16 February 2014 Putrajaya
It was an outstation work and this time it was in Putrajaya, the capital and hub of power in Malaysia. Putra means prince. Jaya means success. Unless it is formal work or else ordinary Malaysians would rather be having fun in Kuala Lumpur. It could be my third time there. But it was always serious stuff. The last time I went, there was no proper linkage of transportation. Nobody really knew how to get into Putrajaya and out. But it was a few years back and I hoped that there is some improvement. I went to the transit rail line that makes certain stops starting from the KL Sentral until the KLIA airport. I asked if there is any taxi waiting at the Putrajaya rail station. The answer is yes. So I went to see it for myself. I arrived at the Putrajaya rail transit station. I searched for the cab station which is a few walking steps within the station compound. The service uses the coupon method and it operates 24 hours. My outstation work was the next day. So I was prepared to go to Putrajaya. Since all the fun is found in KL, I decided to stay in a hotel near KL Sentral, rather than in Putrajaya itself. I found accommodation in the Metro hotel once again. It took me roughly more than 5 minutes on foot from the Metro hotel to the KL Sentral. The train took another 20 minutes before arriving in Putrajaya station. Then the taxi took another 30 minutes before arriving at the Ministry. After the co-curriculum briefing, I went back. The same cab driver said he would come back at the same place to pick me up. But he was on the other side of the building. In fact, the building has so many entrances. Two of my counterparts from Sabah joined me in the taxi. We parted after the taxi driver dropped us off at the LCCT because we were flying off to our separate destinations. Putrajaya is a recent development on a piece of land that used to be plantations of palm and rubber trees. Experiencing the journey from KL to Putrajaya and vice versa makes one wonders if public transportation was not regarded important in the initial stage of planning for this so called intelligent city. If you have been regarding KL as the capital of Malaysia, well, you have to transform this to thinking and regarding Putrajaya as the capital of Malaysia.