Chaos is good but definitely not in excess...

Well the Italians may have been proud of their disregulation of which was ultimately represented in their capital city Rome, sometimes too much chaos can be a bane to development, which brings us to No. 4 on the Rotten Salted Fish with Marinated Capsican Kimchi List


Pulau Pinang (aka Penang)...

It is with great reluctance again that i had to name Penang as my 4th most disliked cities for it was the first city that i had visitied overseas and it holds many memories, even up to this day. And thus it was sort of a reflex when the first city that i thought of visiting with my parents once i started working was that of Penang. I was so happy when i took the same old Grassland bus up the North-SOuth Highway and the stops along the way where i get to look at the familiar pirated Winnie the Pooh bear and the ever tempting milk bolster pillow which i had always wanted to buy but resisted because (erm.. i shall not elaborate too much)

Anyway, i was completely dumbfounded by the lack of development in the city area, especially when compared to the other states of Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Johore. It was like how i saw it 10 years ago, (or maybe even worse). The once magnificent Komtar was now a dilapidated building with little stalls here and there selling minute stuff. To make things worse, the buses had now completely took on a life of their own where drivers decide when and where they want to go, i.e there is totally no structured transport system around =/ The nice little areas where there used to be night markets selling all kinds of food was also reduced just a few stalls feeding off the mosquitoes. It can't get anymore worse it seems. Yes granted, there were a few mega malls here and there to cushion the shock and at least provided a few areas for shopping but all in all, it was really shocking for me to see how lack of development had happened to a place which promised so much to a child long ago. Thus, it is with a tinge of sadness that i had to list down Penang as number 4...