Visiting Putrajaya

We made our 3rd visit to Putrajaya, the administrative capital of Malaysia; it houses the Prime Minister's residence, the Prime Minister's offices and the country's ministries. The landscape is lovely, and the buildings are large and spread out. Malaysia's climate does not encourage long  daytime walks, so I wondered how often staff interact across ministries. Interactions with the commercial sector and the NGOs are surely rarer. I have heard NGO staff complain about the distance from KL and the lack of parking.

An acquaintance from Turkey compared Istanbul and Accra, noting that Istanbul was fun to live in with lively exchanges of ideas and Accra was generally sterile. The same comparison can be made between KL and Putrajaya, although Putrajaya probably has less non-government life than Accra. (An article examining administrative capitals must exist, but I found none in Google scholar. IMO administrative capitals do not correlate well with responsive gov't)

An Indian lunch in Putrajaya

Our trips to Putrajaya remind us that without a car we  miss a lot of this country. Fortunately,  our friends were eager to arrange an outing with an Indian meal a highlight. We had roti, dhal, mango lassi, rogan josh, vegetables jalfrezi, and chicken biryani. We left full and happy and headed for the wetlands.

Ong sisters & Aaron at Putrajaya wetlands

We climbed a watchtower, watched a lizard on a plant, and visited the pelican pool. Seeing the pelicans take off and fly was mesmerizing. Our last stop was for sate and ice kacang (shaved ice with sweetened condensed mill). We neglected to take a picture of the sleeping sate man before we woke him.

The next night we joined the Ongs for a family dinner. Mooi Lian's parents have treated us to so many scrumptious family meals that this time we are honoring the parents instead of the food.

                           The end of a long satisfying meal