Deserted Pathways at the Putrajaya Hill

It's a charmed day spent when you're just lazily walking along Putra Perdana Garden at the top of a hill - with sun on your face and wind on your hair. You need to have a bottle of water with you since there are no canteens nor ambulant vendors at the hilltop. Of course, there's the Shangri-La Hotel, but do you really venture on getting your Coca Cola from this boutique hotel?

GOOD AND BAD MEMORIES

There was a time I steered clear from parks. You would too if you were mugged by a couple of maruecos at a lovely park in Madrid, just 2 hours off my Parisian train. But paranoia heals with time; the scars left are mere footnotes at the back of your head. But since then, I have had this love-hate affair with parks. In fact, once back in London, I couldn't pass the day over without a visit to one of the city's (where I lived for 2 years) royal or public parks. Regent's Park was a favorite, with its swans poetically gliding the glistening algae-infested waters; so was Green Park near the palace. The sprawling Hyde Park near Kensington Palace. And of course, Cricklewood Park just 2 blocks from my flat, where I have taken a hundred runs to stay fit or just to clear my mind from my solitary existence in the British capital. I particularly remember a day after a tiresome run where a woman passed me by to remark, "You are not going to make it!" Haha. I must have looked like I was gonna drop down the grounds. I stayed under a canopy and heard the sound of saxophone lustily blowing a music that stirs my soul.

This garden on Putrajaya Hill brings back such memories, and frees my mind like an Eye in the Sky!

Marooned pathway and yellow bird-of-paradise.

Putrajaya sits around a 400-hectare man-made lake and wetlands. Seri Wawasan Bridge, one of 8 bridges in the city, is seen here.

From the hilltop, you climb down the hill to get to this waiting shed for your bus around town (just 50 cents) or an 8-ringgit taxi ride anywhere in the city center. Or you can walk further to see the Prime Minister's Office and the pink Putra Mosque.

Climbing down the hill.

Up next: Prime Minister's Office (Putra Perdana)