17 Tamarind Square And The 24-Hour Book Store

Tamarind Square is this new beautifully designed office and shopping building in Cyberjaya. It is well planned - I say this because it's built with good air flow and space naturally lit by sun rays. The ambiance is all vibes of inner peace and joy.

In this wondrous pleasing to the eye maze of a building is a 24-hr book store run by BookXcess, the first of its kind in Malaysia and a start of something that should have been done years ago. I mean, how much late night clubbing can a person do in their young life and how many mamaks can one frequent before boredom sets in?

BookXcess, Tamarind Square

I wish we had a 24-hr book store in my younger days - it would have been another place to hang out with friends and my parents would have been thrilled that it wasn't in smoky dance joints. We will, we will, rock you!

"Girl, where are you going at 11pm? "

"Book store la, Ma. Be back after I see the sunrise. Yes, yes, I brought my pepper spray. "

My parents are the great kind. We were encouraged to be independent from a young age and we were responsible for the consequences of our actions. They let us fall and pick ourselves up. We were team 'buy your own house, get your own car, pay your own bills, fund your own education degree' from the moment we hit 21. I have strayed off topic. Lol.

BookXcess Open 24-Hours

Anyway, to get to the book store, drive up the open road beside the building which leads to the uncovered parking lot. I don't recommend the indoor one. The place is still very much under construction. Ground floor parking was acceptable, two floors up was just eerie and dusty. This was the state it was in during my visit a month back.

Tamarind Square Open Carpark

Here's a look at the rest of Tamarind Square. The shoplots on the upper floor are two-storey units with a rooftop garden. It makes a very nice dining spot. Imagine having a drink al fresco with an old friend under a starlit sky in a setting of lush greenery. I was just thinking that I wouldn't mind this design for an apartment building.

Tamarind Square - Up, Down, In, Out

Upper Floor

One side of the walkway are shop units, the other side had balconies overlooking the garden. I'm not sure if this space is available for rent but I can imagine transforming the area into an open concept meeting room. No more dreary office walls, an unconventional business discussion outside, the scenery an encouragement for fresh ideas. Yeah, I'd like that - white IKEA chairs and a table large enough for coffee, cakes and contracts.

Let's Buy A Unit

This is the view below. Those glass chambers surrounded by metal netting would make neat kopitiams. I noticed a Kedai Dobi taking up one awesome unit.

Tamarind Square Is All About Keeping It Green

Tamarind Square Shoplots

Excited to come here? For now, it only makes sense if you live nearby. There are barely any shops open.

Temporarily A World Cup Event Space

View From The Entrance of Book Xcess

Tamarind Square
Address: Persiaran Multimedia, Cyber 11, 63000 Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

22 Exploring Eco Sky, Kuala Lumpur

EcoWorld doesn't do things in a half-half kind of way. This property developer is known for adding a little magic into their construction projects. I don't mean real magic, of course but small things that make us go ooh and aah or is visually captivating. Expect an environment with art and nature infused in its designs.

I'd been wanting to visit Eco Sky since Hubs had driven pass the area several times on our way to Tesco Selayang. Eco Sky is located right beside this hypermarket. Plus point - don't have to go far to purchase groceries!

Eco Sky is a mixed development comprising three towers of serviced apartments which are about forty floors high each, and 140 commercial units in 4/5-storey buildings that face each other like two giant pieces of macaroni.

Eco Sky, Kuala Lumpur

The place is fairly quiet with few tenants in the commercial units and seemingly empty residential towers; slow-moving because it is priced beyond what most Malaysians can afford.

Eco Sky

Eco Sky

In the middle of Eco Sky is a tiled park with a smatter of trees and a beautiful water feature. Neat, but it was the art piece I couldn't take my eyes off - a red sculpture of a person jumping into the water, apparently in slow-motion.

Let's Go Swimming at Eco Sky

Splash!

Hubs and I took the lift up to the highest floor of the retail lots for a better view of the area. Overall, it was pleasing on the senses and quite the place for a cuppa with the girl friends.

Oi! No Swimming Allowedlah!

