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Secret
Kuala Lumpur
The only hot spring in the city, beautiful and little-known motifs related to the rubber industry, weird-looking structures that were used for medical experiments on beri-beri, statues that have the reputation to cure spiritual illnesses, pineapples that were planted to deter enemies from attacking, a traditional Malay house relocated to the city center, the forgotten graves of Muslim victims of the 1969 racial clashes, roads named after the occult, a mysterious green man, the best view of the city skyline, a gaur that gored a police chief to death, an old railway tire to sound the alarm for the police, the place where childless women hang plastic dolls for divine help with having kids, a humble temple with a resident cobra, a mosque built on top of a car park, a crystal clear stream in the middle of a graveyard, a church housed in a former dance club, a forgotten symbol of the Thai-Burma Railway where 25,000 Malayans died during its construction, the surprisingly rare mining-related road names of a tin mining town...
Away from the modern shopping malls filled with designer brands, the towering skyscrapers and usual touristy sites with stalls selling kitschy souvenirs, there are still some interesting secrets to be discovered in Kuala Lumpur in the back lanes and byways of the concrete jungle.
This guide is essential for the experienced and intrepid travellers and adventurers who want a different flavor of Kuala Lumpur.
About the author
Lam Seng Fatt has been a journalist for more than 45 years working for top newspapers in Malaysia like The Malay Mail, New Straits Times, The Star and The Edge. Along the way he picked up photography and became a photojournalist and travel writer. He was born and bred in Kuala Lumpur and has a keen interest in the history and charms of the city. He has also written a few books. His first book was on photography entitled
Through The Lens (Berita Publishing), which was published in 1996 and the second book was
Insider's Kuala Lumpur (Times Books International), which was an alternative city guide, published in 2000. His third book was
Thrills and Treasures of Historical Landmarks Selangor (Marshall Cavendish Editions) published in 2008.
