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.

A bit of TLCColourful

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.

Glorious petai

He was muttering away ....

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...

Nangka ....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.

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.

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.

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.

Cousin Adi and MuraliThe 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.

Somebody decided to take the bikeMore makanAnd talking about cameras of course ...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.

Ripi giving a briefing at the start of the walk .... in 360 degrees ...

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.

The Transition

In life, we tended to resist change. SJMC had just gone through one with the implementation of the computerised Hospital Management and Information System - dubbed the HMIS. I was on call on the moment of implementation - midnight on 1st October 2016 - but the system remained off line until I finished my shift. The moment it became online, the mayhem started.

The management decided to close all outpatient clinic - although some did not have the choice but to remain opened. I did not bother since it was my post-call morning and I have got the photo walk lined up. I came to join the party later on that afternoon after the fun subsided.

For the HMIS, the ward would also change their designated nameFor the ultra-kiasuThere were plenty of kinks over the weekend, but it was helped by the Monday off for Awal Muharram. It is the first day of full day since the implementation today. I still had my clinic closed since I would be in Hospital Ampang examining, away from it all …..

Since I was using the same system at Park City and Ara Damansara, I understood the problems, but my worry was not on my side, but on the network itself. Would it be able to handle the stress and the workload? We could only wait and pray …..

2am Webinar

One of the requirement of running a lab would be to accumulate enough CME points every year. One of my lab was due for renewal and the inspector from the US were scheduled to come in early November. They asked me to attend one webinar prior to the visit. The only problem was, it was beamed live from the US, which was due to start at 2 pm.

That would mean a 2am start for us here in Malaysia. You can asked questions at the end of the session through your microphone or just by typing. But by halfway through the second speakers, I started to nod off. The topic was so boring.

I tried coffee. But nope. That didn't work. As soon as session was done, I submitted the attendance log and went straight to bed. I couldn't remember much about what was discussed.

Overslept the next morning, but luckily it was a Thursday. I don't have any clinic scheduled.