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I finally left the Cameron Highlands. My phone bill had nearly
doubled my hotel bill and I first thought about complaining. But
then I didn't really have a handle so I thought Phuket (as in
the Thai island of the same name) and moved on.
I made it back to KL in good shape, picked up some stuff I
had left there, and continued on to Putrajaya. Putrajaya, as I
mentioned before is
a new city planned on the drawing board (which is to say, it has
a real masterplan). It is to house the government, and the best
translation of Putrajaya would be "Prince's City". I
visited the prime minister's office building, a huge kompleks
(Malay for complex) right next to the (new) national mosque. Fortunately
for me, there were no other visitors to the prime minister's complex,
so I got the security guard to answer my questions and to show
me the reception room of the building. (More was not allowed.)
Much of Putrajaya is still in construction or hasn't even left
the planning phase. The finance minister is ready to move in,
but they are still discussing whether to move the parliament to
Putrajaya, 40 km before the doors of Kuala Lumpur.
I also visited the mosque, together with a group of Chinese
women, probably Chinese Malaysians. They had to wear some kind
of gown given to them by security, because they were not properly
dressed. The women also had to wear the typical islamic scarf.
Once inside the mosque the Chinese, always your jolly fellows,
were having a field day, making fun of the scarf, showing and
removing some of their visible (head) hair, allthewhile posing
for pictures.
Cyberjaya is the high-tech city next to Putrajaya, and part
of the MSC, the Multimedia Super Corridor. This is an ambitious
project by the Malaysian government to gain and maintain Malaysia's
technological progress and technical leadership. Part of Cyberjaya
is the MMU, the Multi-Media University. Interestingly, the MMU
is a private organization, perhaps to get around the government-imposed
quotas on student demographics (favoring Malays) for public organizations.
Somewhat frustratingly, the Internet bandwidth of MMU is around
10kbps, rather surprising for a University that carries the word
multimedia in its name. Nevertheless, it is certainly a place
to watch out for.
Eventually, I made it to KLIA, KL's airport, dropped off my
car, and flew out to Kota Bharu on a "Night Tourist"
ticket. Taking the bus is only so much adventurous, and I think
I've had enough of that adventure.
One final note on driving in Malaysia. It is fun and easy.
The only occassional nuissance are those foreign drivers in their
rental cars who insist on staying in their lane, actually use
their signals, and honk at every corner.
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