Labour Day

After staying low for almost a month, I decided to take my camera out and have a quick meal outside. It was a public holiday and after my ward round I decided to venture out.

Jo Malone is in the house

The always changing facade

The bubble merchant 

I fancied some Arab food. Some kebab. But unfortunately the place were not run by anyone from the Middle East anymore. In fact not a single one of the staff there were Arab. All of them were Bangladeshi. But I assumed that being a Labour Day, the usual workers got their day off!

Watch on by ...

And then came the rain ...

Waiting it out

Any how, the meal was a disaster. Some slices of kebab meat in a pitta bread rolled with some potato fries in them! This lot was really creative!

Looking out from the inside ...

The monochrome feature from the P10 can do wonderous things ...

Leaving the shop unimpressed, I walked around Bukit Bintang quietly, and soon after to started to rain .... Enough for the short outing! Time to get some shelters ...

Snaps of Jonker

An Old World Charm. The colonials meets Peranakan. The fusion of the East and the West. That was what the Straits Settlements had in common. It was a theme we could explore in all three areas. Penang, Malacca and Singapore. They have this row of house and dare I say a different ways of living their lives. Seemed that the modern era effected them in a special way, to only enrich their culture rather than change too much with the time.

From the rows of colourful cafes, the warmth of the locals - apart from the obvious fact that the local merchants were now replaced by the foreigners - the brightly painted shop facade, the laid back eateries and bed and breakfast littering the town. It all added to the potpourri of feelings you had when you visit the City. And there were gems to be found in unexpected corners if you dare to explore. Be it a specialty shop or a rustic restaurant. Just bring your camera along and pray for great weather.

I had the same feeling when I travel to Penang as well but somehow things moved at a faster pace there. Here, it was more easygoing, although weekends were nightmares. Too many people. Too many cars. Driving into Bandar Melaka can be an ordeal.

But if you were willing to spend a couple of nights - better still at the charming bed and breakfast they had around Jonker - you could absorb the charm as they come. And that was a good thing.

Traveling there for a day trip really fit not make justice to the city. After negotiating the hundreds of traffic lights from Ayer Keroh where you exit the highway and finding a parking spot in town, you could only afford a few hours walking around before it was time to go again.

We plan to spend a night here in the future. And really explore the place .....

Rags to Riches

RUANG - which was the Urbanscapes House from last year was fast becoming a hub for the creative lot in the middle of the city. The location was great, it had ample space and very accessible made the place an ideal setting for exhibits and events.

This weekend, I was able to catch a photo exhibit hosted by Kenny Loh and Born in Malaysia at the second floor of the venue. It was the final day of the event and Kenny himself was there to welcome the visitors. I spent close to half an hour looking through the photos and they were certainly eye openers.

Ample space and great lighting

It was basically an exhibit about the lives the immigrants in the KL inner city, how they cope with life hear, their struggles behind the scene. Each photos carry its own story, some happy, plenty are sad but fascinating none the less.

KL was becoming a hotpot of South and Southeast Asia, with he evidence being obvious everywhere. The city was fast becoming divided into quarters with each migrant population occupying their own space, displacing the locals essentially. The days when we congregated at Kota Raya and Puduraya were long gone now. There were now the territories of the Filipinos, where they congregate each weekends at the nearby church. The Nepalese were now occupying Medan Pasar. Bangladeshis and Indonesian had also established their hub.

In the next generation, the current locals may be displaced out of the inner city at the current rate. The stories and pictures just illustrated how those migrants struggled here as well as some success stories in the mix. Most of them were here to make an honest living, and I second them. My worries were the Africans who were similarly making inroads to the capital, mainly occupying the suburbs. There brought with them their own cultures and problem ....

The exhibits were well thought off and I would definitely be coming back should another instalment of the series came to fruition. I must admit that one of the photos brought tears to my eyes. It featured a Chinese family business about to be closed down as time evolved. It was originally opened by a migrant whose children had since called Malaysia their home. The shop were finally closed after being in business for a century. I snapped that particular passage below ....

I was lucky to make it back to the LRT station before it started pouring ...

Kenny alerted me that it was about to rain outside when I said goodbye, good luck and looking forward to more to come. I made it to the LRT station just in time before the rain fell ... A great Saturday afternoon it was ....

The Lone Droner

The weather on the two afternoons we were in PD was great. And the tides were high before sunset when we went to the beach. That made for some nice strong waves and great condition to hit the sea. The boys certainly enjoyed it.

The warm sun contrasted well with the cool sea water - sunscreen needed of course. Once you got in, you felt like staying in all day since to was really nice and refreshing in the water. The great breeze also was an added bonus.

But somebody had to fly the drone. Despite the heavy breeze, the drone held its position well and flying was not a problem at all.

I managed to get some great 4K footage and the customary photographs as well. Unfortunately there were clouds on the horizon, hence I was not able to get the red sunset as the sun kiss the horizon. I was happy enough however.

I brought the drone out on both afternoons and managed to fill up my memory card. Good thing I brought the charger along, otherwise I would be out of juice by the end of the first afternoon.

