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Temples, Shrines, Mosques, Churches of Kuala Lumpur

Particularly appealing about KL was the sheer number and diversity of religious buildings. Hindu temples, mosques, Christian churches as well...

Some of these I discovered from above, by riding the monorail...

The monorail is a great way to explore Kuala Lumpur. Here's my take on this!

As for the religious sites... I saw several of them, but there were far too many to visit in a mere 5 days... I saw the most important mosques (from outside, because I'm not a Muslim and non-Muslims aren't allowed to enter) and I was impressed by the beauty of the Thean Hou Temple.

Masjid Jamek

One of KL's oldest mosques.

I was lucky enough to have stayed at the nearby Citin Hotel just 2 streets further. I could hear the Azan (Adhan) every day.

The Masjid Jamek was built in 1909 and it has two minarets.

To me, the site looked like it's on a semi-island-like formation. In fact two rivers flow on two sides (the Gombak and the Klang rivers), but it's accessible from the Jalan Tun Perak street, above which the LRT (metro-like train) runs.

The rivers looked more like dirty open-air sewage canals and they stunk dreadfully. I got two innocent mosquito bites in the area late in the evening.

Thean Hou Temple

I pinned my top target attractions in Kuala Lumpur (as I usually do before my trips) and there was this fantastically beautiful Chinese temple that I just had to see...

It's called the Thean Hou Temple and it was built by the local Hainanese community and opened in 1989 and it's simply like a temple from a fairy tale!

It's literally a pagoda-complex situated behind a dense green area, near some residential quarters. Finding it on Google Earth wasn't the easiest thing (back then), but getting to it was even harder.

It seemed quite remote (on the map), so I had to take the taxi from KL Sentral (there was a taxi station there, where I was able order a taxi through a window where you just tell them where you want to go).

I loved spending time at the Thean Hou Temple, which was allows free entry. No worries about costs. It's one of those free for all attractions and experiences that anyone can enjoy!

Despite being a modern temple, it's totally has this ancient feel and old traditional look. Much of it is made of painted wood.

I was the only tourist there, I was surprised... Of course, I kept a respectfully distance to allow the ones who came to pray. Some spend long long minutes before leaving.

I walked in, climbed the stairs, checked out all the annexes that I could and the main hall in the center. It was breathtakingly beautiful!

While at first it seemed, everything was flying in colours, the interior had vast simpler areas where the colour white was predominant.

In Europe there seems to be a clear distinction between what's old and what's new, but Asia is a lot more flexible when it comes to architecture. They create new with traditional looks.

Not many people were in the temple at the time of my visit, so at times I felt almost alone - in some parts of it, at least.

In Europe the statues are literally single colour. At the moment when I'm writing this, I can't even think of a single (real, historical) statue that I've seen in Europe and is boasting in vivid colours... unlike many Asian statues.

The angry sky kept bringing dark clouds above out heads and for a while, it even seemed as if heavy rain was getting ready to fall upon our heads.

Except a few drops, nothing fell down...

There were no crowds, just about 2-3 dozen people - all seemed Chinese. It felt like pretty much everyone as there for ceremonial (religious) purposes and I was the only one there for curiosity.

This pagoda itself strives to look impressive and indeed, it felt uplifting being in there.

The small statues on the tips of the roof section reminded me of those gargoyles on European Gothic cathedrals.

The looking around and photographing took more than an hour in there and every single second was worth it.

This was one of the last photos that I took there...

Unfortunately, getting home from the Thean Hou Temple was a bit more difficult and time-consuming. There were no taxis, no buses nearby.

I had to walk a long distance near a slumish area and eventually, I boarded a run-down wreck bus that stunk and was filled with suspect-looking creeps (probably workers).

I think it took about an hour of walking and waiting to finally get on a bus.

On the bus, I was given a ticket by a guy who was literally selling it from a worn-down plastic bucket(!).

My seat was filthy and water was dropping on my head while sitting in my bus (probably from its roof).

As I noticed the Central Market's area, I immediately got off the rusty bus... It was a wicked bus ride.

Masjid Negara (National Mosque of Malaysia)

It's not far from the old KL train station.

It is known as the National Mosque of Malaysia and it's a huge modern building with a capacity of 15,000.

The building (clearly visible from the LRT line) has a minaret whose height is 73 meters. Its roof has the shape of a 16-pointed star and it resembles and umbrella.

The Masjid Negara, built in 1965 is one of the largest mosques in Malaysia.

The area around it was very quiet, rather close to the Kuala Lumpur train station.

Masjid India

The oldest mosque in Kuala Lumpur was right behind my Citin hotel, but I never knew until I took a small stroll behind the hotel area...

There were lots of merchants' stalls, small shops, intense traffic and this interesting-looking building behind. It looks new, but it's just well-maintained (I think).

About 3,500 Muslims pray every Friday at the Masjid India.

St. Andrew's Church

The tiny Presbiterian church looked more than a small chapel to me.

I saw it on my way I was walking from the Dataran Merdeka area towards the KL Tower. On the left side of the road I suddenly discovered this white Presbiterian church.

Built in 1902, it is one of the few Christian churches in the city. Not far away, to the south, near the Merdeka Square is the St. Mary's Anglican church, which is substantially larger.

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