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...

Every year those who live in Malaysia and Singapore would somehow have to live through a 4- to 6-month period of haze. An age-old issue that has never seemed to be solved, is believed to be caused by the forest fires in Indonesia. Woke up this morning, I looked out the window to see hardly anything but a grey shade hovering my daily scenery. Telekom building is now a blurry silhouette and Mid Valley has disappeared! It looks really cool and misty on photograph, but the strong smell of smoke lingering in the back of your throat will bring you back to the cruel reality. There is nothing we can do if these farmers don't stop thoughtless burning. Just drink more water, perhaps wear a mask even when at home, AND do a rain dance!