I was quite thankful to get back to the car and was ready for some lunch, so (after airing the car to cool it down a bit) we head over to the Botanical Gardens in Putrajaya to get something to eat in a noodle café - my treat, as it's the least I can do for having Charles drive me about and be my personal tour guide - that's Malaysian hospitality for you.
After lunch we head to this place called Astaka, which is a (smaller scale) replica of the Moroccan temple. The detail on the architecture is amazing and the place is incredibly tranquil. Almost as soon as Charles said that it was amazing to have such a place to come for free, some guards stop us as we are wandering about the place, barefoot, as we haven’t bought a ticket.
It was not exactly obvious where we could actually buy tickets from, so we nodded, apologised and after promising to buy one, walked off. We didn’t buy a ticket, but instead took a few more photos and headed over to the main Putrajaya area, parked next to the Steel Mosque, and walked along the lake to the Millennium Monument to get a fantastic view of the Seri Wawasan Bridge. The architecture here is stunning, symmetrical, amazing.
We climb the Millennium Monument ramps, which is flanked by a timeline from the early 1400s to present(ish) day detailing the emergence and development of modern day Malaysia. Interestingly, some key facts are missing, as if they want to be obliterated from memory – for example, when Singapore were asked to leave the newly formed Federation of Malaya in 1963. Weirdly the actual date in 1957 when Malaysia gained independence from British rule is also missing (16 Sep, hence Malaysia Day today). From the top of the monument, if you look down onto the ramps, the structure looks like a hibiscus.
I am still surprised how quiet this place is - it's almost a waste of effort to create lovely open spaces when (nearly) all everyone seems to want to do is wander about in air conditioned shopping malls or drive about in their air conditioned cars.
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