I’ve always wanted to see Italy after hearing how beautiful it is. Tops of my list was, of course, Venice, the beautiful water city. Somehow Venice conjures up romantic images of gondolas, running waters (minus the sewer smell!) and quaint little buildings with waters lapping against the bottom steps.
Well, I haven’t saved up enough for Venice yet but last night, got the chance to experience our own Little Venice right here in Kay El City!
Look at the beauty of the Twin Towers with the gentle lapping of waves and water against her base!
Or the breath-taking scene of the court houses at Dataran Merdeka mirrored in the ankle-deep waters that washed over the road.
And where Venice has beautiful and romantic gondolas, it’s okay, we shall be a little bit more kiasu and use cars! Our very own national Proton car on top of that! Now, don’t say that Proton cars aren’t much good, they swim too!
Yep, heavy rains last night turned our city into a Little Venice with the rivers straining at its banks and the “not-so-SMART” tunnel jammed for hours. Oh but you see, the SMART tunnel was launched without its flood mitigation system completed yet so any floods aren’t really their fault, at all. Apparently some areas in Dang Wangi was 10m deep in waters while cars parked under Dataran Merdeka had a repeat of that horror flood several years back. Banks were flooded out, definitely “liquidating” its assets!
So while I’m contemplating getting flood insurance next, do continue to smile and welcome our foreign guests. It is, after all, Visit Malaysia Year. We simply forgot to tell them it’s a 2-in-1 holiday with the fun experience of Little Venice throw in…for free!
*pictures courtesy of The Star*
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
bwahaha… you didn’t mention we saw it all up close after sitting in a car and jam for 2 hours! And they made all that noise about the melaka river and sampans in front of the Twin Towers in Entrapment. Art imitating life perhaps?
Pinkelle says: Oh yeah…cos I fell asleep half way
They should have seen that scene from Entrapment coming, especially with the no-so-Smart tunnel!
Cis! I kena tipu! :p
I was in Venice this time.. 2 years ago. I love the quaint little shops & the gondola ride. But always watch out for gypsies (pick-pockets).
Pinkelle says: Hehe
Here we also have floating cars and pickpockets! 
Not so SMART rates are going to be announced in a day or two. *Sigh*
Pinkelle says: It’s RM2 to drive through a flood-infested tunnel only to come out into an hour-long jam on the other end! Is it worth it?!
Haha!! I supposed you could make-believe the waterlogged cars were all gondolas? And every driver was wearing a blue and white striped jersey?
Pinkelle says: We even have the brown water and sewer smell of Venice in summer!
Not to mention the mud!
Wowee… PE & PB got caught in jam last week and this week too? Once again, I got home just before the first fat raindrops fell… Teeheehee!
Instead of greeting foreign tourists with kompang, why not greet them with umbrellas and lifevests? Just in case it rains while they are here…
Pinkelle says: Yeah, we’ve been really “lucky”! Good that you made it home before the drama started. Btw, good idea! We should propose that to the Tourism Ministry!
10m?? Betul ka? 10m would leave most of KL submerged.
Pinkelle says: *runs away and hides* Erm…maybe it was 1m. Heh…my eyes must have seen it wrongly
all that’s missing are a few sampans, hor? lol! actually, I shouldn’t laugh. it was declared a natural disaster over the weekend here when rain and flood claimed 9 lives… *sad* so cham, so cham…
Pinkelle says: This time round, they hadn’t brought out the sampans! A couple of years ago, they did, right against the backdrop of KLCC! I read about that “worst storm in 30 years” in Sydney! Very cham…what’s the world coming to?!
Yup, this morning is muddy all over :p
Pinkelle says: Welcome, Cely! Really? I didn’t go into the city but I read about some cars that were caught in the basement of Concorde Hotel. Very suey….
Waah… no joke… and over here where I live. we are almost gasping for rain…
Pinkelle says: Welcome! Really?! *sends rainclouds over*
Wow…that bad huh? But on the bright side, the 1st 2 pictures are absolutely stunning.
Pinkelle says: It was! Pictures are courtesy of the The Star
Tried to wind down to take some pictures but the rain kept lashing in! The things we do for our blogs 
RM2 plus flood, no thanks. I’d sit in the jam for free
Plus the road surface in the SMART is not very run-flat-tyres friendly 
(
PE says: Really? I didn’t hear about the roads but I did hear that driving through it is rather claustrophobic!
hmmm.. perhaps SMART tunnel only cover flood in the tunnel?
PE says: Welcome, Davors! I dunno but when I read yesterday in the papers that 95% of the flood that happened could have been avoided by the SMART flood mitigation system, it didn’t make much sense why they wouldn’t make launching that a priority!
Surgeon Vet’s General Warning to the Malaysian Public: Do not ever attempt flooded waters on our roads, however shallow they may seem! Better safe and late than sorry, inconvenienced and broke!
LOL!! Great job!!! Actually we are quite lucky to get the best of both world isn’t it? Who said Malaysia going to face drought in future? LOL!!
PE says: Hello again, Pea
Back from M-I-C-K-E-Y! Yeah it’s quite odd huh…normally it’s haze season at this time of the year! So now in Malaysia we have 4 seasons too – dry, rainy, hazey and flood!
Talk about being positive, girl! Must check savings to see if can buy a motorboat to get to work.
PE says: Hello LL!
Yeah…that’s the best way to get around the city now!