This Week at TravelGolf.com: Aug. 30, 2007

Malaysia stepping briskly on to the world stage as an Asian golf vacation option

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - If you happen to find yourself one day aboard Malaysia Airlines, perhaps on your way to the gleaming capital of Kuala Lumpur, one of the in-flight movies you have the option of seeing is "Entrapment."

It stars Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. The movie itself is a tepid caper film, but the climactic scenes are shot in Kuala Lumpur, much of them in, on and around the Petronas Twin Towers, among the tallest buildings on earth.

Connery and Zeta-Jones cavort dangerously on the towers, 88 stories high and nearly 1,500 feet high, pursued by the cops. The views, as in person, are breathtaking.

Malaysians are sophisticated enough to know the movie is silly, but they most likely couldn't resist showing off their modern capital - "KL," as it is usually referred to. The city is a teeming, weirdly-satisfying blend of Malaysia's colonial past and bright future, from the hucksters in Chinatown, lit by the famous midnight lamps, to the ultra-modern towers and other high-rise office buildings.

Malaysians are proud of how far they've come in half a century - the country is celebrating it's 50th anniversary Aug. 31 and every time you turn around you bump into a Malaysian flag. They go to pains to remind visitors that this is no third-world country.

Like other Southeast Asian countries with booming economies, Malaysia has jumped into golf, the game of business, with both feet.

The country sports nearly 200 courses, and they are as varied as the country itself. You can find excellent courses in the mountains, along the seashore, on tropical islands and rainforests and in urban settings.

Many have the sort of pristine conditioning found in the West, with some of the older ones throwing some of the nastiest rough at you this side of Boggy Creek - beware the broad-leafed Cowgrass!

A strong sampling of some of the world's greatest architects are represented here: Robert Trent Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman and Gary Player, to name a few.

They're also easy to get to, with the excellent roads in the country, not to mention the extensive in-country flights. Malaysia also has some world-class resorts.

Just make sure to keep it in the fairway and out of the blasted Cowgrass.

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