Kualalumpur Colonial History
Sultan Abdul Samad was beautifully lit up as though for Christmas, which is kind of funny, because this was Kualalumpur Malaysia Hotel and not known for Christmas celebrations, plus it was the wrong time of year, but no matter. The lighting at night of this huge brick home of the Malaysia Supreme and High Court is beautiful, it kind of feels Moorish and Tudor at the same time. We were walking around like a couple of slack jawed gawkers (or SJG’s as Tammy says) at the one time British Colonial seat of governance. I had not realized, but was quickly informed and many times after that, that Malaysia was part of the British Empire until 1957. I had no idea. I remember reading accounts of World War ll naval battles in the Straights off the city, and that seems like so long ago. The whole historical area down here is great fun to tour around in. The area is known as Independence Square, that is to say, Merdaka Square, and life for the colonial set in Kualalumpur must have been sweet, I suppose. At the Royal Selangor, a club readied for Brit administrators to play cricket an the big lawn. The club itself has a fascinating history, starting in 1884, just a shed almost really, and seems to have been known as the “Spotted Dog” where they used to play the mentioned cricket and other sports to amuse the civil servants. These days, they have marathon dancing, gold and golf and more gold, soccer (don’t they call it football?), and of course darts. Oh, and tennis, must not forget about tennis. They have karaoke, pizza, tea gardens and all manner of get together and have fun activities. Makes we want to move to Malaysia and join in on the fun.