How do I feel about my city ( Part 1 )

Hrmm...Where do I begin ?

I have been living in a relatively unknown ( to the outsiders at least ) city for almost 20 years. Yup, as you read just now, I am a young adult still figuring out how to pay bills and get some works while studying in university. Yet, here I am talking about my city, Shah Alam in Malaysia( go and google it ) although my city and I are just acquaintances all this while. There are a lot of things I can learn from my city, every nooks and crannies still left unexplored.  Still, I have seen many sides of her, pretty and ugly and here are my honest thoughts about her :

What I like about the Shah Alam

Food
- Yep. This one is true and I think almost all Shah Alamians can relate to this. Basically, there are a lot of foods from various cuisines available for anyone to choose from. If you feel like eating Japanese foods today, you can head to SACC ( one of the city's many malls located in Section 14 ) and savour authentic plus affordable sushis there. Personally, I  frequent Sushi King ( in SACC mall ) to get my dose of Japanese foods . They have conveyor belts that bring lined-up plates of sushis within your reach , so that you can fatten up your belly while sitting there lazily. That's the reason why I would always end up broke ( lol) after finishing almost 8 plates of sushis and sashimis plus with their beef Bento ( my favourite ). Yumm. Even then, you seriously need to try eating Japanese foods in Shah Alam if you happen to be close by. It's worth it.   

One more type of cuisine so widely available here in Shah Alam is Mamak foods. The reason for calling it " Mamak foods" is because the foods served are usually prepared by Mamak or Indian Muslims and it reflects Indian cuisine prepared according to Islamic Dietary Laws. Hence, you would never find any Mamak restaurants selling foods and drinks forbidden in Islam such as pork-based dishes or alcohols to name a few. To me, I don't think it makes Mamak foods any less authentic than other Indian restaurants since I can always order delicious Indian foods there such as Nasi Briyani, Nasi Kandar. The first two are similar in that both consist of rice steamed/cooked with gravy and may be served with meats and vegetables. The difference is that for Briyani, it is a dish with direct origin from India and it is usually cooked with Basmathi rice, a strain of rice which is longer than normal rice and the meats are normally chicken, lamb or beef and cooked together with the rice. It also has stronger and distinct flavour derived from specific spices for Briyani compared to Nasi Kandar. Meanwhile, Nasi Kandar is a dish traced to Penang, Malaysia and made by Tamil Muslims. It can be served with any types of rice although Nasi Kandar uses normal white rice mostly. The rice and the curries are usually cooked separately and people may have wide selection of curries and gravies to choose from , in contrast to Nasi Briyani which is limited in term of available curries and gravies. Lastly, the flavour in Nasi Kandar is highly dependent on which curries and gravies you choose to put into your Nasi Kandar because the rice alone contributes no flavour. Now you know what kind of dishes you will be expecting when you step into Mamak restaurants. Thank me later after trying the foods.

                                             

                                              Diagram 1 : Shah Alam city map with area zoning

                                                                  (Hover on the image to enlarge )

Balanced pace of life 

- At least where I'm at, it is definitely nice to have an environment which is not too hectic like in a bustling city ( looking at you Subang Jaya and Petaling Jaya ) and the same time it is not too quite and underdeveloped like small town and villages. Shah Alam has that sweet spot if you live in North Area and Town Centre ( refer to Diagram 1 ). "How about Central Area and South Area ?", you might ask. Well, there is nothing too bad living  there since I was actually residing in South Area  before moving to North Area for the first 12 years of my life ( more on that in other posts ). Personally, I think the rate of crimes is higher in those areas since generally, the South Area was inhabited by less well-off ( until recently there are some newer developments catered to more well-off such as Alam Impian in Section 35  ) and it seems to me state government is not so enthusiastic to invest more in such areas for better infrastructures and more effective law enforcement. As the result, there are indeed more incidences of crimes there ( in fact, there was a crime case of an elderly couple being dismembered, put into luggage bags and dumped in a sewer near a LRT station, eww ).    

Enough about it  haha .  Where I'm living now, I notice some improvements in the environment unlike where I used to live. Firstly, it is more accessible to town centre from North Area that is only 5 - 10 minutes away from home without traffic jams that usually plague most other locations. Seriously, what a lucky jackpot for me for living here. Central Area could not get even close to this, it has a very wide and large main city road passing through it . Of course, you are right to assume it is a perfect place for traffic jams during peak hours. Besides, the area - along with Southern Area - are known for industrial activities . If you don't want anything bad from happening to your car involving those large lorries, you better think again of living. Subang Jaya and Petaling Jaya meanwhile, have traffic jams even on their normal, average roads. I could not think of better way to deal with traffic jams except by taking LRT rails there. So, a no from me. 

Moving on, North Area has the best untouched greenery is  hard to get in a typical city. While all other neighbouring cities struggle to find remaining spaces for green and natural environment ( man made parks and lakes are not equal to this ), thankfully Shah Alam has one of many forest reserves in Selangor as  the last bastion. Coincidentally, the forest reserve - Bukit Cerakah Forest Reserve -  is located in North Area and encircled by Northern Sections such as U11, U13, U10 etc. Housing areas there are serene and peaceful while also modern. In my case, I can just literally walk from my home to the nearby lake for sightseeing. You can also go fishing over there too though. Basically, it is nature meets modernity in North Area. I can't really ask for more.

So, there you have it the first part about my city. On upcoming post, I will share about what I don't like about my city, eeekk. Stay tuned for another part.

To be continued..