Eco Sky Commercial Units

Eco Sky Carpark and Serviced Apartment Tower

It was a hot afternoon so we settled down for a cold drink and ice cream at myNEWS.com. My first choice was actually Donutes, a cozy looking bakery cum cafe with large glass windows but I made a quick u-turn out when I saw the crowd! The ambiance in Donutes was cheerful and all good vibes - I love it ...but cannot sit long-long and ceritalah (storylah).

I Scream For Ice Cream

The public toilet is located in a hidden tunnel next to the red bench with the sign 'The Deck' above it.

Eco Sky Public Toilet

Eco Sky Public Toilet

We left feeling like this would be a great place to stay seeing how we could lepak downstairs.

The only thing I wasn't thrilled about was the illegally parked cars on both sides of the inner road leading to Tesco and the daily traffic jam that is Jalan Kuching's (?) trademark.

In case anyone's keen, Maybank has a Rent To Own scheme (#HouzKEY) for this property starting from RM2.6k per month. More about Maybank's #HouzKEY here and here.

14 A Walkabout : Setia Eco Park Lifestyle Hub

In the quiet city of Shah Alam, lies Setia Eco Park (SEP), a greenery-inspired neighbourhood that boasts of beautiful parks with landscapes that incorporate the forest.

Hubs brought me here for a walkabout. I love the area. It is, in general, a well-planned town. The roads and sidewalks are wide and neat, free from litter and construction debris.

We spotted this interesting place from the road and decided to pop in for a look-see.

Setia Eco Park Lifestyle Hub

 
This large round building is actually a property sales gallery. We had a good chat with one of the consultants who briefed us on the latest developments and answered our queries. She also arranged for another consultant to drive us into the gated neighbourhood to view the houses. It was a lovely experience.   

Setia Eco Park Lifestyle Hub

The Lifestyle Hub houses several restaurants, an education center and a skin specialist - most of it closed during the time I was there. I had walked up the stairs to get an overview of the place from the second floor but the gates were locked. Perhaps an adventure for another day!

Setia Eco Pak Lifestyle Hub

Setia Eco Park Lifestyle Hub

The lakes are mostly a murky yellow-brown but it is peaceful. This is located just beside the Sales Gallery.

Setia Eco Park - The Lake

Setia Eco Park - The Lake

I think I will love living here ;)

10 Property : Elmina, Shah Alam

It's been a long time since Hubs and I went property hunting! We're two weird people who love checking out what's new in the housing market. I'm baffled by our interest seeing that we're neither investors nor agents. We're not in a rush to put our money down on landed property either but you never know ... *wink*

This was a Sunday outing that was unplanned. There had been a terrible thunderstorm just before the weekend, so we decided that it was best to postpone driving too far out of town. We went exploring the wide expanse of Elmina, a new township developed by Sime Darby instead.

We checked out a couple of recently completed homes on our own, namely Keana and Regia, before running into Vincent Tan, a Senior Property Negotiator who was already there showing a potential customer around.

These are some pictures I took of the place. There is no shortage of empty units up for sale as you can see from the banners hung on the fence.

Elmina Keana

Elmina Regia

Children's Park, Elmina Keana

Elmina is neat and peaceful. I like the serenity. Done properly, it would be a really beautiful place to live in. For the moment, it lacks the basic needs of a typical community - there's no grocer, mamak or clinic nearby. Haha, I'd be happy with just these three shops!

Vincent took us for a tour inside an empty Cressida unit. It was spacious and bright with more than enough large windows to allow lots of natural light to come through. There is no need to switch the lights on in the daytime, saving some electricity. That's a plus point for me!

Elmina Cressida

Secondly, the back lanes are spacious enough for garbage trucks to drive through. This could mean no rubbish bins lining up the front porch. Neat!

I didn't snap any photos of the interior as I felt it looked fairly the same as any other bare unit until it's done up, as in fully decorated.

Elmina Cressida

Exercise Park, Elmina Cressida

This is not a gated community which is great too. We shouldn't be a society that thrives on paying to be safe or to have beautiful gardens. The spirit of 'gotong-royong' should be inculcated from young. It is something that is becoming rare in this generation.

Elmina Crista

Elmina Crista

I would say that Elmina's a great neighbourhood to live in. Driving is a breeze. The only thing that could mess this place up would be poor planning of roads (insufficient parking for commercial zones and lanes for high traffic) and drainage for heavy rainfall. As I have no clue as to what the developers have planned, I can only keep my fingers crossed that they are far-sighted professionals.

