What’s this photo of Sweden doing here? Isn’t this website called ORIEN.ASIA?
Hint: this isn’t in Sweden and this really is in Asia. Find out where it is and explore it virtually at https://swedenmarker.com/2020/12/23/advent-calendar-2020-23-sweden-hills/.
Original photo: Gaudi9223, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Link to photo in above-linked web page.
200 years ago, nobody would believe this place would be the site of a great city: it’s a muddy place deep in the jungle at the confluence of rivers, rife with malaria.
Indeed, compared to other cities in Malaysia like Penang and Malacca (Melaka), Kuala Lumpur is not as old—it was founded in 1857 by Chinese miners who were hired to work the tin mines in the area. It was difficult and dangerous—but they persisted.
The settlement boomed after British colonial rule of Selangor started and a railway was built. Furthermore, Kuala Lumpur became the capital of the Federated Malay States, later Malaya and Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur is now the largest city in Malaysia, and an international metropolis of Southeast Asia.
Explore Kuala Lumpur virtually and stay tuned to orienteering and Tropical Orienteering Week in Malaysia:
Coconut is a common fruit in the tropics.
Originating most probably from Southeast Asia, the plant has been brought across the Pacific Ocean by Austronesian peoples on canoes, as well as across the Indian Ocean by traders.
Coconut trees have become easily recognisable symbols of the tropics, not least in Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia, and many more Pacific nations.
The white meat of the coconut, as well as the water in it, are enjoyable refreshments in the tropics. Restaurants often sell coconuts, cut open and given a straw to drink the coconut water, as well as a spoon to eat the meat.
Do you want to try it too next time in Asia?
