The PICC And The Uncompleted Bridge In Putrajaya

Posted by : foongpc | Thursday, October 20, 2016 | Published in

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After visiting Putra Mosque, my friend and I went for lunch.

From here, we could see the Seri Wawasan Bridge in the distance.

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We went down a tall escalator to a food court below to have our lunch. I did not take photos of our lunch as it was nothing remarkable.

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After lunch, I brought my friend to see a flying saucer.

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OK, it's a building that resembles a flying saucer to me. LOL. The building is known as Putrajaya International Convention Centre or PICC for short. It's located at the top of a hill in Precinct 5.

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The design of this unique building is actually based on the shape of the eye of a silver Malay royal belt buckle. Definitely not based on a UFO. Haha.

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Entrance and exit to the car park.

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We did not go into the building. Just admired it from outside.

From the top of the hill, we could also see the beautiful view of Putrajaya below.

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Not a bad place to hold conferences, meetings and gatherings. There's even a helipad here, though I did not take photo of it.

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After that, we decided to visit the Iron Mosque located in Precinct 3. On the way, we stopped by the uncompleted bridge in Precinct 4. This bridge is known as the Putrajaya Monorail Suspension Bridge. 

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The construction of this bridge was halted halfway due to financial constraints. You can read more about this bridge from my blogpost HERE.

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Stay tuned for my next post on the Iron Mosque!

The Five-Note Melody

Posted by : foongpc | Sunday, October 16, 2016 | Published in

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Someone played a short five-note melody on the piano and asked me to develop that short melody into a full-fledged song that lasts about 3 minutes. I decided to take up the challenge. Luckily, the five-note melody which is made up of the notes F, A, C, D and B flat was pretty melodious to begin with. Lol.

So here is the result. The song starts with the first five notes that were suggested to me and I continued from there. As it is a spontaneous playing without any preparation or correction, expect some errors and not so smooth execution. Hope you enjoy my song which I shall just call "The Five-Note Melody" :)

Do let me know what you think of this song by leaving a comment here. And if you like, follow me on SoundCloud for my future performances.

Note: This recording and work is copyrighted. All Rights Reserved. 


My Visit To The Putra Mosque In Putrajaya

Posted by : foongpc | Thursday, October 13, 2016 | Published in

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It was back in June 2014 when I first stepped into a mosque. It was the Putra Mosque (also known as Masjid Putra) in Putrajaya.

I am not a Muslim. Was I allowed to enter a mosque here in Malaysia? The answer is yes and non Muslims are more than welcomed to visit a mosque as long as it is not during prayer times and you are decently dressed.

I was bringing a visiting Filipino friend on a tour of Putrajaya that day. We stopped by the Seri Wawasan Bridge to take photos.

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There are altogether 9 landmark bridges in Putrajaya. I have covered 6 of them on my blog and you can read about them (including the above bridge) and a brief introduction to the city of Putrajaya HERE.

Standing on the bridge, we could see the Putra Mosque in the distance. Can you see the dome shaped building and the tall minaret beside it in the photo below? That's the Putra Mosque!

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It was just a 5 minutes drive from the Seri Wawasan Bridge to the mosque. In front of the mosque is a large public square known as Dataran Putra with many flagpoles flying the Malaysian states' flags.

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Located next to the mosque is Perdana Putra which houses the Malaysian Prime Minister's office.

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Construction of this pink-domed mosque began in 1997 and was completed in 1999.

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As we walked towards the mosque, I took some pictures of the tall lamp post at the square.

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At the main entrance of Putra Mosque. There were some tourists there that day.

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Look at the beautiful intricate design at the top of the arch-shaped entrance!

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As we walked past the main entrance into the courtyard, the beautiful image of the Putra mosque came into view. The mosque has an interesting mixture of Malaysian, Persian and Arab-Islamic architectural designs.

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The minaret is equally impressive. Influenced by the design of the Sheikh Omar Mosque in Baghdad, this 116 metre tall minaret has five tiers, representing the five pillars of Islam.

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We spent some time taking pictures before entering the mosque.

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That's my Filipino friend in blue shirt admiring the mosque from near.

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I love the pink domes of the mosque! They were built with rose-tinted granite which gave them the beautiful pinkish hue.

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This is the view from behind the main entrance.

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The mosque provides robes for those who are not suitably dressed. My friend and I did not have to put on the robes as our simple collared T-shirts and jeans were deemed acceptable.

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My first time stepping into a mosque. We left our shoes outside.

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Beautiful lights!

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There was a friendly guide who walked around showing us the interior of the mosque.

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This is my favourite part of the mosque - the main dome. So beautiful!

