As usual, I love to be nosy. I like to know what was going on in KL all the time and if it was a form of festival, with food involved, I always tried to be there. That was how I discovered Urbanscape - in the old more chilled-out form - back in 2009. Since it had gone commercial, I felt that there is a devoid in independent, urban event organised by the locals, for the locals.
After visiting the UNESCO Day, I was still searching.
There was a couple of events going on around KL last weekend. The first - probably the bigger was the Pesta Belia Putrajaya - Putrajaya Youth Festival - held of course in Putrajaya, organised by the Ministry of Youth. Not exactly well advertised, and I only learned about it through Twitter. The sad thing was finding more information about it proved a pain, and I felt that it wouldn't be worth making the trip across to Putrajaya when I couldn't really plan the day.
That was shelved.
Next up, it was Hari UNESCO Malaysia - Malaysia UNESCO Day. It was under the umbrage of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and as expected the two ministries don't really plan things together, hence the clash!
In terms of venue, the UNESCO Day won hands down since transport to and from Dataran Merdeka was easy and admission was free and all. A quick walk from Central Market and you were already there. Easy decision in the end.
Originally I wanted to take Anita along but she felt a bit under the weather, although I suspect that she was worried that it would be raining. I set off alone after parking my car at KL Sentral, taking the LRT to Masjid Jamek. And the weather was gorgeous.
The venue was split into a couple of areas. The main exhibition area - a rather formal affair complete with stage and VIP seating area. The other area was mainly to chill out - foodtrucks and tables. In between, there was the Dataran Undrgrnd - shaded area which used to be a carpark, fully airconditioned if you need shelter from the sun and rain, and also where the toilets and surau were located. Really convenient.
I spent the afternoon mainly at the foodtruck area as well as the far side of Jalan Raja where the street arts were located. As a place to chill out in the middle of the city on a sunny Sunday afternoon, the UNESCO Day was a winner. The sun, and some really nice coconut jelly was just heavenly ..... Would definitely come again for the sun and food. But for the exhibits? It was way too formal, something you'd expect to see in an expo hall. And I have attended far too many conferences before ....
More photos from this event at my Flickr page here.
