sOleiLian

I’d never been to Putrajaya before this. One evening after dinner, my aunt who hosted my stay in KL last month decided to bring me to this planned city which serves as the administrative capital of Malaysia since the seat of government was transferred there from Kuala Lumpur a decade ago. While KL still retains its status as the national capital which houses dozens of foreign embassies and consulates, government offices and agencies have since relocated to the new township whose name means ‘victorious son’ in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that left a significant impact on the development of many languages indigenous to the Malay archipelago.

The Muslim call to prayer reverberated throughout the city from the magnificent Putra Mosque while the pink edifice bathed in the final rays of the evening sun

Putra Mosque, up close and personal

Putrajaya Lake in beautiful hues of blue

Seri Wawasan Bridge, dynamic and futuristic

On the bridge…

So here are my impressions of the city:

• Bloody huge government buildings everywhere! Most of them were so imposing and lofty in appearance that I thought they looked more like 5-star hotels than mere offices. I wonder how much the Government have spent on this mega project.
• Huge landscaped gardens… But poor maintenance. Typical Malaysian scene. I saw trees and shrubs with withering foliage, and not to mention those that were in need of a nice trim.
• Mega bridges here and there, all in close proximity to each other. Now ask yourself: do we really need those?
• Too overtly Islamic. I strongly disagree with its portrayal of Malaysia as a Malay Muslim country at the expense of the 40%-strong non-Muslim community. We are a multi-racial and multi-religious country (okay, that sounds pretty clichéd), but I saw no signs of that in the architecture and town planning of Putrajaya. How could one promote Malaysia as so and so when the very city that houses the Federal Government bears strong Islamic overtones instead of a harmonious fusion of Malaysian cultures? Go figure.

By the way, no pictures of the Prime Minister’s office here because I’ve lost them! *sob*

c a t e g o r y | passport to nowhere
f l u f f e r p u f f | malaysia . mosques & minarets . putrajaya . travel

28 sOleiLians

Bukit Bintang (aka Star Hill), the upscale shopping district of Kuala Lumpur is a magnet for tourists, shopaholics, fashionistas, and youths. Since I couldn’t afford the luxury goods sold here that spelled Louis Vuitton, Salvatore Ferragamo, and Prada, all I could do while loitering around the glitzy area were people watching and yes, taking photos.

Since a picture paints a thousand words, I’ll just let them do the talking…

Oh ya… I happened to be at the entrance of the Pavilion KL when Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism, Dato’ Sri Dr. Ng Yen Yen, came to officiate the launch of the mall’s crystal fountain (frankly, it looked like porcelain than crystal to me), dubbed the tallest of its kind in the country. The crowds were given a 20-cent coin each to toss into it, reminiscent of what every traveller will do upon visiting the famous Fontana di Trevi in Rome.

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My laptop (or should I say, my graphics card) kept giving me troubles since last month which resulted in a number of frustrating events. Firstly, I lost all my recent photos (including the ones on my trips to Perak and KL) as well as my movies, videos, and other unorganized documents which I wasn’t able to perform a backup. The photos you see here happened to be the ones I managed to upload to some local forums (should I thank myself for doing so?). And worse off, I haven’t even done sharing my Perak tales! Grrr…

Secondly, my Windows kept crashing and rebooting before I even had the chance to enter my desktop. These all happened after I had the drivers of the graphics card installed in my laptop (it’s working pretty good now though). Enough is enough, or so I told myself. And since the annual PIKOM PC fair is here, I didn’t even think twice to splurge on an external hard disk drive and a new thumb drive. I so dread that history will repeat itself again. Hopefully there’s no next time. *fingers crossed*

c a t e g o r y | juz bloggin' . passport to nowhere
f l u f f e r p u f f | kuala lumpur . malaysia . ramblings . travel

14 sOleiLians