Breezing On A Malayan Float - Selangor

Much like Negri Sembilan, it is an area we used to pass through on the way to KL but never really stopped by.

I have written about and taken some pictures about its capital, Shah Alam, some time ago, http://theslugreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/new-year-in-malaysia-again-new-years.html so I won't here. In fact, that post also contained snippets about Selangor's earlier capital, Klang.

In truth, both places struck me as,while not exactly sleepy towns, places which are not indicative of Selangor's status as one of Malaysia's richest states. Indeed, all the activity and development seems to take place in the Klang Valley, which together with KL, spearheads Malaysian's thrust towards metropolitan modernity. While the towns of Subang (some snippets from long ago here http://theslugreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/weekend-jaunt-to-subang-kl.html) and Petaling Jaya have long been known to house Malaysia's upper middle class, one cannot help but feel that the urban ring outside KL is set to see yet more development. A drive outside KL along the North-South Highway and one would see impressive new condominiums in various stages of construction sprouting up along both sides of the valley on a scenic mountain route. The wealth of the region shows in the government's policies as well. Whereas for most developed cities in Malaysia, foreigners are only allowed to buy properties above RM$1 million, because of the demand for property in this state, the minimum sum for foreigners is RM$2 million for most sectors of Selangor. (Selangor is an 'Opposition" ie. non-Barisan Nasional (Read UMNO) state and some have pointed to that as a reason for the pace of development there)

That said, Selangor is not all one urban sprawl. There are plantations, kampongs and quaint little towns, like its ancient capital, Kuala Selangor.

Bukit Melawati is where the old palace is located and one can take a tram up...

 

 

 

One of the highlights are the monkeys... There are two kinds, one of which is so friendly you can stand or sit next to them and pose for pictures. There are stalls selling potatos for 1RM, which the primates like. They generally ask and accept graciously.

But taunt and tantalise them too much (shape to give but then withdraw your offer) and then this stands to happen...

Breezing On A Malayan Float - Negri Sembilan

This is a state that we always pass through but hardly ever stop at and to be honest, we only stopped by to spend a night so that I could properly say that I had been to the capital, Seremban. Wikitravel states that it is supposed to be a hotbed of Minangkabau culture and architecture but truth be told, we did not have opportunity to see much of that in Seremban. There is also a famous beach stretch at Port Dickson but I haven't been there since I was 12.

If anything, Negri Sembilan was one of the poorer states famous for its cheap and good food. However, ever since the road and expressway network improved, and ever since the KTM Kommuter, a nodal rail network around KL hooked up to Seremban, it has become rather more prosperous. The food is still good though,,,

Seremban is also, I believe, particularly famous for Siew Pau....

This is an aerial view of Seremban....

And this is its central market. It is large...

Breezing On A Malayan Float - Malacca

Next state up the road if one takes the North-South Highway is Malacca. The old town is the site of the first Sultanate in Malaysia and is a Unesco Heritage site. Unfortunately in my opinion, we do not see that many artifices from the Golden Age of the dynasty founded by Parameswara around 1400. That is not to say it is not steeped in historical installations though, as one can see plenty of buildings built by the Portuguese, who conquered Malacca as early as 1511, the Dutch, who took over in 1641, followed by the British in 1824. It is clear that Malacca has a storied history. But it is taught widely in schools here and Singaporeans are very familiar with the main tourist attractions, so maybe this piece would be on how Malacca relates to us.

I admit we probably have gone to Malacca more often than we would have done because we have a unit in a property being built at MITC near Ayer Keroh, at the outskirts at Malacca. This is the latest picture we have of it. It seems to take forever to complete!

Of course, we do spend a considerable amount of time at they city centre as well, which mind, is quite a distance from the exit at the North-South Highway. If there is a jam, it can take one more than an hour to reach Malacca town proper.

Most Singaporeans would be familiar with Jonker Street, with its iconic night market. It gets its name from Dutch. In Amsterdam, the prime street everybody wanted to be on was Gentleman's, or Heer Street. When Malacca was under the Dutch, the city was modelled in the same way. The aspiring nobleman would be found at Young Gentleman's Street, or Jong Heer Street.... See how it became Jonker?

