Whinges of an Alien

Bangsar South -  one of the upcoming and most rapidly developed township on the hill, complete with a new shopping mall, hotels, offices, condominiums and even a few medical centres and clinics within the neighbourhood. Sounds great. Is it really? Once upon a time, this area was called Kampung Kerinchi (Kerinchi Village), which had a good mix of different residential buildings, local shops and food stalls, and a big farmers' market that opened twice a week. Most importantly, residents used to be surrounded by lots of greenery but not short of necessary modern conveniences. BUT, ever since the renaming of the area from the not-very-cool-sounding one to Bangsar South several years ago, there hasn't been a pause in development. This of course, involved the sacrifice of many many trees and bushes and destroying the landscape with the leveling of the hilly lands.    We can foresee what the residents downhill would be experiencing on stormy days: mud floodi...

I've not been whingeing for so many years now, I must've grown to be more tolerating and forgiving. Just when the slightest of that thought hits me, I saw this AGAIN today: a pile of unused remaining cement and bits & pieces of construction materials being left unattended by the KL Gateway Station. I believe these are construction debris from the building of KL Gateway mall and the connecting link bridge to the station, and these are left right under the bridge. So what happens after the latest shopping mall in town is completed and launched? Perhaps conveniently forgetting to clear out all rubbish, is an option. This pile is not only creating dirt and pollution, is also an obstruction and a hazard to pedestrians and users of the station. Oh yes I forgot - Malaysia is never known for its considerateness for non-car users 🙄 It's bizarre how this could've been overlooked; isn't it easier (and common sense!!) to just clean them up? Oh no no no, tha...

Whilst the hole on the pavement in Bangsar South is still wide open, they've just topped themselves by doing this just less than 50m up from the very hole: The hole is just by the 4wd which you can see parked further down. This pile of building waste has been here since January and I'm guessing like the hole, it is here to stay. Oh by the way, these cars are parked illegally by the pavement. The car owners/drivers have either gone to the shops on the right or to the road side restaurant on the left in the picture. And right after that 4wd that is where the traffic lights are, so yes they are parked right at the traffic light. This, can only happen in Malaysia. What's wrong with these people?!

"Malaysia Truly Asia". Have no freaking idea what it means, but THAT is the tagline for the Malaysia Tourism Board advertising campaign all over the world, particularly targeted at countries where the sun doesn't scorch your skin, and where there isn't an average daily temperature of 34C all year round. In it you'll see pretty snapshots of white sand beaches, blue skies, blue sea, clean places and good food. Obviously, they will never show you this -- Signboards (put up as directional boards to weddings, loan shark advertisements, etc) and rubbish on the road side, pavement, and in between plants on one of the major motorways in Kuala Lumpur: A pay phone booth (without the phone) filled with litter: OR, their infamous public toilets (although there has been some "improvement" in certain shopping centres only recently), or those people who burn their rubbish openly and frequently. And they're so proud...

The whole purpose of having a walkway is so that pedestrians have a path to walk on instead of venturing on to the side of the roads where motor vehicles zoom by. This sheltered walkway leads to some expensive highrise condominiums up Kerinchi Hill in Bangsar South (anything named or part-named Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur represents "prestigious living"). By all accounts, it should be a breezy walk on this walkway but it's really not the case. Not only it gets flooded on a stormy day, the locals have been abusing it to an unbelievable state. Rubbish everywhere If you are not one of those privilege enough to have a car, but have to walk up the hill every day, you'll know what I mean. You'll find rubbish, broken stools, mud left from the flood, etc, along the walkway as well as inside the wrecked open drain holes. It is disgusting yet hazardous, because you can easily trip and fall into the deep holes especially in the dark (no I have never seen the lights working). I ...

Oh what a wonderful country! The 'clean' and 'tidy' facade of the city, the heavily advertised 'high standard of living', and its 'uniquely' advance lifestyle! Oh what a wonderful world! No wonder everyone wants to come to Singapore. Le Chateau is the low rise apartment I am residing in since last September, a 'higher end' private apartment and what the Singaporeans sometimes refer to as a 'mansion' style development. I pay extremely high rental due to the 'golden location' nearing Orchard, for just a room! Monthly cleaning was promised to tenants but you never see the dust disappears. I am sure the apartment once had its glorious time, but it is not maintained properly and everything is on its way out. I believe this is one of those many properties in Singapore: luxuriously built, but high maintenance. The owner or ex-owner has either migrated to somewhere better, or simply gave up maintaining it, and sold it off or let an agent ...