Foreign Worker Dormitories

Laugh no more. It's real!

Foreign workers particularly from Bangladesh are now staying in commercial areas.

Investors who thought they can make big bucks renting out commercial premises were stuck with such units.

So, instead of leaving their units vacant, they decided to rent these units out to developers and contractors to house their workers on the cheap. In fact, such dormitories or workers hostels  are oftentimes near the site of work or the workers were bused in and out if it is a distant away.

Apart from Kota Damansara and other areas where the KL MRT project is slowly being implemented, Aman Perdana in Meru  is one such enclave for the housing of foreign workers.

These photos tells a million words.

Bused in and bused out

Sundry washings on the Stairways

24 Hours Sleep-in Beds

These are the shop-lots which you will pass as you drive into Aman Perdana. Things are dull during the day.

Then the workers come back in the evening from their factories and work-sites.

A hive of activity has just begun.

They played football and badminton on the road and interestingly like to play " Where is the Queen?" which is a sleigh of hand trick game.

Workers lived on the ground floors as well as the upper floors of the multiple shop-lots built just outside the guarded and gated elite residencies of  Aman Perdana.

Most of the 150 lots have been rented out to house these Bangladeshi workers. Their living conditions are less than conducive.

On the other hand, the Aman Perdana residents  mostly stay in bungalows and Semi-Ds with two lovely lakes running through their neighbourhood. Guards are  at stationed at entry and exit points and boom gates to ensure that visitors are checked before leaving the neighbourhood.

What a contrast!

TV Series-Post-mortem and Continuing Series

I have just watched a couple of US TV series which ended in April-May 2014.

I am watching another three series.

Let's talk about the first one.

Ragnar and Lagertha 

Vikings chronicled a band of sea marauders led by Ragnar Lothbrok who invaded the easterly coast of England such as Wessex. While it tends to be graphically violent and show that the early Vikings are blatant killers and sacrifice humans to their gods such as Odin and Thor, it still play on the familiar close family bonds and the conflicts with  other earls such as  Jarl Borg. It ended on a high note with the revenge on the back-stabbing King Horik. The next season will be worth watching to see the possible kingship of the protagonist of Ragnar and the machinations of King Ekbert in England. Travis Fimmel plays a coy Ragnar; Clive Standen, his courageous brother Rollo, George Blagden as Athelstan and Gustaf  Skargard as  Floki.  Katheryn Winnick plays the pretty heroine, Earl Lagertha, Alyssa Sutherland as Princess Aslaugh, Jessalyn Gilsig as ex an Earl's wife, Siggi and Gaia Weiss as the delectable Porunn.

Juliana Margulies as the adorable Alicia Florick

The Good Wife also ended a fortnight ago. While it had a good run for 4 seasons, the excitement sort of leveled off and maybe went down a wee bit after the sudden write off of Will from the series. Michael J Fox could not fill the gap nor was the other character, Finn played by Matthew Goode. The final episode saw a possible chance for Diane to run for Attorney General, Cary trying to stop the merger between Florrick Agos and and Lockhart-Garder, and the attempt to take control of Lockhart Gardner by David Lee and Louis Canning. For me, the Fifth Season is experimental and does not have a focus story line; playing on the periphery. It could be exciting if Diane takes on as Attorney General. Otherwise, it may just be the last season!

The current series that I am watching are Fargo and VEEP as well as watching the earlier two seasons of Hannibal. 

Icy  Death in the Snowy Grave

Fargo is tastefully done with Allison Tolman as the police women protagonist, Molly Solverson. The horrific portrayal of the arch-villain  Lorne Malvo by Billy Bob Thornton  is electrifying. Slow dialogue but well paced and getting more interesting as the new episodes rolled by.  Martin Freeman in the role of Lester Nygaard who set the story on fire is in all silliness, good. Death in the snow. Mafia in tow! Chillingly exciting TV series.

Selena Myers and the VP Office

VEEP tells the bungling efforts of the Office of the Vice President of America, Selina Meyers and her kooky office team as she takes on the other contenders for the post of the President of USA. Funnily stupid characters but do watch this series for the laughs as Julia Louis Dreyfus reinvents herself from one form of silliness to another as she changes hair-styles and bungles on her foreign missions and meetings with the Press. Supporting her are the pretty Anna Chlumsky as Amy and Reid Scott as failed campaign manager, Dan Egan.

Bon Appetit!

I am currently watching Hannibal Season 1 and the graphic depictions of crimes is superb, just like on the big screen. Mads Milkelsen  play the cannibalistic psychopath psychiatrist and his morbid taste for human organ gourmet. I think the story is getting better as the police pursues him. Great acting by Hugh Dancy as Will Graham, the visionary investigator who can re-enact crime-scenes with his special God-given qualities, Laurence Fishburne as the persistent Jack Crawford and Mads Milkelsen as Hannibal the Cannibal.