Properties from a feng shui perspective: Part 147
By David Koh and Joe Choo | July 1, 2010
Feng Shui: Upmarket Yarl Garden
Our tour of the Klang Valley returns to the vicinity of Overseas Union Garden (OUG), located off Old Klang Road. We mentioned previously that OUG was serviced by Jalan Awan Besar, which took a load off the previous access road, Jalan Hujan Emas.
Jalan Awan Besar also services the neighbouring Taman Yarl. It is quite normal for outsiders to mistake Taman Yarl as another part of OUG. We are not even sure if it makes that much of a difference. Access to this area is mostly via OUG and to a lesser extent, Taman Tan Yew Lai. (For Google map reference, please log on to http://maps.google.co.uk/ and search for “Kuala Lumpur”.)
Taman Yarl is actually a high-end neighbourhood, signified by a large number of detached properties. A number of them are custom-designed and built. Obviously, people who bought these properties started off wealthy.
To capitalise on this prestigious image, a number of condominiums were also developed in this housing area. These include Villa Banyan, Villa OUG, Green Park, Union Heights, Fortuna Court and OUG Heights. Taman Yarl roads are identifiable by the “Awan” prefix. That means Jalan Awan Besar is actually Taman Yarl’s access road, not OUG’s!
Jalan Awan Besar was connected to the Kesas highway in 2006 and has provided a very welcome passage for commuters travelling to Shah Alam, Klang, Cheras and Kuala Lumpur.
Dragon Claws
In our tour of OUG, we talked about “dragon claws” or a series of hill formations that forms a mini-range. One of these claws runs through OUG and splits into two smaller ranges at Jalan Awan Besar. These two claws veer away from each other to the south-west and north-west respectively. Taman Yarl and Taman Tan Yew Lai are located within this area.
 |
| View of the neighbourhood from a hill top. |
This landform poses some interesting situations for houses here. The roads are laid out to either follow the contour of the hills or the incline of the slope. Some of these roads are ridges that are higher than the houses on both sides. Some of these curve and bend to embrace houses on one side and elbow houses on the other side.
From a wider perspective, there are two rivers that form a confluence to the west. At the north-west side, there is the Klang River, which also happens to embrace this area in a concave. This embrace also covers Taman Kuchai and Kampung Bohol Baharu along Puchong Road. However, the river then bends away to form a convex against neighbouring Taman Sri Angkasa and Taman Sri Pandyan.
To the south, there is the Kuyoh River which runs westward along the Kesas Highway into a lake before crossing Puchong Road and the highway to join the Klang River. This creates a large confluence that encompasses Lucky, Tan Yew Lai, Sri Jati, Yarl and OUG Industrial parks. A river confluence is considered very good from an environology perspective because it can trap earth energy into a beneficial gentle and homogenous pool. Earth energy originates from the peak of mountains and flows downhill until it reaches a medium of different rigidity, such as water. This energy can travel up and over smaller mountains and hills.
Parabolic dish effect
When the energy reaches a riverbank, it is deflected and reflected along the edge. If the river is curved in an embrace, the energy rebounds and collects in a pool, much like how a parabolic dish concentrates waves. A river confluence does exactly the same thing – it naturally forms a gigantic embrace.
Properties that face a confluence are considered the most beneficial and conducive for success. Therefore in general, the ideal direction to face is west towards the confluence. East would be considered the least conducive. This is quite apparent if one were to drive around and observe the properties here, both houses and condominiums alike. However, this is subject to a few provisos.
These properties should have a high back and low front so that the flow of energy is in the right direction. A property that faces a hill before the river is actually on the wrong side of the hill – there is likely to be another river on that same side, behind that property!
Some properties are built on slopes, with stilts to prop them up. These are actually houses built at the base of a slope with the driveway on the top floor, and the houses still face uphill. This is considered very unconducive in environology. Such properties come face to face with oncoming earth energy which is very strong. Often, we come across a few of these houses abandoned by their owners and left in a dilapidated state. Some even look like haunted houses, possibly inhabited by bad spirits or bad hats.
If the property has a sideways slope, the effects are not as bad as having a high front. However, the sector where the ground is highest will benefit one member of the family while the member who corresponds to the lowest sector will fare poorly.
Brady bunch
Each sector of a house corresponds to a specific family member. Those of us old enough to remember The Brady Bunch TV programme will recall the opening credits with a 3x3 grid of eight family members with the maid, Alice, in the middle. North-west corresponds to the father; South-west, the mother; East, eldest son; North, middle son; North-east, youngest son; South-east, eldest daughter; South, middle daughter; West, youngest daughter.
Another factor to consider is the curvature of the roads. Roads are like rivers. They have a tendency to deflect and reflect earth energy as well, thanks to moving traffic, which also generates wind turbulence. Properties that face an embracing road are considered conducive while those on the elbow or convex side tend to fare poorly.
Several roads, such as Jalan Awan Cina, Jalan Awan Dandan, Jalan Awan Jawa, Jalan Awan Berarak, Jalan Awan Kerawang, Jalan Awan Kelarai, Jalan Awan Selimpat and Jalan Awan Gelugor have such bends. It is interesting to note that the OUG Club, set up as a recreation centre for the area, sits on two convexes formed by Jalan Awan Selimpat in front and Jalan Awan Gelugor behind. Furthermore, it faces uphill and has an easterly orientation which is directly opposite the river confluence.
We wonder if this quadruple-bad landform has anything to do with the club’s closure. The club offered some popular facilities. It had a swimming pool, basketball and tennis courts, and a Chinese restaurant. It was quite popular in its heyday.
Dead-end roads
Some of these roads are cul-de-sacs or dead-end roads. This is not an ideal landform as vehicular and human traffic cannot pass through to circulate human energy in the vicinity. Over time, the ends of cul-de-sacs tend to stagnate and the properties there would follow suit.
Another factor that can influence the state of properties is the presence of high tension power cables. As it so happens, such cables do run along the western perimeter of Taman Yarl. To be safe from the electromagnetic influence of such cables, properties should be at least 500 metres away.
Depending on the properties’ proximity to either the Klang or Kuyoh River, properties can also be oriented to face the closest river, if east is not available to them.
Taman Yarl is also home to several houses of worship. The Hare Krishna movement has its temple and headquarters at Jalan Awan Jawa. There is a Sri Sathya Sai Baba centre nearby, established in 2009. His Sanctuary of Glory church sits on a hill at Jalan Awan Berarak. There are also a few Chinese temples in the area.
Places of worship have an automatically immunity from landform environology. They are not affected because first, people usually do not live there (and those who do, do not and should not expect to become wealthy) and second, God does not need to conform to natural laws since He is the maker of these laws in the first place! Jalan Awan Berarak connects to Jalan 10a, which in turn links to Jalan Taman Tan Yew Lai. We will explore this housing area in our next article.
Note: This series on Feng Shui and real estate properties appears courtesy of the Malaysia Institute of Geomancy Sciences (MINGS). David Koh is the founder of MINGS and has been a Feng Shui master and teacher for the past 36 years.
Related stories by Master David Koh and Joe Choo:
|