This area is not without controversy. Jonker Street is a road by day but a pedestrian market by night. It used to be a nightly affair but in what was a shock to many, after the elections in 2013, the new Mentri Besar tried to stipulate that Jonker Street would be accessible to vehicles 24/7, potentially effectively signalling the death knell for the night market. The reason was to ease traffic congestion. Protests were vehement. Wasn't the night market touted in almost all promotional and tourist materials?And what about the congestion at the walkway near Dataran Pahlawan. That is predominantly a Malay area while Jonker Street is a Chinese one. Some commentators said therefore that the move was to appeal to ground-level Malay sentiment after UMNO's bad showing in the elections. In the end, a compromise was reached. The night market is now open during weekends....

And these are the goodies one gets to savour while there. Peranakan Laksa and the all so yummy chendol, a dessert with coconut and gula melaka.

I will also admit that nowadays we pamper ourselves and stay at the Casa Del Rio, a gorgeous hotel by the side of the river. A bit pricey though, but then again, we paid our dues staying in cramped holes-in-the-wall with mattresses with bedbugs in our younger days....

Lesser know attractions can be found away from the city centre however. There is the Portuguese village. This is where descendants of the former Portuguese colonial masters run a food centre. They are also considered Bumiputras, like Malays.

And there is also Pantai Klebang, where one can drive right up to the waterfront to view the sunset. We found it a bit of a jam getting there from the city centre though...

Nice state. And from what we hear, developing further. I just wish our property would complete sooner.

Breezing On A Malayan Float - Johor

This is the most familiar state to a great majority of Singaporeans for the obvious reason that it is the first state one arrives at when one crosses the border.

Indeed, its capital, Johor Bahru, meaning New Johor, is a weekly stopover for thousands of Singaporeans (including us) looking for cheap petrol, groceries, food, massages, car repairs etc...

Anyone for duck rice at Meldrum Walk? RM17 (S$6.30 )for a platter for two to three.... One would have to pay such a price for a very sparse plate of duck at some places in Singapore

 Indeed, we would go in a lot more frequently if not for the often seemingly interminable jams at the Causeway...

 And the Second Link at Tuas....

 Johor Bahru, or JB as those around here call it, is also home to two of our properties under construction. We got them in the 'Great Iskandar Rush'. Now that all the papers are talking about a property glut in JB, maybe that was not such a good idea. But all the same, we can't wait for them to be built. I hope I live long enough to step into them... Anyhow... This is Princess Cove as seen from an apartment flat in Woodlands. If things go according to plan, we should have a unit directly facing Singapore....

 And this is what our apartment at Puteri Cove is supposed to look like in 2017.

Situated at Puteri Harbour, it is supposed to represent the new luxury living which is touted to SIngaporeans, luxury living that most would not be able to afford in our island... Indeed, Puteri Harbour is modelled after Keppel Bay and even at present, the signs look promising.... Check out the public marina.

While it does feed significantly off Singapoe, it would be wrong, however, to say that JB is representative of Johor. If one travels deeper into the state, one would find a fascinating and diverse array of interesting places and attractions...

Tanjong Piai, for one, is the Southern-most point of the Eurasian mainland...

Check out the sunset and Pantai Minyak Beku at Batu Pahat, the earlier capital of Johor...

The waterfall at Kota Tinggi

And goats heading off to graze at the UK farm near Kluang....

All in all, a fascinating state. Don't just limit yourself to JB!

Breezing On A Malayan Float - Kuala Lumpur

Ok... I guess I can't put this off any longer. It's harder to get started because of all the pictures I have to aggregate...

And also there's been a lot that has happened since my last post, including the passing of one of my heroes, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, which is why I start my recollections in KL. In the Singapore High Commission, to be precise. We had tried to queue at Parliament House but media reports said waiting time was up to 8 hours. Given the uncertainty of my health, the atmosphere in Singapore was just to overwhelming so we headed to Kuala Lumpur. Significant as well, for this is where Mr Lee, for all his triumphs, fought for one of his most cherished dreams - to see Singapore happily as part of a big Malaysian family - and lost. Hopefully in years to come, the people of the two countries will draw closer nonetheless....