That said, I've never met a more down-to-earth property agent. I may not know Vincent personally but I firmly believe that it's better to deal with someone who is truthful about the current state of affairs in the property sector than one who sings that there's nothing wrong with it.

Finally, I'm not sure if I got the names for all the units right. I found it quite a challenge to tell them apart!
Property is priced from RM800K.

12 At the Preview of Avens Residence, Southville City, Bangi

1st June 2014, an SMS about a project preview on the only link homes in Southville City reached me. A dramatic line that called out to my curiosity. We (hubs and I) decided to join the Mah Sing fanfare.

The place is a little difficult to find but nothing that Sara couldn't handle. Sara's what we call our Google Map GPS navigation phone app, by the way.

It was drizzling when we arrived. This did not deter us from exploring the park, which was designed with several water fountains. The garden is gorgeous. Typically designed, but no less a joy to wander.

Water Fountain at Southville City Show Gallery

I waited for the water gushing from this fountain (pictured below) to reach as high as it could before I took this shot. A jogging track surrounds the pond. That's always a plus for me....in case I decide to move out of my sedentary lifestyle and take up running. My friends will go, "Yeah, right," on this one.

Fountain at a pond

Here we are at the very modern-looking show gallery. I think this will make a very nice home design too.

The crowd was so-so at 1PM-ish. We walked right into Dato' Joey Yap's Feng Shui session. He was explaining the merits of owning a square home Feng Shui-wise to the crowd.

Dato' Joey Yap

Below is the show unit for Avens Residence, a 2 1/2-storey and 3-storey link development. What do you think of the facade? I think it's great. I do like balconies, even better if it doesn't face my neighbour's. I am not considering buying a unit for myself. I'm just imagining the possibilities. 

The interior is bare and basic, leaving you full potential to renovate it to your needs.

The location is hardly prime but I believe it will improve once the area is fully developed. From my calculation, that's a lot of years to wait for an old lady.

Avens Residence Show Unit

We left after an hour of checking the place out. I love this open-air archway that leads to the parking lot. It's a neat idea.

An archway with climbing plants

As larger raindrops begin to fall, we hurried to the car. I couldn't resist stopping for a quick snapshot of this artwork, just to show my friend who loves cats a lot.

Kittens

In case you're interested, Avens Residence is tagged at a lofty price close to RM900k.
Website: http://www.southville-city.com

4 Dale, Lake Fields (Sungai Besi)

Dale at Lake Fields. The name itself stretches my imagination. A fairly spacious 3-storey terrace house with a lake nearby gives me illusions that I'll be having lots of evening strolls with the sunset behind me...even though the lake is technically wayYYyy over there and I may not even walk that far.

Dale at Lakefields

I love the double volume concept and overall design. It's beautiful. Hardly original though. I once felt that it was unique but after seeing a number of houses with the same old, same old, I begin to wonder if housing developers are sinking into this mire of commonness. It's not a big deal but I always wish for something with a little more 'creative' in it.

For some reason, I could not feel the excitement. Mayhaps I knew what the price would be like. Maybe a sleepy town isn't my cup of tea. Perhaps it's just too big. With five bedrooms, this is a home meant more for large families. 

Plenty of space to play about

I can see you from up here! Like this so much!

Three storeys up. Huff, puff...... I'm tired already.

One of the rooms

Room with a bath

Now tagged at a no-surprise asking price of around RM1 million plus-minus, I wonder if anyone's thinking "Sungai Besi?". It's a head scratching moment when you find out that it sits in an old mining town that has yet risen to a level that can be said to generate high-income earners.

But of course, this is the shallower side of me speaking. People drive long kilometres to get to their work places. The prices of landed property is steeper in city areas, hard to find and if there is something cheaper, it is either very small, very old or poorly maintained. I guess city folks who can afford it would seriously think about getting a unit here.

When it comes to homes, it will always be a subjective matter. We are so diverse in our preferences that whilst this may not have tickled my fancy, it could very well be someone's dream home for a lot of other reasons.
 

End Unit

Intermediate Unit