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The Prime Minister's Office building.

Putrajaya is the new Malaysia's government administration centre and it is named after the first Malaysia Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra. It has a beautiful city centre with large uniquely shaped building that makes you feel like you are somewhere abroad. Last week I was in Putrajaya and everywhere you see are gardens of flowers that the city is dubbed as the Garden and Intelligent City and the surrounding environment is very welcoming that will make you want to come again and again.

Since Malaysia is celebrating its 50th year of independence, Putrajaya held many events, one of which is the Putrajaya Floria that I manage to get to. Initially I wanted to see the Malaysia International Fireworks Competition 2007, with the camera ready and the mind set but somehow something came up at home and need to go back home to Batu Pahat and as such I was unable to watch it, so unfortunate.Visiting Putrajaya is definitely a must, even for a Malaysian because it really represent the new Malaysia and I assure you that it is a worth the effort. And it is not infected by the traffic jam yet as of Kuala Lumpur. Even seeing the city centre from above, from Google Earth is kind of a welcoming design, first impression one must somehow feel that the architect and the town planner must have watched too much National Geographic or maybe the movie "Sign" played by Mel Gibson I guess it is intentional that Putrajaya welcomes visitors from above and beyond.

One thing that I really don't understand is the naming usage of places at Putrajaya is rather differs from most of Malaysian places. I suppose it came from the US, or an influence from Singapore naming of Precinct for block or groups of housing estate. The various places are called Presint and many blocks of buildings are called Parcel. Parcel C, D and E or Presint 1, 2, 3 and etc.

Anyhow, I could see a lot of tourist visiting Putrajaya, armed with camcorder and all sorts of digital imaging devices. But I supposed I managed to get to take a photo of a forgotten visitors.

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The world of nature, the flora and faunas, and even the animal kingdom is our vital source of energy today and tomorrow. Be it dead or alive. Dead, you will get from fossil fuel, after thousand of years buried deep down inside the mother earth. Alive, as an energy that let you breath every single moment of your life.

Pantun always reflect nature as the pembayang or the first 2 phrases, it is because Malaysia is a tropical country where sun shines almost all year long and the nature is second to none. And pantun is a Malay heritage and as such the nature like trees, flowers, animals would easily find it ways into the everyday life a Malaysian. And since a pantun is a form of poetry it would also find it ways to encapsulate the art of love and romance within the Malay community. Like one of the famous song cum pantun of the 60s, Gurindam Jiwa.

Thinking back, 5 Pantun in one shot is a bit overkill huh.. even thrown in a song with it. :D

Gurindam Jiwa ( L ) Tuailah padi antara masak Esok jangan layu-layuan Intailah kami antara nampak Esok jangan rindu-rinduan ( P ) Anak cina pasang lukah Lukah dipasang di Tanjung Jati Di dalam hati tidak ku lupa Sebagai rambut bersimpul mati ( korus ) ( L ) Batang selasih permainan budak Daun sehelai dimakan kuda Bercerai kasih bertalak tidak Seribu tahun kembali juga ( P ) Burung merpati terbang seribu Hinggap seekor di tengah laman ( L ) Hendak mati di hujung kuku Hendak berkubur di tapak tangan ( L & P ) Kalau tuan mudik ke hulu Carikan saya bunga kemboja Kalau tuan mati dahulu Nantikan saya di pintu syurga

I definitely won't be able to translate this but it is a song in a form of Pantun in which is about love and that, love is forever that even in death one will wait for each other at the gate of heaven. A Malay version of Romeo and Juliet so to speak. Click on the play button to listen to the song.. gurindam jiwa.mp3

Note :

The lyric is extracted from : http://liriklagu.com

Read my other entry about "Pantun" : A Pantun a week.

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Bunga Senduduk Putih or the white Senduduk flower, took this photo at one of the many flower nursery at Sungai Buloh, Selangor. And I love this picture so much that I bought the plant, a small one in a polybag for RM 2.

Extrated from Garden Asia Magazine :

"The senduduk putih, (Melastoma imbricatum) though rarer than the common purple ones has long been identified as a medicinal plant for women’s ailments."

Bunga Senduduk : Purple

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Yet another yellow flower, I took this while taking breakfast at a food stall waiting for the Eye On Malaysia to start operating for the day. They were planted all over the park and in this early morning with the sun shine ever so brightly, and the weather is warm not yet too hot, the flower will definitely drawn you to enjoy the scenery. Anyhow, I don't really know what kind of flower is this, so if you know do tell me yaa... but my guess is, it is a Dahlia of sort...

