Kuala Lumpur is the most confusing and worst marketed Asian city on earth. It’s the second most liveable city in South Asia (after Singapore) and one of the world’s crucial economic centres. The most remarkable quality of KL is how it managed to unite their Chinese, Malay and Indian populations. Those three waged wars against each other for rich tin deposits in the late 19th century. The Chinese captain Yap Ah Loy (Ah Loy, alloy, tin alloy? Suspicious?) eventually won and alongside Frank Swettenham began rebuilding Kuala Lumpur. What’s up with those names? It all sounds made up. Anyway, those two were the founding fathers of this city, transformed it from cholera-ridden, flammable wooden huts into what is it today. It is a one of a kind union of three nations living in harmony. I’d...
