Photo of the week: There's no place like home

Bottom up view of the Petronas Twin Towers

Have you ever seen the Petronas Twin Towers at night?

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I once heard a story about an absolutely forgettable country that lay between Europe and Asia. Land-locked and largely barren, they spend half the year buried in 6 feet of snow and the other half trying to persuade an impossible soil to grow their seeds. Meanwhile, the world had slowly passed them by leaving them behind in a hopeless state of morass, growing ever poorer and ever more desperate.

Then one day they had heard of a great train that was being built by the powerful countries in the West that would bring explorers, artists, writers and philosophers to the new world, in search of inspiration, glory and riches. Hope was finally rekindled and the people of this tiny nation set about building train tracks across their country, snaking and winding its way through the most beautiful countryside they possessed.

They built even though they weren't sure that the train would come. And they kept building even though there were those who would say it would be a great folly. That the train would not pass and the great artists, writers, philosophers and discoverers would not find them, write about them, and would not then, save them from their helpless existence. But still they kept on building until finally they were done.

And then winter came. And a spring after that, then summer. More time flew by and still, no train passed on their tracks. It was as though time had forgotten them completely and was holding them back in suspense. Waiting until all hope was lost.

Then one day, they saw the tell-tale white billowing clouds from a coal engine in the distance. Chugging along as it went straight through their country side, making stops along the way as its occupants took leave to admire the nature around them. The train had come at last. And with it, the country's hopes and spirits lifted beyond anything they had ever wished for.

They had found their salvation.

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We all need a symbol of hope, and of pride. All those years ago when someone said it might be a good idea to build an 88-storey shining double structure in the centre of the city, they faced a mountain of criticism. They were told that it would cost too much, that no one would appreciate it and it would just flood the market with more unused floor space.

But we built it anyway. We needed hope, and we needed something to tell the world of the promise that we knew we had.

And now, we know that our train is making its way through our country side. We just need to continue believing.