Prologue

Last Thursday, 04 Feb 2010, I took a noon Firefly flight from KL Subang Airport (SZB) bound for Penang (PEN). The flight utilised the France-made turboprop plane, ATR-72. Soon after taking off Runway 15, the plane climbed and made a tight right turn, flying over Subang Jaya, Shah Alam and Setia Alam, whence these aerial pics …

Thursday, 04 Feb 2010

Above Subang Jaya, and one immediately knows why traffic is so bad down there – just look at how dense the houses are, sliced right down the middle by the KESAS Expressway.

Past the horror of Subang Jaya, and we see the northern part of Shah Alam. The clam-like structure to the left is the Shah Alam Stadium, which can fit 70,000 ppl, built for half a billion ringgits in the early 90s. Been there once, for a Deep Purple concert!

A part of metro Shah Alam, if one can describe so. Can be clearly seen, the landmark Blue Mosque, built mid-80s, can fit 24,000 worshippers. Biggest in Malaysia, 2nd in Southeast Asia, 2nd tallest minarets in the world (at 142.2m), or so they claim.

Now we see what is regarded as the centre of Shah Alam, the clump of buildings at the bottom. Still a lot of greenery around, which is a credit to the city.

The plane passes central Shah Alam and to the north, we see what is left of a once large forest reserve. Looking desolate and fragile, it’s now the protected Bukit Cherakah Forest Reserve, surrounded by greedy developers. A major green lung in the Klang Valley, hopefully it’ll be there forever.

As the plane makes a slight right turn to head north, we swing by the new township of Setia Alam, supposedly low density (cf. Subang Jaya pic above), well-planned and eco-friendly … and our house can be clearly seen down there. Guess which?

> THE END