Have a look at my other Yellow flower entry : Click Here


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This flower always find it ways to be a regular member of a Malay wedding bouquet called Sirih Junjung. It is because not only that it is easily available but it is also because it doesn't matters whether it is fresh or dry it still can be presented as a perfect flower arrangement. After searching here and there, I came to a conclusion that this is a chrysanthemum flower but later on when my wife came and have a peek of what I am writing she overrule and said it looks like a dandelion. So I try to search for dandelion and it does look like ot jugding from the leaves type. So most probably this is a dandelion.

p/s If anybody read the earlier posting, I apologize, I have to edit this back. Obviously, the flower does resemble a chrysanthemum but the leaf did not.

Have a look at my other Yellow flower entry : Click Here

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Finally, I managed to go to the one of the buzz of year 2007 last Friday, set up in conjunction to the Visit Malaysia 2007, the Eye On Malaysia located at one of the oldest lake park of Kuala Lumpur, the Titiwangsa Lake Garden. In fact I spent almost a day over there, in the morning with my two kids after dropping my wife at KL Convention Centre and in the afternoon with my parents and my sister while waiting to pick up my wife from the KL Convention Centre. My two kids were the lucky ones, got to ride the Eye on Malaysia twice in a day.







Eye on Malaysia (EOM) is actually a ferris wheel, a very big ferris wheel. the idea of Eye On Malaysia came from the similar concept in London, if I am not mistaken called the London Eye. A 60 metre structure comprises of 42 fully air conditioned gondolas. Riding with Eye on Malaysia is a 12 minutes joy and if my counting is right , it took exactly 8 revolutions or is it 10. I lost count after 5, enjoying the ride so much.



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It has been quiet sometime since I have been to Kuala Lumpur or KL for leisure, normally I have to attend a meeting so no sight seeing is included in the schedule. But today I got to see KL by myself since the kids is with the my mum at my sister's house and my wife is at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre attending the KL International Breast and Colorectal Cancer Congress. The conference will be for 3 days so I have many time to kill. Since my sister insisted that we stay at her house, I have to travel early in the morning to reach the convention centre, would it be great if my wife know how to take the public transport, anyhow, KL traffic jam reminds me on why I left KL years ago to find work at my hometown. Luckily, I still got all the skill of driving learned back when I was a system support engineer in KL even though many of the routes have changed.

KL Convention Centre is a grand place indeed, never been there before and I suppose I look like a fish out of water, everyone else is all dress up unlike me with a t-shirt and a snicker. May be tomorrow I'll just drop my wife off at he main entrance. Anyhow, snap the picture of the Petronas Twin Tower with my Nokia N73.

Maybe tomorrow I will bring the kids to the Zoo and most probably later on to take a ride on The Eye of Malaysia.

This month is a special month, on 31st of August, Malaysia will celebrate its 50th Independence Day. Along the way from Batu Pahat, everywhere you turn you would see Malaysian flags all over displayed proudly by Malaysian.







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Macro world of photography is really one of the many facet of photography that if one can master could provide a better platform in becoming an excellent photographer. Browsing a site like Flickr, trying to get one end to other is hopeless, there is no beginning and no ending. Trying to even concentrate on a smaller scope like macro photography also pointless, the journey never end. And looking at what are already posted by many people, I could sum up that my skill in a scale of 1-10 in which 10 is the best, I would fall in either a level of 3-4 only. I guess, I am still have a long way to go, a new student so to speak.

Like one of the famous Pantun that deal with new student and process of learning :

Buah Cempedak di luar pagar,
Ambil galah tolong jolokkan,
Saya budah baru belajar,
Kalau salah tolong tunjukkan.

Ok, now if I am able to translate this..

Cempedak fruit outside the fence,
Take a long stick and pluck it away,
New student I am, lacking in prudence,
If I made a mistake, please show me the [right] way.

Aha.. if you don't really understand the Pantun then it is actually saying that I am a new student, if I made a mistake, please help me to do the right thing.

Well, I initially intend to put a picture of Cempedak fruit but unfortunately my brother-in-law open up the cempedak fruit given my mother's sister yesterday and have a feast with it, by the time I got back all was gone so I could not take a single photo of the Cempedak. Nevertheless, you could have a look at what cempedak is courtesy of wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artocarpus_champeden.


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