Pre-Travel Notes

1) Ok... Those of you who read Floating on a Malayan Breeze know that it is as much socio-political commentary as it is travel book. My series will be more travel book, I hope. But if and when I feel the urge, I will not shy away from stating my views, so bear with me.

2) At first we thought it would be fine to just pop into a state and say we have been there. But then we figured it would not be fair not accurate. In the most extreme case, one could say one has been to Johor, Malacca, Negri Sembilan and Selangor just by driving to KL without stopping because the North-South Highway runs through these states. At the same time, it would be very misleading to say that one has been to the state of Kedah just because one has been to Langkawi, the same way Genting is in no way representative of the state of Pahang. So we set ourselves a higher standard - we would visit the capital of each state in order to get a more descriptive cross-section of the area.

3) Most of the time, we drive in Malaysia, in which case we are indebted to these little trinklets....

 For the uninitiated, the top picture is that of a Touch & Go as well as a loyalty petrol card. The petrol card comes in handy in that it gives one free miles over the long run but the Touch & Go cards are absolutely essential. For one, you need them to get across the Causeway. Once inland, they save a lot of trouble at highway tolls as well as at car parks at major cities. They are also widely used in the KL public transport network.

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's Nexus

A bit hard to start on KL. Difficult also to think of noteworthy pictures because we have always been travelling to the capital of Malaysia. In our younger, more energetic but financially less secure days, it was a nearby getaway, an exciting change of scenery. It was a place similar enough to Singapore but still different - reasonably safe yet at the same time possessed of an indescribable tang of unpredictability and laxer rules. And of course cheaper prices. Those days we would typically cross the Causeway on a Friday night, head to the Larkin bus terminus in JB and then pick out the cheapest late coach (RM25?). We would arrive at Puduraya at between 4 to 5am and then hang around at the roadside coffeshop waiting for daylight to check into our budget hotel. It was only much later when we were told that this was known to some as a rough area (which, had we known earlier may have made us more jittery when we wandered around in the cooler wee morning air in our executive work clothes of the previous day).

Nowadays, Puduraya has lost much of its zest, catering only to buses on the Northern circuit (South-bound buses now operate out of Bandar Tasik Selatan), a Southern satellite town. In any event, KL nowadays is not so much an exciting getaway but more a haven to recharge for many a weekend. Gone are the budget hotels. Nowadays we stay in the Hyatt, not for ostentation, but because of the level of comfort one can get for a price that one would almost never find in Singapore. And yes, nowadays we drive. Tiring, but it gives us the flexibility to go where we want when we want, as we use KL as a base to explore the surrounding environs...

Some views from the oasis...

Truth be told, to many, KL is far too alike Singapore. As we have seen, same high end hotels with killer views, similar historical colonial landmarks in similar settings... Like former courthouses and important buildings in front of big fields...

Similar mega, upmarket malls...(if not even more mega)... This is the atrium of Pavillion...

And who can leave out mention of well-known street food stalls at remote locations in the heartlands....

 This is San Peng Prawn Noodles at err... Jalan San Peng near Jalan Loke Yew....

 

And of course there is the nightlife... Hard to explain though... But a walk around Bukit Bintang at night is not the same as one at Clarke Quay in Singapore... Different kind of energy.....Less... sterilised?

Love their city green belt though... Tasik Perdana is a few minutes drive from the heart of the city...Similiar to a certain Botanic Gardens in Singapore?

And nearby, one can lunch or dine with the birds at the Hornbill Cafe at the Bird Park...

So I guess you could say we love KL for its similarities.... at cheaper prices...

To be sure, this city is in no ways representative of the rest of Malaysia. In fact, KL is just about the only place in Malaysia able to support upmarket accoutrements such as megamalls and five-star hotels. In fact, a recent study has shown that the average income in the Klang Valley is up to 7 times that of the average in Malaysia on the whole, and 10 times that of the average in Kelantan. People are talking about growing inequality in Singapore but I guess we see that in Malaysia as well...