Now came the part of doing editing on those huge 4K files ..... That could wait I supposed ....

Day Trip to Melaka

We reached Melaka just before 11, stopping for breakfast in Nilai R&R and was treated to some delightful nasi lemak at one of the stalls. We didn’t realise how gorgeous it was. Traffic was a breeze and we could’ve reached Dataran Pahlawan much earlier if not for the crazy number of traffic lights between Ayer Keroh and Bandar Melaka. It was borderline ridiculous!

Parked our car, and then walked to Jonker Street. Anita was more interested to explore the nice little hotels and B&B they had scattered around the area. None of which actually offered much parking spot! I snapped the photos away and the weather was really great. In fact it was too warm and we decided to have an early lunch and rehydrate ourselves.

We couldn’t find many outlets around there that we were sure as Halal, so we settled for the comfort of Hard Rock Cafe. While we were dining and enjoying the drinks, we heard some thunder coming from outside.

We couldn’t believe it! It was raining cats and dogs. And that went on until about 2 pm. It was still drizzling after that. We had a choice to make then. Should we brave the drizzle and go deeper into Jonker Street taking the risk that it may be raining heavier later. Or head back to the car and enjoy a quiet drive back to KL.

We decided for the latter, and drove past Sungai Udang - towards the entrance of Kem Terendak. We stopped at Klebang along the way for a touch of coconut shake. No time to break at Sungai Udang as Idlan had called my handphone as soon as arrived home!

The traffic coming back was heavier as it started raining when we reached Sungai Besi. A nice outing, but shame about the rain though. We could’ve spend a bit more time looking at stuffs for the apartment .... May be next time!

Stop at MATIC

“Interpretasi Hitam Putih Jalanan”. That was the title. Enough to intrigue me and on the sunny Saturday afternoon, I decided to go and have a look.

It was a local exhibition on street photography, all in glorious black and white featuring local photographers with a number of international contributors. Well curated and well presented. The venue was MATIC, in a purpose-built room ideal with such exhibition with plenty of natural lights and cool ambiance.

I found some of the featured photos intriguing and at the same time familiar. There were plenty of KL flavours in them and some of the landmarks were easily recognisable. Certainly the theme being black and white, made the photos contrasty and gripping. I always preferred narration and again I struggled to grasp the overall direction of the exhibit. But that does not mean that I did not enjoy what was on show.

I wished that the exhibition was better publicised. I only learned of it from Facebook. There was no dedicated website, and the mention on the MATIC webpage was only nominal. The exhibit will go on until until the end on the month - 30 March 2017 - and it was certainly worth a visit.

Parking was an issue if you were driving. I got duped into paying RM10 as I was told that I was using a private parking. To encourage local visitors, they could have made the parking cheaper at least. Usually I would’ve parked at KLCC and walked, but with Anita coming along, it was too much of an ask for her to walk across. Again, local authorities conspired to make those who wanted to explore KL that much more challenging ...

Sunny Walk

My favourite kind of Sunday would be when I was not on call, it rained early in the morning, and then the cloud cleared up by midmorning, in time for me to finish my rounds. From then on, it would be sunny all day, capped off with gorgeous sunset and serene blue hour!

Congregating

Where to park?

The archway

Masih ada "Ruang"?

They were few and far in between but I had such a Sunday recently. So, I decided to bring my gear out and just walk around town.

Sundays in the centre of town nowadays felt like you were being transported to another realm. The area around Central Market were filled with foreigners enjoying their day off work and truth be told. It could be off-putting and intimidating. This was especially so when they appeared in such large group. You often fear for your safety and walking alone, I do not fell safe carrying my expensive cameras anymore.

Across to Central Market

Golden reflection

Under the shade

Inner city life

But my Ricoh GR was no slouch and I was able to snap around without much notice. It would have been nice if I could have hooked up with a few mates ....

New Year Lunch

The New Year started with a great win for United last night. Although it was only Middlesborough, the manner in which we came from behind to clinch the match in the final 5 minutes was reminiscent of the Ferguson era. And it was fitting as the great Sir was in the stands celebrating his 75th birthday.

The ward round came next after which I drove straight into town to sort my monthly credit card payment. I was surprised to see the new addition to Pavilion had already been opened. Now, you could walk straight from the new extension called "Connection" via an underground tunnel to Fahrenheit across the road. Great plan. If only another extension could be made straight to the new MRT line. That would really take the cake!

Getting my order ready

It was calm and quiet in there despite people walking about around us

On my way back to my car, I stopped for lunch at one of the Arab cafe there, watching people passing by in the great weather. Not a bad spot. Before I leave, I took the chance to explore the new extension, which I would blog about soon. Suffice to say, I did more exploration than I planned. Since I had already booked a trip for the haircut with the boys later, I couldn't hang around for too long.

I was lucky that I came to Pavilion early as the carpark was really packed at the time I was leaving with a long queue forming outside. I guessed everybody was up for some shopping ....

The photos were taken using my Huawei P9