Malaysia, Mar 26:
Wendy Noble lives 15 minutes away from Malaysia’s Forest City, across the border in Singapore. One
Friday, after a tiring week at graduate school, all the 25-year-old wanted was to lounge by a beach.
A quick scroll through online photos of a pristine beach and luxurious golf resort inspired her and her
roommate Ree Nemis to head to Forest City the following day.
Country Garden, the largest developer in China, spent $100 billion building Forest City. The developer
promoted it as a “living paradise” meant to house 700,000 people in luxury high-rise condominiums and
villas.
The reality turned out to be different. Instead, it’s now one of Southeast Asia’s most prominent ghost
towns. Rows of skyscrapers make way to an empty beach. Roads that stretched for miles didn’t have a
single car on them. The nearby hotel looked abandoned, with dragonflies breeding in the discolored
swimming pool.
“My first impression was that it was quiet and only very few people were there,” Noble said.
