Best of Putrajaya: The one Ringgit Tour

How far can your one ringgit go? Whenever friends came to visit Malaysia, I never failed to bring them to Putrajaya and I realized I haven’t written about Putrajaya City Tour yet. So let me tell you what our tour guide Mohammad Zen told us during the tour. Putrajaya means successful Prince and it is named in honor of their first Prime Minister Abdul Rahman Putra. According to him, they referred Putrajaya as a City in a garden because of its wonderful landscape roads, parks, man-made lakes, architectural style buildings and flowers bloom in any corner of the city. Putrajaya is used to be a remote area where oil palm trees grow and it is said that it was once home of the cobras thus making their electric poles look like a shape of a cobra. All of the lakes in the city are all man-made; it was designed to be a climate moderator of the city. One can take lake cruises to see Putrajaya on a different view. They also have their own version of Gondolas.

There are eight signature bridges in the city; one of them is the Putra Bridge which is similar to Ahvaz Bridge in Iran, also the most relevant Bridge which connects the Mixed Development Precinct and the Government Precinct. It is amazing how it is being light up at night. We also visited another bridge called Seri Gemilang Bridge to which they built with the concept of Alexander Bridge in Paris.

Our first stop was Putra Square where the magnificent Perdana Putra lies and the floating Pink Putra Mosque stands out. The area was overwhelming with nearby attractions to Seri Wawasan Bridge, Putra Bridge and overlooking to the lake where cruises and their own version of Gondolas were canoeing. This area shouldn’t be missed when visiting Putrajaya.

Putrajaya has 12 parks. One can marvel from wetland, botanical or even agricultural parks. During our tour, Zen told us everything there is in Putrajaya, he talked about Hospitals, busses, ministries, buildings, food, education, too many to mention and even future developments in the city. He brought us to Medan Tani Agriculture Square where we had our snacks. There he showed us a lot of herbal plants like Dahon Sambong Yawa which is good to the health and will have longer life. He also introduced us the peppermint leave called Sireh which during old time’s people eat the leaves while having tobacco. It is said that Sireh is good for the body. We even tasted it and it taste good. Before we had our merienda, he showed us some durian plant and mango which is a moderate fruit with thin seed and is really sweet in taste. The place was packed with food stalls which offers good Malay food. One can choose from From Tea tarik to ABC (also like halo halo in our home country). We had beef and chicken satay at Warisan Sate to which they served amazing Satay and cost 70 cents per stick only. The Taman Botani is along the area only however we cannot go inside to check it out because it would take us an hour or so. Zen said it would be a great opportunity if you love plants or if you are a botanist to check out the place.

The skies were grey but we still embarked on a great journey around Putrajaya. We traversed along the Science of Ministry Building. It’s a nice green and diamond cut building and is 80% made of glass. Not too far from the Science building were the three buildings which look like spaceships. Didn’t really pay attention what those buildings are called because I was too busy staring at those amazing structures. I like the styles of their buildings. Truly Putrajaya takes pride of their architectural fashion.

We checked out the house of the Prime Minister unfortunately we were not allowed to enter as you need to set an appointment online first. One can just peek at the gate and see how marvelous the house is. We then headed to the Ministry of Justice; the style is similar to Taj Mahal in Agra and just across the ministry is the Perdanan Putrajaya Complex. What a great view it was! Again the structures of the buildings never botched to astound me. We roamed around Putrajaya again and Zen said there are also properties and land for sale. Their cemetery is mixed with Malay, Chinese-Malay and Indian-Malay. I can see only few people with their mountain bikes that go around the hills. The bungalows can be rented by civil servants for only 150-300 RM and also the clinics are free for them and a nominal fee for foreigners. I think the best thing I heard from Zen was the Anti-corruption department. I am just amazed that Malaysia has this Anti Corruption Ministry. You can see the developments and they’re even constructing a new Monorail to KL which is really good news. Zen said it will be near Putra Square within 2 – 3 years later. Also he pointed out that there is equestrian competition and Hot Air Balloon event in Putrajaya every year. This year Hot Air Balloon will be held on 28th – 31st of March. So if you happened to be in Malaysia in those dates you might as well try the Putrajaya tour and witness the Hot Air Balloon Festival.

We headed to Putrajaya International Convention unfortunately were not allowed to enter but the view from the PICC was amazing! The panoramic view of Putrajaya was indeed spectacular. From up there, we saw everything, the bridges, the lakes, the mosque and the Office of the Prime Minister located in the heart of Putrajaya. Such an enormous view for one ringgit.

It was supposed to be a 2 hour tour but guess what, it lasted almost 4 hours! I did this tour twice already and it has always been like this, and the price cmon, what can you get for 1 ringgit nowadays? It was incredible! I don’t mind doing this every now and then especially if I have friends and relatives visiting Malaysia. We covered almost every corner of Putrajaya, I’d leave the pictures for you to see, who knows you may want to visit Putrajaya one of these days. So here are the rest of the photos from the Putrajaya tour in no particular order.

How to get there?

By Train:
From KL, Take KLIA Express Train from KL Sentral to Putrajaya Sentral. Look for “The Best of Putrajaya Tour” booth and register yourself. The tour is available during Saturdays and Sundays only. Every 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM. make sure to be there 30 minutes before the tour starts. You will pay the one ringgit to the driver. Make sure you have exact fare.

By Bus:
From Kota Raya, Walked till you reached the back of Mydin and catch E1 bus to Putrajaya Sentral. Bus leave every 30 minutes. Once in Putrajaya Sentral, you need to go to second floor and locate the Best of Putrajaya tour and follow the instructions above.