Unlike many cities in the world, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur chose to build their mass transit trains ABOVE ground. For good reason I feel.

Why would you …

… in a climate where the temperature under shade is a constant 25˚C whole year round with wide-open highways ripe for stacking layers of freeways above …

… want to waste time shoving something underground??

No air-conditioning + no digging = lots of money saved !!

Of course, the trade off is the Blade Runner set you see above.

But … Menacing Concrete Jungle vs. Slick Sci-Fi Metropolis … take your Distopian/Utopian slant !!

Siam Square is not really a square, but a freak-load of shopping malls lining a boulevard of Asian consumerist indulgence (like Singapore’s Orchard Road, or Tokyo’s Ginza, and et cetera). Again, take your slant.

I used to be terrified at the prospect of more and more hyper massive impersonal shopping labyrinths. But having stayed in laid back Sydney for so long – I really miss the high energy 24/7 buzz in Asian malls, with wide open spaces in between to chill or meet people.

I mean WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEE open spaces.

Or if you’re still conservative, there’re still plenty of ultra claustrophobic people-packed venues! All in the name of more Shopping, Socialising & Eating!!

Ahhh, the wonderful paradoxes of my Asian compatriots …