The National Monument...

When we arrived at KL Sentral, we had to lug all our baggage to the next building, passing by the construction site which I have no idea whether they're expanding the KL Sentral or it's just another new mall, but we walked for about 10 minutes, crossing the road and getting our one way monorail tickets to Bukit Bintang. That's where we stayed for the 7 days and 6 nights. Since we arrived around 7:50a.m. nothing dashed my initial plan. The plan was still the same. Drop our luggage at Seasons View Hotel situated in Jalan Alor and then had our breakfast at one of the many coffee shops. Then, we went back to KL Sentral and got ourselves a taxi to the National Monument. The monorail ticket from Bukit Bintang to KL Sentral was RM2.10 each and then we took two taxis as we were travelling in 5 and the taxi's maximum capacity was 4 passengers in one taxi. I like this kinda tour, walking around, looking at places of interest. It might be interesting to me but not to you. The idea of for the construction of the National Monument was mooted by the then YTM Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra al-Haj in 1963 to commemorate the warriors who died defending the sovereignty of the country. If you're not familiar with who was Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra al-Haj and you're a Malaysian, I suggest that you go bang your head against the wall nearest to you. If there's no wall then go jump down from the window. Tunku Abdul Rahman was Malaysia's first Prime Minister, a wise man who brought independence to our country on the 31st of August 1957. Study the Malaysian history, it will do you a lot of good to know about your own country. The monument complex encompasses five main components, the National Monument, fountains, pavilion, a war memorial and the surrounding gardens.

The monument embodying seven bronze statues also represents the triumphof the forces of democracy over the forces of evil. The monument was designed by an American sculptor, Felix De Weldon and was completed in the early 1966. It was unveiled on the 8th of February of the same year and from then on a ceremony to commemorate the passing of the warriors is held there annually. The warriors fought during the Japanese Occupation. Those captured were tortured cruelly by the Japanese. After the Japanese Occupation ended with two atomic bombs dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, our country was terrorised by the jungle cats or better known as the communists. In the olden days, the jungle cats only came out during the night and they were always in hiding. The rest of the stories you will have to ask the older generation, I have not existed during those years. I only get to listen to stories told by my grandmothers and neighbours.