Malaysia, November 2012, Part 2

I’m finally getting around to this. Yay!

We went to Putrajaya* on the second and last day of our trip. Contrary to my worries belief, it was pretty easy to get there. We hopped on a bus at Kotaraya and it took us right at the city square. I think we just told the driver we’re going to the ‘big masjid’. You have to tell him that because or else he might drop you off at the highway, which is the usual route. It took us about an hour to get there, with a bit of traffic. You’ll get there in around 20 minutes if you take the KL Transit train though, so that might be a better choice.



Putrajaya is the federal state of Malaysia. It’s where the administrative offices are, including the Prime Minister’s. I think the name P.M. Mahathir Mohammad will ring a bell for everyone. Well, he was all, There are just too many people here in Kuala Lumpur. Why don’t we build an entire city? That would be fun!
Except they started the project in early 1990s and until now, they still continue to develop it. I think that says a lot about Malaysians’ take on excellence aka If you want to do something, do it right.



The bus dropped us right in front of the stairs overlooking the Putra Bridge. The overwhelming greenery was a nice way to start the sightseeing.





From the stairs, we made our way through Cruise Tasik terminal. The cruise takes tourists on a sightseeing by either standard cruise boats or ‘perahu’ boats.



Since I Miss You Like Crazy still holds the record for my favorite local movie, I cannot not mention that this was the cruise taken by Bea Alonzo’s character, Mia, as she lamented on her fate in love. Haha.



The perahu boats looked way challenging to me. And while Omie was game enough to try it, I chickened out. Because… we had no time! Okay, despite my desire to feel the Malaysian wind brush against my hair (er, tarha), just like Mia did in the movie, bodies of water are not really on the list of my interests.



And until I get over that, I would have to be satisfied looking at them. It isn’t so bad really. The Putrajaya Lake is manmade and also serves as a cooling system for the city.



At this point, we also got a good view of the Seri Wawasan Bridge. As it seems, they’re really into bridges here. I think this one is the more common of the sites you’ll see in tourist photos.



We also passed by the Souq Putrajaya where they sell souvenirs.





Next we headed to the Masjid Putra. The cleanliness and order in this masjid was phenomenal. Absolutely no shoes allowed anywhere inside the huge grounds.



If you’ve seen photos where people wear those pink robes, this is one such place where you have to be dressed appropriately.



The construction of the masjid alone cost USD 80 million!









After dhuhr, we headed downstairs to the food court for lunch. There are a lot of food choices but since almost all the seats in front of Nando’s are occupied, we figured it was probably the rockstar there.



We weren’t wrong. Apart from the rice serving being super small (I like rice!), it was pretty good.







After lunch, our final stop was the Perdana Putra or the office of the Prime Minister.



We passed by very business-y uncle tourists.



And others who were also enduring the heat of the sun at mid-noon! It was worth it though. Notice those cars in the background…



We wanted to explore the building but we couldn’t risk being run over by all those cars passing by in groups. There was probably a session during that time because despite them running in relatively slow speed, there were so many of them, like in a convoy!



Finally, we ended up at the Putrajaya Boulevard.



It’s the longest boulevard in Putrajaya and is the main entry towards the square. Through this, you also get to pass by the other structures that houses each Ministry. The one below is the Ministry of Federal Territories which we only got to see from afar.



So that marks the end of our half-day trip to Putrajaya. When I was reading about the place online, I remember a photo blog that said there really are no room for bad photos in the place. Every single nook and cranny is worth capturing. And that is quite true.



There were other sites that we weren’t able to visit because we didn’t have our own transportation. Although the structures at the square were enough, it would be nice to have a private car that can take you to each place outside of it. If you’re taking the train from Kuala Lumpur, some taxis can be hired at the train station and they can tour you around for a per-hour rate. I read, though, that they charge so much more so I guess you can take one of these cabs only if you’re willing to shell out a couple more ringgit.

We headed back to Kuala Lumpur by taxi. We wanted to ride the bus again but we were told that there were no buses stopping at the square. Hopefully, they weren’t trying to fool us into it.

On a different note, I just realized how tedious long entries can be. I have mad respect for people who regularly post entries that are THIS long. Thank you for reading this image- and text-loaded post! Now I’m off to bed. -.-

*By the way, I just Wikipedia-ed all the basic information here about Putrajaya.