LAKE GARDENS (TAMAN TASIK PERDANA)

Located off Jalan Parlimen, Kuala Lumpur Lake Gardens (Taman Tasik Perdana) is the greenbelt of KL, the city's most popular and scenic park, and a green sanctuary nestled deep in the city center with a host of attractions, many of them unique to the region. Built in the late 19th century around an artificial lake, it encompasses 230 acres of undulating greenery interspersed with flowering shrubs, shady trees, exceptional botanical gardens, flowers, lakes and other notable features. There is a children's playground, jogging tracks, exercise stations, and rowing boats.

The popular gardens offer plenty of recreational opportunities and attractions. Among the notable gardens and places of interest in the Gardens are the following:

• The Orchid Garden showcases thousands of international varieties of the most beautiful flower in the world. The garden contains over 800 species from Malaysia alone.

• The Hibiscus Garden is a small terraced garden which provides a strikingly colorful panorama of countless varieties of hibiscus.

• The Butterfly Park houses some 6,000 butterflies of over 120 species. The park is an imitation of the butterfly's natural habitat. It includes more than 15,000 plants from 100 species that have been used to recreate a Malaysian rainforest atmosphere.

• Bird Park, the largest bird park in South-East Asia, holds thousands of tropical and exotic birds representing nearly every major species of this part of the world.

• Deer Park is located in the undulating slopes and sprawling valley of the Lake Gardens. Close to the bubbling stream at the edge of the valley are several mousedeer. The mousedeer is the world's smallest hoofed animal and a popular figure in local folklore due to its legendary wit.

Tugu Negara

Tugo Negara means National Monument. The Malaysian National Monument, which commemorates the struggle to resist Communist aggression in the 1950s and early 60s, is also found in the Lake Gardens. The massive sculpture honors the memory of those who gave their life in the battle and is one of the largest freestanding bronze sculptures in the world. Tugu Negara mirrors precisely the famous monument depicting the fall of Iwo Jima.

Carcosa Seri Negara

Set within 40 acres of landscaped gardens and perched on a hilltop overlooking the Lake Gardens is Carcosa Seri Negara, a pair of nineteenth- century British colonial mansions. The resort's two mansions, Carcosa and Seri Negara, were built in traditional colonial style at the turn of the century for the British Governor of the Malay States and his honored guests. In October 1989, both mansions were administered together forming what is now Carcosa Seri Negara and opened to guests from around the world. There are seven suites in the Carcosa Mansion and six in the Seri Negara Mansion..