From Kampong to Capital: Kuala Lumpur in Profile A booming city which was once a tin miners' camp; one of Kuala Lumpur's most endearing features is the legacy of British architects entranced by the Islamic heritage of Mughal India. Another is the mingling of Malay, Chinese, Indian and other cultural strains in a 21st century metropolis sometimes futuristic. Images

Malacca, the red city: Once the capital of a mighty empire, the riverine trading port founded centuries ago by a Sumatran prince absorbed the incursions of Portuguese, Dutch and British invaders and nurtured such distinctive cultural blends as the Straits Chinese: Babas and Nyonyas.

Penang's capital Georgetown is an authentic Chinatown where the clock stopped 50 years ago, an easygoing city of bicycle rickshaws, crumbling shophouses and ancient temples. The colonial era has bequeathed elegant Georgian and florid Victorian public buildings. Images

World Music Reverberates from Madagascar to Malaysia. One of the pleasures of the annual Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak, is its sheer incongruity. No huge industrial stadium here: concerts are staged amongst the rainforest giants. In 2003 the Quebecois fiddlers, La Volée d'Castors, got the crowd dancing on the ricketty bamboo terrace of an Iban longhouse whilst Tarika, led by the charismatic Hanitra Rosoanaivo, demonstated a unique blend derived from the musical roots of Madagascar. Images

Singapore's Chinatown still harbours the old ways; the bars that are not quite what they seem, the herbal medicine dealers and the makers of funerary requisites.

....MATERIAL TAMBIÉN DISPONIBLE EN ESPAÑOL
Contactarse con el autor o con: Karin Handley (traducción al español):
tel: +54 11 4503-8953 Fax: +54 11 4501-3134
e-mail: handley@fibertel.com.ar