Taken on March 10, 2014 in Bangalore.
This sculpture is on the MG Road Art Station promenade. If it were an actual guy, he’d be hauled off to the drunk tank, but because he’s stone, it’s art.
Taken in December of 2013 in Kuala Lumpur.
Kuala Lumpur (KL) City Centre Park is a little–but immaculate–park located between the Petronas Towers and the KLCC (KL Convention Centre). This is taken from a bridge inside the park. One can see the KL Tower in the background as a directional reference (i.e. the photo is taken facing roughly west.)
Taken on February 26, 2014 in Bangalore
This is the Jama Masjid in Bangalore (not to be confused with the massive Jama Masjid near the Red Fort in Old Delhi.) It’s indicative of Bangalore’s rapid growth that the mosque sits right up against the highway flyover that frames it herein. It’d be a nicer looking picture from on top of the flyover, but a.) that would be terrifying and b.) it wouldn’t give the impression of how hemmed in it is.
The mosque is located right next to the K.R. (City) Market, and is considered the most impressive of Bangalore’s mosques by many. This area is a crazy hive of market activity at all times of day.
Taken on February 26, 2014 in Bangalore.
I took this photo today in Bangalore (south of city market and east of Tipu Palace.) It’s a scrap rubber place mostly made of… well, scrap rubber.
Taken on February 19, 2014 in Bangalore.
This was taken under the Bala Gangadhara Swamy Flyover–near the K.R. Market. It’s typical Bangalore.
Taken February 18, 2014 in Bangalore
This is a section of Brigade Road in Bangalore–one of the city’s retail districts.
Fun fact: in India–for reasons I don’t know–franchisors don’t exercise control over or coordinate the locations of their stores. For this reason, one may have two Reebok stores in a given block and five within walking distance. It’s actually not unlike Waffle House is (or, perhaps, used to be) in the Atlanta metro area where one might have Waffle Houses catty-corner from each other. Usually, a company or franchisor wants to control the density of stores so that they don’t cannibalize each other out of business and leave their more disciplined competitors to snatch up market share.
If I had to guess why this seems to work here, I would say it has to do with high density of wealth and low labor cost for retailers. There are–in absolute terms–a lot of people in the city with disposable income but they are concentrated in certain areas so it doesn’t make as much sense to spread out your stores. Plus, with low labor costs, the price of keeping a store up is relatively low. Of course, it may have nothing to do with either of those issues, but rather be rooted in India’s bizarre regulatory environment.
Taken in December 2013 in Kuala Lumpur.
This tower, built in a Modernist Islamic style, is one of the most famous landmarks of Kuala Lumpur. It’s also one of the earliest high-rise towers in the city (circa 1984, to give on an idea how rapid KL’s growth has been.) Below, one can see some graffiti along the river walk.
Taken February 12, 2014 in Bangalore.
Less gold (and tuk-tuks) in this shot.
Taken in December 2013 in Kuala Lumpur
In Kuala Lumpur’s City Gallery there’s a model of the city that is part of a video presentation on the city. They darken the hall, play a film, and there are lights to highlight certain buildings or roadways as mentioned in the video.
It’s nifty and it’s free. The City Gallery is adjacent the famous “I♥KL” sign, near Independence Square and the Sultan Abdul Samad Building (Offices of the Ministry of Information, Communications, and Culture.)