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The 36-metre diameter dome is just right on top of the prayer hall with 12 huge columns supporting it.

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The highest point below the dome is 250 feet above ground level.

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Don't you agree it looks so beautiful?

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The Prayer Hall itself is elegant with intricate designs on the walls. The Mehrab (niche or indentation in the wall indicating direction of qiblat in Mecca) are adorned with Islamic calligraphy.

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Love this shot!

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The view from inside the mosque looking out.

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On display were The Holy book Quran in different languages.

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So many Quran books lining on the table! Do you recognise the languages? It is said that the Quran is the only book in the world with no revised editions - meaning not a word in the Quran had been added, removed or altered.

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A poster depicting the different postures while doing the sholat or prayer.

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This wooden structure is the Minbar or Pulpit. It has a short staircase leading to the top platform.

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The Minbar is used by the Imam, who leads the worshippers in prayers. He usually gives sermon before the Friday prayers at this Minbar.

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Our friendly guide explained to us about Islam and showed us the genealogy of the 25 prophets mentioned in the Quran. From the chart, you can see how Islam and Christianity are closely related.

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The above is just a screenshot of the genealogy chart. For the full image, click HERE.

I took a few more shots of the interior before stepping out of the mosque.

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Although our guide explained and enlightened us about Islam, he did not make us feel uncomfortable or tried to convert us. I am sure my Filipino friend who is a Christian felt good talking to him.

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The Putra Mosque is large enough to accommodate a maximum of 10,000 worshippers. Outside the prayer hall is a spacious area next to the fountains. This area could probably hold another few thousands worshippers.

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It was a good experience visiting Putra Mosque. I was glad I did it! But there was another mosque in Putrajaya that we wanted to visit. It's located nearby and curiously called The Iron Mosque. That will be in another post, so stay tuned.


Waiting For My Flight At Don Mueang Airport, Bangkok

Posted by : foongpc | Tuesday, October 4, 2016 | Published in

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Finally, I have reached the last post of my 2014 Bangkok travel series! Yes, what a relief! Haha! Now we can move on to the next destination.

My friend and I did not have breakfast at the hotel that morning. We checked out at around 9.30am and took a metered taxi to Don Mueang Airport. We reached the airport at about 10.45am, slightly less than 3 hours before our scheduled flight back to Kuala Lumpur.

However, after checking in our luggage, we heard an announcement that our AirAsia flight would be delayed by about 30 minutes. So we had even more time to kill.

There was nothing much to see and do at Don Mueang Airport, so we just lazed around at Starbucks. We sat next to the glass window and watched airplanes land and take off.  Actually, it was kind of enjoyable. Lol.

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I had cafe latte and tuna sandwich.  My friend had something else - I could not remember what as I did not take any photo of his food.

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Took some photos of an AirAsia plane that just landed.

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My notebook and pen that I took with me during my travels. I always note down things on this little notebook. Now you know why I could recall most of the events of my trip (down to the minute details) even though this Bangkok trip was made 2 years ago! Haha, I definitely did not have a good memory! :)

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Of course I also took the opportunity to use the free time waiting for my flight to write down whatever experiences I had during this Bangkok trip.

Some of you may wonder how come my friend never appear in any of my Bangkok trip photos. Well,   like me, he did not want his face to appear on the photos I post on my blog. So I had to make sure I did not upload any photos with him in it. Lol.

Soon, it was time for us to board our flight. While inside AirAsia plane ready for take off, I saw this plane behind us. It looked like a bird with the nose area painted to resemble a bird's beak. It's actually Nok Air, the budget airline of Thai Airways! Isn't it cute?

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If you happen to miss any of my 2014 Bangkok trip posts, check out the links below. I have tried to arrange them in chronological order. Meantime, good bye Bangkok!

1. Red Pork Rice, Starbucks And Bicycles For Rent In Bangkok
2. My Stay @ Marvin Suites
3. Mango Tango @ Siam Square
4. My Dinner @ Inter Restaurant
5. Pork Satay Rice @ Cafe Boran Hat Yai
6. Mont Nom Sod @ MBK Centre
7. After You Dessert Cafe @ Silom Complex
8. Window Shopping @ Siam Paragon, Siam Center And Central World
9. My Late Night Snacks And Desserts In Bangkok
10. Wat Ratchabophit : One Of The Most Beautiful Temples In Bangkok!
11. Searching For Nuttaporn Ice Cream In Bangkok
12. Is Bangkok Still A Safe Destination?
13. A Visit To Hualamphong Station
14. The Terrace Restaurant And Buddhi Belly @ Central World

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