Start with the Breakfast

The Gang of Four - myself, Ripi, Robin and Azul did Kampung Baru last Sunday. I was the last one to arrive and stood between them and our breakfast. Crowded but efficient. Despite the long queue, everybody was happy. With the tummy full, we then set off to explore the kampung, blessed by the great weather.

This is something we try to do at least once a month. For the next trip, we planned to hit Kajang, but unfortunately, I had plans for Langkawi that weekend.

You might also notice that I now prefer a square format to my photos. I find this format more flexible and reminiscent of the square medium format film snaps which I am keen to emulate with my Fuji GFX-100S.

The Fruit Market

The first port of call would be the fruit market. It was newly renovated and the whole place appeared new compared to the last time we came to visit.

According to the vendors, the new market had only been opened last July. They were nearly arranged in rows and very spacious. One thing that was very obvious was how clean the place was.

Fruits from Thailand. Guaranteed to be sweet.

Cute girl. Lending a helping hand.

I must confess that it had been a while since I had seen such fresh produce

Don't ask me why, but I thought that there were too many bananas around

The vendors were friendly and were smiling away. Some asked about what we were up to and we told them that it was a yearly thing that the get together for this sort of a hunt. Some of them were reluctant to have their photos taken, and we completely understood.

Petai. A national treasure.

Don't ask me what those were ....

The poor guy was talking to himself all morning ....

More fresh stock coming ....

Of course we didn't take pictures at the area which did some copied products. There were also a thriving business of gold-plating jewelleries around the place.

The fruits there were nice and fresh, much better compared to the local supermarkets. No durians though. Those were sold outside the market..

More fruits ...

For something completely different ....

I could name a few of those items .... but don't ask me what they were ....

Nangka. And they were delicious ....

The lights in there was fantastic. The new building allowed for natural lights to enter from high above, all at an angle giving nice, soft light. It was still early afternoon and it didn't feel warm. A perfect place to do photography. Shame that I didn't have a telephoto lens with me at the time.

The Route

The route this time around was straight forward although the catch was the point and the end were different. They were about a couple of kilometers apart.

Putu anybody?

Having a good look around

The back alley

Jalur Gemilang

We met at Shazz Restaurant, a Mamak outlet behind the old Batu Road. The scheduled meet up was 8.30 for breakfast before setting off at 9. Luckily I made it just in time.

After the briefing and if course the group photo, we went through Chow Kit market. We first entered the dry part which was recently opened after renovation. Excellent lights in there and that formed the bulk of the walk.

Promotion

Clinic by the alley

Moving along

Haircut?

Comfy shoes

We then exited the market via the older wet part where things could get messy. We then walked towards Safuan Plaza on the other end, before joining Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman proper towards Maju Junction, passing by a few restaurants.

My group stopped for some food at Capital Café, opposite Sogo before turning left towards the end point at Semua House. Again some of us had biryani but I gave that a miss after having a drink at the last stop.

Well lit for those on the look out

All in red

Time to rest ...

After lunch, I walked through Masjid India to take the LRT at the Masjid Jamek stop to get to my car parked at Nu Sentral.

Meeting the Gang

Group photowalks usually served a couple of purposes. The first was very obvious. To relief the craving most keen photographers had, to shoot. Certain quarters of town were also rather unsafe to be ventured alone. A small group would be better and what was better was if some members of the groups were familiar with the surroundings. We could then concentrate on what to shoot and felt safe in a group.

Making sure that the shot was in the bag

Murali and Adi discussing where to head to next ....

The second was to meet up with all friends. And the recent Scott Kelby photowalk certainly offered that as some of the group members only met each other once a year. And when we meet, we eat. More on that later ....

The combination of the two was the reason why every year I made plans - including cancelling clinics - to join up.

This year, the event happened last weekend. About 50 photographers turned up in our group - there was another group meeting at the other side of town. We met at Chow Kit, and we plotted a route from there, through he famous market to end at Masjid India.

Ever conscious of the environment ..... since he got the bike a month prior

Having a meal at the end point

Only the hardcore left ....

Being a post-call day, I did not plan to be adventurous. I started my rounds early, parked my car at Nu Sentral and took the Monorel to join up with the group in Chow Kit at a mamak shop for breakfast.

A group photo and briefing ensued before the main group left for the market. I stayed back with a couple of friends to have some food before walking into the market.

Semua House

I was sure that I have written about this place before. It used to be the heartbeat of Masjid India and Jalan Bunus in the 80s. This, plus the Campbell Complex not far behind were the place to be, before walking further down towards Pertama Complex. Those were the time before SOGO and Maju Junction been built.

There were also only the locals and Indian Moslems running the business there. Nowadays, Semua House and the surrounding area were filled up by Indonesian, and I was sure that before long, maybe the Bangladeshis and Nepalis. They far outnumbered the locals nowadays. The business might be owned by the locals, but certainly the sales staff weren't from around here.

The entrance  

Not many novelty shops left

While quite a number of the upper floor shops were left vacant

Nothing much going on at the main lobby either  

The main tenants there seemed to be specialty shops for Malay wedding. Plenty of tepak sirih, stuff for the pelamin as well as wardrobes were on the second floor. Other than that, there were nothing special. Plenty of shop lots were closed for rent, and there were not much activities going on in the inside. There were more things happening in the surrounding area.

I reckoned the business had been siphoned away to the nearby bigger malls - SOGO and Jakel Mall included. I think the days of Semua House were numbered.