Exclusive tourist services for travellers visiting Malaysia, inlcuding lodging, transportation and entertainment offers. Daily weather information, a currency converter and good regional and city information.

Malaysia is an interesting country that has an undoubtedly tropical climate, with an average temperature of 26 degrees Celsius and an annual water precipitation average that exceeds 2.500 mm. due to the monsoons that yearly pour over the region. Indeed, when you talk about weather in Malaysia it is the same as saying 'rain' all the time.

The population has grown quite a lot in recent decades; they are mainly Muslims, followed by significant Buddhist and Hindi minorities; There are some Christians, mostly descendants of the Portuguese, Dutch and English settlers that formed colonies in the area in past centuries. Portugal has been present in Malaysia since 1522, mainly in the Malaka strait, which is a strategic passage for cargo and military vessels of many nations. In these strait there has been a number of reports concerning piracy and pirat attacks, which are generally regarded as true.

The language spoken in Malaysia is Malay, although government officials use English as well to attend international matters. Malay is a language that finds its origins in the Polynesian culture, although the country is far away from that region. It is indeed a case of a language that evolved thorough contact made by Polynesians with other cultures thanks to their capabilities as navigators.

The country lacks a dry or winter season and its territory corresponds to a huge rainforest that in recent years has been somewhat depleted due to logging and somewhat uncaring use of the land; this, of course, translates into environmental damage. Contamination and atmospheric pollution in particular are problematic due to the excessive use of fossil fuels and the aforementioned forestall depletion. It is common to see over big cities in the region a layer of smog that appears under appropriate or adequate meteorological conditions.

Whenever a temperature inversion layer forms in the lower atmosphere, smog becomes evident. This occurs when the gradient of temperature in the air suffers a local inversion, and a low layer becomes colder than one which is located above. This frequently happens very near the surface, and the first and most evident consequence is that dust, smoke and other pollutants become trapped at very low heights; thus, they concentrate and can be detected visually. This is smog.

When winds come and the inversion ceases to exist, al the particles trapped then become diluted into the atmosphere. The thing is that under natural conditions, smog is rarely visible, but due to the growth of giant cities (megalopolis), the equilibrium of the atmosphere becomes somewhat degraded in very localised areas. Smog always existed: forest fires, volcanic eruptions, dust storms, etc. can cause it; however, these events have nothing to do with the artificial smog produced by human activity.

Malaysia is developing, and we think that this maybe the moment of truth for mankind, because as this country, many other emergent economies - as we call them now - are taking similar steps.A couple of centuries ago, Western countries were industrialising, and the result of their inexperience led to a great extent to the actual environmental conditions, such as global warming and the greenhouse effect that we all talk about. These emerging economies need to compete and grow; it is unavoidable. Thus, we can all help these nations do so in a better way.

European countries, the United States, Russia, etc. made - and still make - a lot of mistakes regarding industrialisation and so-called progress; the countries that now are in the doorstep of development can either follow the same steps or make something different; we have history to learn from. If they do differently, they will become an example for the rest of the world; if they do the same, the results could be disastrous because as what regards to environmental damage, we humans would be adding insult to injury.

So we think that as travellers to the region, keep your minds open - something that anyway we have to do when dealing with different cultures - and try to collaborate to make the most of our world, getting to know the population and making them know you and your culture, instead of just going to some tourist resort and getting drunk.

Shops, Auctions and Malls

Articles

Similar Sites

Related Web Pages

Books

Forum