partnership with village headman and rural folk joining hands in developing and promoting the project.

Here’s how it goes: the visitor is treated as guest of the family and will be asked to join in special ceremonies or happenings in the village. The guest will also experience eating local food, learning local customs and tradition, wearing local dresses, playing local music instruments, and singing local songs. Each guest will be presented with a gift from the host family after the home-stay period. What a swell idea.

This is one of the cool, cool things to do in a hot, hot city such as KL.

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For information on Malaysia, visit www.tourism.gov.my/.

The ruins of St. Paul Church in Melaka, Malaysia located on the top of St. Paul’s Hill and was one of the five churches in the fortress complex. Photo shows author, Philippine STAR photographer Walter Bollozos with Amylene Quien Ching of MB, Len Mendoza of North Star International Travel, JR Logmao of Horizon Tour and Katrina Bianca Tamayo, marketing executive, Embassy of Malaysia.