The 500px Route

The instructions were given. The group photos were posed. Breakfast was done. So, it was time to get on with the walk. So, how was the route?

Put it this way, if I was the one organising the walk, I would've picked this particular one. To put it mildly, it was uninspiring. It was basically one round loop, with clear instructions to only venture off once we met up at the end of the formal walk. I could have finished the route in 30 minutes, and we had close to 4 hours before the designated rendezvous. Too much time to kill.

So, I explored MaTIC itself for a start. Neat colonial building and this early in the morning, there was hardly anything happening there.

I then took a left along Jalan Ampang to the Jalan Sultan Ismail turn opposite Renaissance Hotel. A bit of street work, building site and architecture. The Bukit Nanas Monorel Station had a bit of colour.

Next up, we walked along Jalan Sultan Ismail, passing by Hard Rock Cafe and did an anti-clockwise turn joining Jalan P Ramlee walking towards KLCC passing by a few more buildings.

The whole group then congregated by Laman Standard Chartered, a nice little piece of greenary smack in the middle of town next to KLCC. First time discovering this place, it was actually quite nice and tranquil.

We then noticed that the air quality dropped and the haze started coming in. I escaped towards Suria KLCC, with the plan to have a quick cup of coffee. I walked towards the famous fountain at KLCC Park and the visibility had dropped considerably by then.

Since I parked the car there, I decided to split and drove home. Might as well spend the rest of the morning with the family. There would be another photowalk coming next weekend, so I might as well just safe my energy for that one ...

The combination of uninspired route, poor air quality and too big a crowd put me off in the end, but it didn't mean that it was the fault of the organiser. I was sure that they did their best. I route around Bukit Bintang, Chow Kit, Masjid India or Kampung Baharu would have been better I guessed. Looking at the snaps, it wasn't that bad. And photography was all about creativity. The real talent was making a scene appeared inspired. After all, anybody could pick up a camera and press the shutter!

Stylist House Call

Since they were little, the boys had always been fond of a single hair stylist when it came to haircut. And this "Uncle Truno", happened to be an ex-schoolmate of one of our buddies. Over the years, he had moved on from one saloon to another, and at the moment, he was in between jobs and he had just quit one before Xmas.

I found out that he had left when I called into the last place he was working at after Xmas and was told that he was no longer there. The school term was around the corner and the boys absolutely refused to let anybody else touch their hair. So, we had to call their "Uncle Truno".

He answered and he was more than happy to come over to the apartment to give the boys a nice trim.

I just had my cut at the mamak last week, so I was fine. Anita wanted a quick fringe and Truno just sorted out all three. He even arranged his own taxi to get in and out our apartment! It was definitely worth it!

Hopefully he would get a place to work soon as to be honest, he is a great stylist. He used to work in the US for close to 10 years before deciding to return home for family reasons.

Day Off

The original plan was to travel out of town. But it was changed at the last minute since our maid missed her flight. So, I was assigned to babysitting duty instead with Anita sorting our the boys books for school next week.

She had been gone since way morning since the queue at the school had been long for the bookstore. And our maid would only arrive later in the afternoon. Until then, there's would be me and the boys at the apartment. And yet had yet to wake up. Therefore, some peace and quiet until then.

I could do with a date with Anita though .... Of only somebody could hang around with my boys .....

500px Photowalk

It was the time of the year - early fall - when plenty of photowalks were organised worldwide. I got 3 in the coming few weeks alone - the 500px event, followed by Scott Kelby walk in a couple of weeks and Canon one after that. Great times to catch up with friends but it looked like the weather would be conspiring against us. The haze is back!

I attended the 500px Worldwide Photowalk yesterday, organised by a local photographer. 120 shooters turned up, starting at 8 in the morning. SOme commitment that!

It was still during the Aidil Adha break for most people - myself included. So, I packed my gear early, left the apartment at around 7.30, parking my car at Suria KLCC before taking a brisk walk to the meeting point, MaTIC along Jalan Ampang 10 minutes away. The weather? Holding. Vsibility was still good - at least I could see the top of the Petronas Twin Towers.

Registration took place near a mini theatre at the entrance of an exhibition hall. It was then that I learned that 120 people converged, and I gather that even the organiser was surprised!

It took nearly half an hour before we could get on with the introduction and the obligatory group photos. We said our hellos and I got to meet old friends and some new ones. More about the route later, but first - let's get some breakfast .....

Blackout

I was halfway through an episode of Downton Abbey with Anita when suddenly it was dark. There was blackout. And as expected, Idlan freaked out from his room.

We soon realised that it was not just our unit. The whole block - as well as the adjacent block - were all dark except far the lights coming from the corridor which were powered from an emergency generator at the basement. The generator also allowed one if the lifts to function which was great in situation such as this.

We decided to stay put. We opened the door to the verandah and just sat there listening to the chatter coming from the guardhouse. The Resident's Facebook face said that TNB was already informed and they were on their way.

It took them quite a while before the problem was fixed and the power returned almost an hour after it went out. Too late for Downton Abbey already now. Straight to bed maybe ....