motion envy

Wow...it's really beautiful there! I've heard KL (along with the rest of Malaysia) is exceptionally clean and virtually litter-free. Is that right? Sounds almost like a fairy tale, actually. Take me with you the next time you venture there. :-)

That is more likely to have been Singapore, formerly part of Malaysia. The areas that are looked after by the government certainly are clean, but I wouldn't say that KL is much different from London and New York, but here and there, you'll find storm drains full of garbage, and these smell just great in the tropical heat. But you don't tend to notice when you live there :) Perhaps things have changed; Ksquare is better placed to tell you at the moment.

Not much. :) It is a bit better now though. There's a new company (private for most part) in charge of drainage and water treatment (Indah Water), so the drains don't smell as bad as they did when I was a kid. The city itself is rapidly modernising, so you are at less risk of being hit by a pink mini-bus driven by deranged Chinese man at the wheel (I miss those buses though - they were like theme park rides and taxis rolled into one). One of these modernisations has been the building of three LRT (Light Rail Transit) systems which are increasingly popular among the cityfolk, unlike the subways of Western countries, these soar through the sky for most part, so allow quite enticing views of the citylife below. And unlike many other public works, these tend to be very well maintained.

The aforementioned buses as well have been replaced by less black smoke belching and quieter vehicles, though not by much, at least they've replaced the crazed mini-bus drivers of yore with more sane ones though. Of course, it should be noted that those self same insane minibus drivers have converted their old mini-buses into school buses, so the youth of our nation still somewhat enjoy the thrill rides of old... with the added risk of course.

For all Singapore's cleanliness and development, in some cases I still prefer the charm of Malaysia, where you still have mostly small private stores run by families from generation to generation instead of huge hulking behemoth shopping malls on every street corner. As well, the layout of Singapore tends to be so predictable as to be boring, whereas in the old section of KL (Hell, in some of the new sections as well), it seems as if the city planners had drawn out the streets with the aid of several bottles of liquor. While this does lend itself to some very interesting traffic situations, it does have a charm of it's own if you have nothing but time and are willing to get lost among the old buildings, as I did once as part of a project to photograph the pre-war aspects of the city.

A word to the wise though: Becareful. Even though Malaysia has one of the lowest crime rates in asia, it still isn't wise to be flashing cash around. After all, lets not tempt the locals.

Also, unbeknowest to many, Malaysia is also home to such great road signs as this. Another piece of photographic evidence is here to prove it's authenticity.

Feeling a bit slow this evening, I actually had to think about what your point was; I read the sign in a [Chinese] dialectal accent out of habit (what I heard in my head was roughly "foon wee fook") - but that's hilarious, especially taking into consideration the fact that 'wee' means 'little' in Scottish.

When I was about four I used to think "Jalan Sehala" was a really long and windy street, because I saw the sign everywhere - of course, when I found out the truth, I was in embarassed hysterics for about a day, and continued to giggle for a week afterwards whenever I came across a one way street. God I miss KL.