Book I Read - Floating On A Malayan Breeze

Ok, this is one of those things I told myself I would do, told other people I would do - had so many ideas as to what to do... And then dilly-dallied and never got started. It was as if the ideas in my head were so perfect that to start would mean forgetting some of them, making my piece less than perfect, and then agonizing over it.

Anyway, this book I read - Floating On A Malayan Breeze - was written by a Singaporean, Sudhir. I came to know about it while reading his blog, which has a whole host of opinion pieces and commentary about life in Singapore. I was thus thrilled to find that he was also very interested in Malaysia (when I later met him I found out that we had lots in common - we were in the same JC, we knew a lot of common acquaintances).

Anyhow, the book, yes. I really looked forward to reading it because - and all those who know me well would know I am there every week - of how much time I spend driving up and down Malaysia, not just to the big cities but also to places less travelled by Singaporeans. So my interest was peaked when I found out that the book was premised on a road trip which Sudhir made with his friend, Sumana (who turns out was my junior in track & field at RI), in 2004, when they traversed all 11 states of Peninsula Malaysia on bicycle with a budget of 10 Ringgit a day. I was surprised though, when I read it. I expected the book to be more 'travel-guidish', recounting places visited and encounters with locals. There is of course a fair amount of that. But there is also an equal, and perhaps even greater amount of social and political commentary as Sudhir does a deep dive into the similarities and differences that have shaped the development of both Singapore and Malaysia after separation. It certainly didn't turn out to be a book for a tourist, but I liked it any way, because I kind of enjoy comparative political discourse and commentary.

Anyhow, what began as another read turned out to be the beginning of a series of adventures as the book seeded an idea within me. Because of the amount of time I spent in Malaysia, I thought I would do my own write-up about my experiences up North, presenting a different Singaporean viewpoint of the peninsula.

For one thing, while Sudhir and Sumana made their journey through the 11 states at one shot under absolute austerity during a planned trip, I was going to tell of how Malaysia relates to me, my practical reasons for going there - cheap fuel, good food,cheap property etc - and draw on my experiences garnered during my numerous trips there. BUT, within the next few weeks, I was also going to, like my Indian friends, traipse through all 11 states of peninsula Malaysia.

And That Is Exactly What I Did! With my redoubtable and mostly indefatigable travel companion - let's call her by her nick, Rabbit, for now - during the months of November and December, we embarked on journeys to various peninsular states to add to our already familiar knowledge of some parts of Malaysia. Of course, we weren't going to do it like the S&S (I'll just use that abbreviation for Sudhir and Sumana). For one thing, Rabbit is, comparatively, a prissy female and I am too old, but more importantly, too cancered up for any ardour during our travels. So we mostly drove. At times we took the bus, at others we flew and rarely, we cabbed and took other forms of local public transport. What was important was that we did it in relative comfort (adhering to my theory of having a strong and comfortable base we mostly stayed at the best hotels - S&S sometimes slept in public areas), adventure, reality and rusticity from a cozy viewpoint and distance, if you will.

And hence the planned title of my mini-travelogue:-

BREEZING ON A MALAYAN FLOAT

I came up with that for the obvious reason that while like the S&S we were going to travel to all the Malayan states, we were going to do it without strenuous exertion. We were going to Breeze through and experience all the far-flung wonders of what ironically is our closest neighbour from a safe and cozy platform, a float, or pedestal in other words - a Malayan Float (particularly those comfy hotels).

But also, a little cheekily, because of what I often seek out when I go to Malaysia - A&W Root Beer float which, while ubiquitous in the childhoods of many Singaporeans my age, is no longer available in our fine island...

So... During the next few weeks, if my health, and, more importantly, my spirits, hold, I hope to detail my version of travelling in Malaysia and how I have enjoyed Breezing on a Malayan Float.

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

Happy Year Of The Goat, Everybody!!!!