Saturday 7 July 2007

World Wonders from Kuching

Starter:
I'll be attending and helping out at Shen's wedding at Damai. Updates will be posted after my weekend getaway.



The skyline of a city holds great importance. It symbolizes the greatness of a city and the image a city projects for the world to see.

In many parts of the world, the city skyline is so important that the architectural interface of old and historical buildings are preserved even though the interior of the building may not exist at all! Some of these "buildings" may look like museums but are actually open space car parks.

In conjunction with 7th July 2007 (07.07.07), a new set of Seven Wonders of the World will be announced during the Official Declaration ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal. The New Seven Wonders of the World is a proposed revision of the Seven Wonders of the World, organized by a Swiss-based, corporation called New Open World Corporation (NOWC). The selection is being made by free and paid votes, through telephone or online.

Not only is the Sydney Opera House a candidate in the final 21 finalists, it was also recently added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. It was quite an achievement for a futuristic arts complex that was completed in 1973.

I'm disappointed that only 2 properties in the World Heritage Sites list and none in the Seven Wonders of the World candidates belong to Malaysia.

There are many monuments and properties in Bolehland that deserve an award. Therefore, I present to you 3 buildings from Kuching that should have been a world wonder candidate.

In 3rd place.....

Forget The Great Wall of China. Let me introduce The Great Eyesore of Kuching.

Once when I was a few thousand feet high in an airplane above Kuching city, I spotted an outstanding monument. Then I realized what it was:




Yes! Its none other than the Everrise building in BDC - flashed in "Sunquick" orange and "kaya" green. Nothing speaks louder than a building painted in bright contradicting colors. Shocking...

In 2nd place.....

When I saw the picture of this building before the actual thing, I thought the picture had been photoshopped. It was not!




Sitting in the heart of Kuching city where tourists and locals alike bustle around daily, its indeed a sight to behold. While we were busy trying to keep up with the latest movies at Star Cineplex (a tenant of Medan Pelita), the management at Medan Pelita were busy pimpin' up its building. It looks like a multi-level multi-colored kindergarten for the "Special Color-blind Children".

Its an extraordinary human feat to have selected and coordinated the painting of so many colors on one single building. At the time of writing, the paint works have yet to finish. Who knows what other colors they might unleash to us innocent Kuching citizens.

And finally, the prime candidate for a world wonder...

In 1st place...



Wisma Saberkas! Why you might ask. After all, it looks more decent than the rest.

Take a closer look...

Various section of the walls are painted in disgusting pink! I thought they would have painted the entire building with several shades of pink that would have made Xiaxue proud. But NO! Only a portion of the building. There is nothing worse than an unfinished bad work.

The pink portion of the building reminds me of something. Something all so familiar indeed......




That's it!!

Now which building is your "favorite"?

7 comments:

Shen said...

I think Top of the Tops should go to the Grand Continental Hotel!!! This ugly dark orange with marroon red with the grey base has made it a classic.

Galvin said...

Hmm..I never noticed that... maybe next edition then.

joyy said...

aiyooor i didnt know star cineplex bcome liddat....so sia soi!! dunno where to hide my face.....why liddat! i wouldnt be surprise if the whole of kuching looks like that one day....ppl make it look nicer, they make it look worst!! dunno which one to choose...cant decide between star ciniplex or everise building...equally bad.sigh....maybe the Kch council should control these ppl. any change of colours to buildings need council approval.since they hv such bad taste

Galvin said...

Yeah so sia soi... hahahaha. Kch Council don't really care i guess.. or have equally bad taste. Next thing you know, the council building will be painted in polka dots.

Anonymous said...

so funny laahhh hahaha.... Is that really man gay ?? ( I made a promise to never wear pink dress for the rest of my life ===(promise is not swearing) )

Galvin said...

Haha don't worry Anonymous. You can still wear pink dresses as long as you are not a guy...

Anonymous said...

easy to say.. you paint lah!