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.

Long Weekend Over

It had been a long three days, but things got quieter by yesterday afternoon, so much so that I was able to join my KLickr buddies for a spot of coffee in town.

The boys enjoyed their PD trip, especially Idlan who was still buzzing about it when he reached home last evening. Hour was talking about how serene things were at the beach, not like the hustle and bustle of town over pizza last night.

The boy was clearly growing up too fast.

They have another day of their CNY break today to enjoy before returning to school tomorrow. As for me, I was contemplating cancelling my afternoon clinic in Subang. KL was on holiday still today, so no trip to ParkCity this morning. ‎

23mm Tryout

Finally I managed to take the new lens for a spin this afternoon. And the weather was gorgeous. Venue, as usual around Pavilion, walking towards Berjaya Times Square.

First I took photos of the CNY decorations at Pavilion. Then, across to Fahrenheit before heading towards Times Square. Spent a fair amount of time there - first time I was there in at least a couple of years. The place was packed considering this was CNY eve.

Next, I walked to Low Yat, emerging on the opposite side to walk along Jalan Bukit Bintang. I then doubled back towards Pavilion, stopping at Tours les Jours on the way home.

I finished things off with more snaps at Pavilion before heading home. Total walking time was almost two hours. Bright sunshine and clear blue sky. Couldn't ask for more.

So, I must admit, the lens was razor sharp even wide open in good light. Things got even better stopped down to f4.0, especially when it came to contrast.

I did notice that at f1.4 in low light and high ISO, the photos were soft. Maybe because I was snapping in jpeg, and the sensor over compensated. The contrast were also lost. The 35mm was better at low light resolution wise. It was still an amazing lens however.

With the flower shaped hood, the lens attracted too much attention for my liking. Coupled this with the slow focusing speed of the X-Pro1, there was a couple of shots which I missed. The whole unit also felt heavier than I was used to as I mainly used either the 17mm or the 35mm, but I could do with the weight. The whole setup had some heft to it.

The hood definitely helped with the flare especially in the harsh sunshine.

I must say for indoors, I still prefer the 35mm. Out in the street, the focal length of the 23mm was a winner. Maybe it was a matter of getting used to things. Or the fact that I prefer to take photos of details.

I was planning for another outing this Sunday when I would be meeting up with a few of my KLickr friends. I'll be taking it for another spin then.

Slideshow of the outing here.