Season Guide - Malaysia - Hilton Racing

For many centuries, ever since traders first came to this part of the Far East, Muslims, Chinese, Indians and Christians have co-existed happily. Take a stroll into Chinatown and sample the delights of Petaling Market, and you could be in Beijing. A few streets away Little India can be found and the spicy smells and colourful saris in the clothes stalls at the Saturday night market transport you to Calcutta.

Take lunch at the famous “The Coliseum” and you are instantly reminded of the colonial days when “Malaya” was part of the British Empire. While enjoying its signature dish – a sizzling steak – take in the dark wood panelling that resembles a school canteen and be reminded of how 1950’s Britain was like.

Then, naturally, you have the Malayan influence. In my time in KL everyone I met smiled when spoken to. They called me “Mr Ian,” and could not have been more helpful. And they suggested I head for Jalan Alor where you eat satay, nasi lemak and nasi goring, as you stroll down the street. Then take a massage, a national pastime, just off the Jalan Bukit in Bukit Bintang, where a half hour’s reflexology costs just £6.

History and culture exudes from every pore. The Blue Mosque at Shah Alam is both stunning and imposing, with its towering minarets. The Buddhist temple of Thean Hou is an even more interesting experience. Walk barefoot on the pebbles up to the temple, pausing to observe two foot long lizards stalking the terrapin ponds. Tradition says if your feet hurt all is not well. In that case, I am a little peaky. Shake a fortune stick, receive its number and have your fortune told.

Better still, take a short cab to the Batu caves. Climb the 272 sheer steps up to a Hindu shrine inside huge natural, limestone caves and watch in wonderment as hundreds of monkeys follow your tracks, carrying their babies that cling to their necks. You are twenty minutes from a thriving city, yet feel part of the jungle that surrounds KL. At various times of the day offerings are made during religious ceremonies, although the best time to come is in late January when thousands of devotees celebrate the festival of Thaipusam by piercing their skin with hooks and hanging objects from them.

Back in the city the contradictions continue. The state-of-the-art grand prix circuit at Sepang, a 40 minute drive from the centre of KL, is reflected by the modern face of the city. Although KL has culture, history and religion, it also boasts some of the finest, modern architecture in Asia, and a downtown backdrop that resembles any major American city.

In pride of place are the Petronas Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world, that stand, majestically, at 450 metres high, and can be seen from any point of the city, and many miles outside it, too. Completed in 1999, they’re a must in this wonderful, if contradictory city, even if the free ticket allows you only to reach the bridge that spans the towers, at a still dizzying 146 metres high.
From up here you can see all of KL, but it is down in the streets where the multitude of sights and sounds really come alive.