When I bought my new Sony Ericsson K300i a few months ago, I thought it’d be fun to do a whole blog just using my camera phone. Of course, it won’t be as clear as my Nikon digital camera, but I thought it would be good to mix the technology, see the results, and if anything comes out wonky, call it “art”. Aside from that, this post revolves around “the making of” a V Mag article, so I have to ensure that there was no clash between the “professional” photos taken, and the ones used for this blog. And no, you’ll have to buy the magazine to find out exactly what the article is on.
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Anyway, the day started early-ish. I met C, a freelance writer for the Chinese V Mag, at his place, but due to some complications, we had to kill some time before kicking off to Putra Jaya. So he took me to the Bukit Bintang market (pics above and below), where we had a drink. He mentioned that the market was really popular with hairdresser types, before they went in for work. Looking around at the tables around me, I could see what he said was true. Unfortunately, I stupidly deleted those pictures, but have a few of the market instead.
We made a pit-stop at Imbi Plaza, passing through Jalan Imbi and Jalan Bukit Bintang along the way. When he was done with his business, we headed south-west towards Putra Jaya, through Sungei Besi. There appears to be quite a number of abandoned developments in the Serdang/Seri Kembangan area (pic below). These areas look great for exploring, I think they’ll be like totally different worlds to me. I should look into this some day.
Putra Jaya made itself known to us when the street lights along the highway became all interesting and ornamental, quite amazing actually (left pic). We drove around, looking for the Town Council building. Unfortunately, and unlike any other Malaysian city, Putra Jaya is divided into “precints” and “parcels”, and we initially had no idea whether a ‘parcel’ was inside a precint, or the other way around. However, I did know how to get to the main administrative parcel/precint/plot, where I knew most of the ministries were (I believe Precinct 1?).
The whole of this area was one stupendous roundabout. I told C that he needn’t worry if we missed something, because we’d be bound to come to it again, so long as we don’t get off the road. We took a drive into the Health and Education Ministry section, and were both quite impressed with the architecture. For some reason, I was reminded of Singapore (I bet the stones will soon start being hurled!). We finally found an Information Centre(right pic), where we enquired as to the whereabouts of the Town Council building. No one knew where this was. Unfortunately, it didn’t help that neither C nor I knew what “Town Council” was in Malay. Eventually, we managed to explain ourselves, and got directions.
We headed pass the huge stadium-like mosque, which led to a massive bridge, and then on to a massive boulevard. From the Putra Jaya website, I can’t ascertain which promenade we were on, but it looked like “Dataran Wawasan” to me.
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All I can say is: impressive! I certainly was awed by the vast huge massiveness of this stretch of the city. I also found some of the buildings totally awesome in design and structure, definitely worth a visit. This part of the city had an added surreal quality, because there were hardly any cars, or pedestrians, or anyone at all around. Added to this atmosphere was a light drizzle, which all made me feel like I was an unwitting perfomer in a science fiction movie (pics above and below). Thrilling!
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We finally made it to the Town Council building (pic above), which was an amazing two-building structure, with an interesting metal arch joining them both. Facing it was a massive field, in which was a massive square with flag poles. We parked, got out of the car, and mooched around, waiting for the rain to stop. In the meantime, we popped into the “Palace of Justice” right opposite the Town Council building (pic below).
Again, I was very impressed (C was too, although he might deny this later). I can’t possibly imagine how much they must have spent building each building here in Putra Jaya. Apparently, the main aim is to make Putra Jaya visitors feel small and ant-like, and it works. I also have to admit, this building is a far far cry from Denmark House along Jalan Ampang, or the old beautiful colonial Magistrate’s Court house along Jalan Raja. To waste away more time, C and I headed on to the cafeteria, which balanced the beauty and vastness of the building, in its small and unimpressive corner. However, the over-inflated prices made up for its humble looks.
Eventually, the rain stopped, and we managed to get to work. When we were done, C decided to take a drive around Putra Jaya, where we saw these magnificent bridges (pic below).
