SEA's Glass Jungles: KL & Singapore

Over the last months this blog has witnessed some of the most precious gems to be found in Southeast Asia. Almost in all cases these beauties referred to the vast nature present in the subcontinent. However during my last week there I got the chance to discover what this continent might be up to in the forthcoming years - these are two of the new "Jungles of Asia": Kuala Lumpur & Singapore.

Kuala Lumpur
The former of the two southern capitals houses nearly 2 million people. This super-modern, super-efficient and super-commercial hub appeared to me even more superlative when compared to the rest of Malaysia I had seen until then - a quiet and rather traditional Muslim country. Despite the limited offer of tourist attractions (basically it sums up to the famous Petronas Twin Towers), I now remember those days in KL with a strange mix of warmth and affection. Perhaps it was the outstanding crew of the fantastic hostel (best of my trip so far) where I spent my three nights in the city, perhaps the conveniences of the city, but the thing is that I really enjoyed my time there.

Singapore
If KL was super-modern, super-efficient and super-commercial, one would need to use a different scale to measure Singapore City. What can you say about a city where the time gap between two consecutive intra-city trains reduces to less than 2 minutes during peak hour? Singapore's state-of-the-art urbanism left me mouth open. I'll omit any further comments about the whooping 1 kilometer-wide avenues and the endless skyscrappers (I guess that what Let Zeppeling were mind-picturing when they wrote Stairway to Heaven) in favour of one picture:


In summary, these two glassy jungles host a fair amount of urban attractions for those concrete-and-steel lovers. As for me, well, I guess I spent to much time in the Island to appretiate the beautiful complexity of the modern world.

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Durante los ultimos meses este blog ha sido testigo de algunas de las piedras preciosas que se pueden encontrar en el sureste asiatico. En la mayoria de los casos estas maravillas estan relacionadas con la naturaleza vasta y salvaje que atesora la region. Para completar el album, en mi ultima semana en el continente visite dos de las nuevas "junglas de cristal" asiaticas: Kuala Lumpur y Singapur.

Kuala Lumpur: La capital de Malasia alberga casi 2 millones de personas en una impresionante malla de calles y avenidas. La oferta turistica no es excesivamente amplia, de hecho se podria resumir en las famosas Torres Petronas. Sin embargo he de reconocer que garcias al maginifico y superamable personal del albergue en el que pernocte las tres noches (el mejor de lo que va de viaje), guardo un calido recuerdo de mi visita a KL.

Singapur: Si KL me parecio moderna, eficiente e impresionantemente comercial, que decir de Singapur, una ciudad donde el intervalo de espera en el metro se reduce a 2 minutos en hora punta! Avenidas que se podrian cruzar en avion, centros comerciales donde uno puede encontrar de todo (literalmente de TODO) y rascacielos tan altos que deben rascarle los w*bos al mismisimo Michael Jackson en las alturas.
En resumen, dos junglas de cristal que hacen las delicias de cualquier amante del acero y hormigon. Por mi parte, que puedo decir, supongo que pase demasiado tiempo en la isla como para apreciar la belleza del mundo moderno.