Tag: township

Lembah Beringin – Part 4

Lembah Beringin – Part 4

Welcome To Lembah Beringin.

Neatly cut and coiffured grass is flanked by tall unruly lalang weed. The abandoned security guard post is falling apart but is surrounded by tidy, well swept roads.

The sparkling sign must have been recently cleaned and washed too. Right behind are the dilapidated and empty homes. I like the deceiving sunny disposition captured. Tina Turner’s Nutbush City Limits kept playing in my mind.

Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 200, f9, 1/400 sec.

#documentaryphotography #urbex #abandoned #urbandecay #dilapidated #landscape #lembahberingin #desolation #ruin #selangor #township

Lembah Beringin – Part 3

After The Signpost.

Arriving from Kerling, the visitor is greeted by ruins immediately after a sign that marks the town of Lembah Beringin.

Rows and rows of brutal abandonment hit you in the face. I am not sure if the houses were were even completed. Many such properties have their metal fittings such as windows, door grills, plumbing and electrical wiring stolen or stripped. A group of scrap metal collectors (besi burok) guys descended like a swarm of locusts eating everything its way.

Have a friend who bought two such houses dirt cheap in a fire sale. He was thinking it was a deal that cannot go wrong. Cash and carry. No loans needed. Little did he expect to be paying migrant workers to stay there. The paid tenants help deter theft, vandalism and further ruination. Tragic, right?

Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 200, f8, 1/400 sec.

#urbex #abandoned #urbandecay #dilapidated #landscape #lembahberingin #desolation #ruin #selangor #township

Lembah Beringin – Part 2

Make Yourself At Home.

I’ll say Lembah Beringin as there were many little silent side roads that were like traps. It lead to nowhere and you need to reverse walk or drive to get out.

Sometimes the lonely road leads to something bizarre. Like as if dilapidated and empty houses weren’t enough, there is a set of discarded sofa and mattresses waiting for guests here.

Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 200, f9, 1/400 sec.

#urbex #abandoned #urbandecay #dilapidated #landscape #lembahberingin #sofa #mattress #selangor #township

Lembah Beringin – Part 1

Shattered Dreams.

I can still remember my friend Leonard Tan singing the television and radio jingle ‘What A Wonderful World’ in a faux gravelly Louis Armstrong voice. That was in the 90s when the township was heavily promoted. Today the township is filled with moldy, empty houses under skies of blue and clouds of white.

Many parts are like a ghost town and some people even called it a Chernobyl. It is a disaster for the buyers stuck with homes that are now not only in limbo but in ruins.

I will try to discuss its failure as I explore and examine the township deeper for this new photo essay series. Only problem was; there were so few people living there who I can talk to. For many of the early, hopeful buyers and investors, it turned out to be shattered dreams as they are now saddled with properties they find difficult to sell or rent out.

The only positive for me, if compared to Bukit Beruntung, was there were NO heartbreaking sightings of abandoned dogs and puppies living alone here.

Shattered glass window as seen from the inside of the abandoned guard post leading to the golf club. Coincidentally, Shattered Dreams was a hit for Johnny Hates Jazz in the 90s.

Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 200, f11, 1/200 sec.

#urbex #abandoned #urbandecay #dilapidated #landscape #documentaryphotography #lembahberingin #glass #selangor #township

RGB – Red Green Blue

A red hibiscus in front of the blue mosque in Bandar Behrang 2020.

Lofty name notwithstanding, Behrang 2020 is one big housing estate that is as drab as the weather today. From a photography perspective, it is as boring as any such planned township can get.

Maybe I expected more from the name. Fortunately, the mosque, religious school and flowers at the entrance added some colours.

From here, I will be moving north again, after spending considerable time at Behrang town and villages. Those old places possess an ingredient that is usually missing in a systematically created town: character.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f4, 1/2000 sec.