Serene Green and the State Mosque. Lake Garden, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
A pleasant train ride of about an hour to the south of Kuala Lumpur through lush, rolling countryside takes you to the capital of Negeri Sembilan, one of the thirteen states which constitute Malaysia. Its capital is the friendly town of Seremban, which came to prominence in the late nineteenth century in the wake of the discovery of tin and the realisation that the local climate is very suitable for growing fruit.
In the very centre of town just a hop-skip-jump from the railway station is this pretty valley with two man-made lakes. Beautifully landscaped, it is also a carefully tended botanical garden aglow with blossoming trees among which the Hibiscus is perhaps the most prominent. And there's a nice pond for Lotus as well. All is highly relaxing and pretty.
This photo was taken in the direction of the railway station about halfway along the ponds. On hill's edge is the 'new' (1967-1970) state mosque, whose archictect is Chong Keat Lim (1947). A closer examination than this photo allows would show that he's combined modernism with elements from traditional Minangkabau culture (originating in western Sumatra). The next time I travel here, I must look more carefully to see to what degree adat perpatih is still practiced; that is to say, the age-old Minangkabau practice of matrilineality and of giving women a higher social status than men.
Serene Green and the State Mosque. Lake Garden, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
A pleasant train ride of about an hour to the south of Kuala Lumpur through lush, rolling countryside takes you to the capital of Negeri Sembilan, one of the thirteen states which constitute Malaysia. Its capital is the friendly town of Seremban, which came to prominence in the late nineteenth century in the wake of the discovery of tin and the realisation that the local climate is very suitable for growing fruit.
In the very centre of town just a hop-skip-jump from the railway station is this pretty valley with two man-made lakes. Beautifully landscaped, it is also a carefully tended botanical garden aglow with blossoming trees among which the Hibiscus is perhaps the most prominent. And there's a nice pond for Lotus as well. All is highly relaxing and pretty.
This photo was taken in the direction of the railway station about halfway along the ponds. On hill's edge is the 'new' (1967-1970) state mosque, whose archictect is Chong Keat Lim (1947). A closer examination than this photo allows would show that he's combined modernism with elements from traditional Minangkabau culture (originating in western Sumatra). The next time I travel here, I must look more carefully to see to what degree adat perpatih is still practiced; that is to say, the age-old Minangkabau practice of matrilineality and of giving women a higher social status than men.