4/2 Forest City

Michael had made a joking mention of buying a place in Forest City because it was so cheap!  So this somehow became our last stop of the tour with Henry. 

I have mentioned before that the Chinese have invested a lot of money into Malaysia.  Until the Chinese government put a stop to money going out of China.  Forest City is Chinese funded and is built quite a ways from Johor Bahru.  The plan was to build 5 islands - so far one is done.  Nobody really wants to live way out here - especially if they work in JB.  So many of the buildings remain sparsely populated.  They are trying a lot of incentives - like lower taxes, much reduced housing costs and more amenities.  

The apartment complex we are staying in was built with Chinese money.  There is another big apartment complex being built next to ours.  In fact that is the view we have out of our windows.  But money is tight and most of the projects have grown to a halt or working with skeleton crews.

This is a real view as we drove towards the sales office.

Once inside the huge sales office you can see how ambitious the project was to be.

We are practically the only people in the sales building

Looking out the window I saw this beautiful very large pool - with no one in it.

Photo of ceiling.

Map of final project.

Real photo taken from front of sales building toward actual buildings.  It is beautifully landscaped.

We got back to our apartments hot and exhausted.  People wanted to rest before heading out to find something to eat.  After 40 minutes later, we headed out to the eating street near us.  The plan was to try one of the restaurants outside of the mall.  Everyone was so tired and hungry that no one could make a decision.  Lia did want a hamburger - but no one else did.  We finally just sat down at the closest restaurant and ordered.  No one was particularly happy with their meal.  I ended up getting a steamed fish which took forever.  We were about to leave just as it arrived.  It actually was very good - but mostly bones and nothing else served with it.  I had tasted many other's meals so was content to share the fish to all who wanted bites.  We stopped at a stand that sold hamburgers on the way back.  When Lia got it - it looked strange.  She tasted it and handed it off.  A few others tasted it and declared it to be mystery meat - then it was trashed.     Then we all went back and hit the beds!