Tous les Jours

Location was everything. And this new swanky cafe in town had it in abundance. Located right at the heart of Bukit Bintang, at the intersection of Jalan Bukit Bintang and Jalan Sultan Ismail, it was screaming to be entered. Coupled that to the fact that it beautiful architecturally - the complex was called Wolo - don't ask me why - made it even more inviting.

How to get there? Walk from Pavilion towards Lot 10 and stand in front of the Yes! Cube facing the Bukit Bintang Monorail station and look to your right. There it was!

So, on the way back from Times Square to Pavilion, I decided to sample the place.

From the Bukit Bintang intersection in front of Lot 10Some of the barrista even struggled with their EnglishCertainly there were plenty of space to chillCosy and cool. All nicely laid out with nice plush settings both inside and outdoors, you get the feeling that you were transferred abroad. Suddenly it wasn't KL anymore. Plenty of pasties and cakes. A long selection of drinks. You just wanted to sit down and kick back.

There was a couple of floors to the cafe - or the French would say boulangerie - I hope I spelt that one right. Wifi came as free and the seating arrangement made for a nice gathering with friends effortless.

Unfortunately, one sample of the pasty and straight away you realised that you were in Bukit Bintang. It was average! I ordered only a couple of items and both were a disappointment.

Even my mocha lacked a zing! So much for daydreaming of Paris. Maybe my mistake was heading there alone. You'd probably enjoy the place more in a company. Just maybe.

Anita had been talking about visiting one of the outlet in Bangsar Baru. I should head there one of these days before making my mind out for this chain.

But in terms of venue, it was superb ...

Slideshow of the visit here.

Sad Imbi Plaza

Imbi Plaza used to the center of all things digital back in the 80s. And it was still at its heyday until the early 2000s. The combination of regular raids by the authority and the wide availability of digital downloads made the business of bootleg software which thrived there then bit the dust.

Right next door, a more legitimate - emphasis on the word more - IT center was opened, Low Yat Plaza. This forced most of the vendors at Imbi to either clean up their act or ship out. My usual dealer left for Berjaya Times Square across the road.

The restaurants were still opened

As it was now, the three story mall looked empty. Some of the shops looked abandoned. I remember back in its glory days when the place was packed, and you could get anything IT there. I had built PC from parts from the shop there before it became fashionable.

I remember waiting for new games released on 5.25 inch floppy being sold there - illegally of course. We couldn't get our hands on original, not to mention how expensive those were back then. All those walks to and from my house at Jalan Bellamy those days. I was sure a few of my friends also had find memories of the place...‎

Berjaya Times Square

The last time I was at Times Square was when I just returned from Atlantic and needed a new Micro SIM card for my Nexus 4. I went to the DiGi store as it was one of their flagships. I haven't been back there ever since.

It was CNY eve, and there were plenty of people and some of the shops were winding down for an early closure. Surprisingly, I found that more shops were opened there compared to 2009 when I came to visit the indoor playground rides. It was going through a period of transformation then and a lot of the shops there were unoccupied.

I also remembered the nightmare of finding a car park spot here. Luckily, I parked at Pavilion and walked here.

I didn't realise how huge the place was. Almost 11 stories of shops, an Imax cinema, indoor theme park. There was also areas for bazaars and small stalls lining the corridors. One of them was called Central Park which looked neat from the upper floors.

I must admit that the place appeared gloomy at the upper levels - some seedy-looking shops there, but the lower floors looked full of live.

I spent the afternoon trying out my camera and the dizzying rows of escalators caught my attention. It could've been mistaken to a grand hotel rather than a shopping mall instead - yes, there was a hotel on one of the wings.

The theme park however looked to be run down and some of the rides looked to be permanently closed. One whole wing looked to be covered - I really didn't know what was going in there. Even the famous indoor roller coaster seemed to be on hiatus.

All in all, the place could do with a makeover of some sort. It was at a risk of doing a slow death....

Slideshow of the outing here.

After the Party

Irfan actually passed some of his present to his brother, and since the late afternoon, he had been in his room doing some paintings. He never had talent for arts …. so I was not sure if I should be worried ….

They were both looking tired after the party. Irfan especially had been rubbing his eyes all evening.

All the stuffs to bring upstairsIrfan going through the presentsIdlan getting his stuffs organised for his masterpiece

Time for an early bed I think …. and of course I would be waiting for the football game later …. if I could stay awake!

More photos here.

Irfan is Eight

The party was finally over and done with. And it was a memorable day for Irfan especially. Many of his friends came and they had a good day playing bowling, and eating cakes of course.

This time, we had the party at Kiara Equestrian Club. Theme was Minecraft, and the venue was the bowling alley. No need to bring your own shoes, but socks were a must!

In the end, we occupied ten lanes, seven of them for children. Of course, I got to show my skills at the end …

For the event, we catered the food from the club, while we employed a party planner for the party organiser and the party packs. We asked that the clown to not wear his normal costume as Irfan had a thing against clowns since he was young. So, he came doing his usual clowning stuff, balloon tricks and organising the games. Minus the make-up.

The food was excellent. One of Irfan’s classmate’s Mum offered to do Irfan’s cake, and it was gorgeous.

The only disappointment was the party planner, who rushed for time and a rather sub-par end product. I would not rather spoil things here, but suffice to say that we wouldn’t be doing business with them again.

Time to get into the proper shoes... and get the proper ballsTime for cakesAnd group photoEven the lion came to playTime for the daddies to show off their talents ...For those considering having birthday party here, I must say that it was highly recommended. The officer in-charge was very accommodating and doing business with him was a pleasure - I was referring to you Mr Syahril! Everything was delivered and more.

The children had a great time. Irfan had a smashing day. The parents had a fine time - some of them even played along. Food was great and the whole venue was comfortable. Now, off to nurse my sore arm …

More photos here in the slideshow.