One of the issues I am currently writing about, and that I will include in the current project, is the way that parts of the cities, of the built-environment, in Kota Bharu and Kuala Terengganu, are dying, or left to decay. This death and dying, and what is probably wilful neglect, or considered unimportant, is apparent across much of the world, to be sure and is often left to gentrification.
The most striking example is of Bukit Puteri overlooking the Terengganu Estuary. The historical (and architectural) significance of the building on Bukit Puteri has been allowed to recede into the background of the city. I will expand on this history, and properly situate the structures of Bukit Puteri in my work. In the meantime, the building has been left to decay.
The decay and neglect is apparent elsewhere in Kuala Terengganu. The picture below was made on the main road that runs through Kampung Cina, where great effort has been made to make the area more attractive – especially to tourists.
Some of the alleys that link Kampung Cina with the waterfront have been updated, thematically, to make the area more attractive for visitors. Turtle Alley one of the better known developments.
While the finished product will not include any of the (many) images I have made up and down the Malaysian peninsula, images, in general, can help the reader through the text, and help support some of the claims or observations made in the text. For instance, when I made notes about gender-separation in cinemas in Kuala Terengganu, it struck me that I may be able to write about it, but the reader would have only my word. So, it took a stroll to the mall and made a picture of the box office at a theatre.
