Vespa at Dataran Merdeka

It seemed that things were going full circle. Now, Vespas are the hipster way to travel in town and a few weekends back, I spotted a few gathering around Dataran Merdeka and I started snapping a few photos.

The guys there were pretty friendly and were very keen on their hobby. Most of them actually fix and maintain their vehicles diligently. And they cost a fair few bobs. Not exactly a cheap hobby this ....

There were many versions of the Vespas and they came from various generations. They were in pristine condition - most of them - and all the drivers had a story to tell. Great stuff all around ...

Thaipusam Day Outing

The last of the installments I can assure you that - since I would be back at work tomorrow. I had some time to walk around town, still exploring what the GoPro could offer. As today was Thaipusam and I didn't have the stomach to follow my friends to Batu Caves, I decided to stay nearer to home.

Heading to Dataran Merdeka after lunchWhere's the water curtain?The River and the TowerWhere the rivers meet ...Following the route After a short trip to the ward, I parked my car at Suria KLCC before heading out for some biryani at Masjid India via the LRT. The weather was too nice to ignore and before it got too warm, I decided to venture out of mall and took some photos of the Twin Tower. Wide angle and blue skies was what needed for this photo op. I didn't have to be asked twice.

It certainly was sunny ...Sitting by the junctionWorking in the sun ...Into the shade ...Central Market ...Calling it the day ...Then came the LRT trip to Masjid India for lunch at Restoran Shahira, doubling back via River of Life where groups of tourists were lurking. Off through Central Market before taking the LRT back to Suria. Time for some coffee and later a quick stop at Kinokuniya before heading back home.

#ExpoNegaraku Part 2

Part 1 of the entry can be read here.

Dome 2 housed the urban transport infrastructure the Government had planned for the coming decade. All the new LRT connections in the works - with no mention of the exorbitant cost of course or the fact that it would be built using China money. Quite a fun read although the audiovisual presentation that had was more on the lame side. Something I would expect my children could come up with for their school project. But it conveyed the message to the viewing public. And that was what mattered.

The rest of the domes dealt more with the environment and communications services. All in a very comfortable surroundings with good crowd flow control. The presentations were Malay-centric, and it was clear.that the target audience were Malaysians visiting KL during the school holidays.

This was not for sleeping but to watch an immersive presentation. No snoring allowed ...Part of the immersive presentation, onto a dome on top of us ...Back out of the domes ...After I was done with the exhibition domes, I went straight for a bit of a drinks. There was a stage at one end of the Dataran but it was 2 pm, clearly too hot for any sort of shows.

I would definitely recommend visitors to see the expo. A couple of hours well spent, and if this was the kind of expositions we were to expect in the future the quality was definitely there. Shame that despite being media savvy, I only learned about the exhibition when I physically stumbled across it. The expo would run until the 15th December.

#ExpoNegaraku Part 1

After catching an early lunch during my weekend break, I decided to walk around town a bit. There was no real plan. And I didn't even know about the ExpoNegaraku until I stumbled across it at Dataran Merdeka.

After turning around the corner I realised that there were plenty of people walking along. The road towards Jalan Raja was cordoned off. I then saw a row of food trucks. Something must be happening. When I turned towards Dataran Merdeka I soon learned that there were a few domes which housed the expo.

Time to go in.

It was hosted by Kementerian Penerangan and it showcased the urban developments going on around KL. The exhibits as I mentioned were houses in domes erected for the occasion right in the middle of the Dataran. There were 5 domes all together, each with a theme. The first Dome had a long queue heading, so I naturally gave that a miss.

Continued in part 2 ...

Street Arts

As part of the UNESCO Day, a street art competition was held. And we were talking about using chalks to draw on road kind of art! Proper street art. But a shame that it wouldn't be permanent.

I was with one of the judges for the competition as I know him from KLickr, and the both of us agreed that the efforts from the schoolchildren was definitely more appreciated than the works of the professional artistes who were also taking part.

Not sure who the winner was, but I could certainly appreciate some of the work there. Some of them were smudged from the half-marathon event held there earlier that morning - again symptomatic of bad planning ....