Mid Valley Gardens Decor

Gardens at Mid Valley has always portrayed itself as an upmarket outlet. When it comes to decorations for festivities, they were always classy and understated. For this year's Raya, they concentrated more on details, and left the more elaborate decor to its sister mall next door, the Mid Valley Megamall.

The central gallery, where the main boutique outlets were located, were filled with small decorations and there were also some lightings hanging down, with more Aidilfitri motifs. One thing I have noticed, they have taken away some of the seatings at the main walkways, which make stopping for a breather especially while fasting a bit of a nag.

I was glad that the walkways and foyers were left empty rather than filled up by tacky stalls selling clothes and cookies. They obviously remained consistent in concentrating on the small things.

1Utama Decorations

After picking up Irfan from school this afternoon - Idlan was absent today, even though the fever was now gone - we headed out to 1Utama shopping complex as Anita wanted to get some presents for a friend's birthday. I took the opportunity to look at the decorations they had there.

I only had the time to venture around the lobby at the new wing. Being Ramadhan, we decided not to be too adventurous. The main foyer was transformed into one big stage. Themewise? Hmm … on the flowery side. I can imagine it being a blossom, with the petals forming a canopy for the little stalls they had there.

The main stage

Apart from that, there were nothing spectacular - like the winter wonderland from two Christmasses ago, or the famous sawah padi in the middle of the foyer, which was a big hit last Raya. I guessed things were pretty subdued everywhere …..

For those who are curious, this is the link to last year's sawah. And the video as well.

Mid Valley Raya Decor

I was actually expecting more from Mid Valley. I remembered their spectacular Raya decors of yesteryears. Their amazing Chinese New Year effort, as well as Christmas. I went to Mid Valley this morning, armed with my camera with high hopes.

I parked at Gardens, and made my way across via the Lower Ground Floor walkway. At the middle area, where the corridors met, were filled with stalls selling mooncakes. It was nice and colourful, and so I ventured forth to the main foyer. And what did I see?

A lame effort to turn the central gallery into some sort of an Arab Market. It was basically a collection of stalls - around a dozen of them - selling cookies and clothes. The kind of things that you can easily pick up at bazaars. And the collection the sold there was not really that exclusive either. At least not as exclusive as Bangsar Village. Right at the centre is a small island with date trees - supposedly. Err .... That was about it.

Told you that the mooncake stalls were much more interestingThere was a small stage - it being morning I wasn't expecting a show or anything - tucked on one side. I can't see much attraction there at all. They ought to put more effort I guess. I actually enjoyed the spectacles at the mooncake stalls more than the Raya decor. Thumbs down, most definitely.

Xmas at 1Utama

The last time I went to 1Utama must have been during the Merdeka Day when they had some decor up for the Hari Raya celebration. Fast forward four months, and we were nearing Christmas. Puan Anita wanted to buy some car accessory for our minivan, planning for the weekend trip to Kuala Kangsar - she wanted to buy a bin I think - so we went to Jusco there for a quick look. There was not much in the once-fully stocked home furnishing center at the old wing there. Rather disappointing, but Anita got her bin as she wanted it. However, the Xmas decor was already up, and oh boy, weren’t they amazing.

The main foyer at the New Wing was transform into what appeared to be a skating rink. Not sure if there will be show there though.The Xmas trees here came in all shapes and sizesChocolates ........The main courtyard was transformed into what looks like a winter wonderland, complete with pebbles on the walkway. The central area was empty at the moment, but I think, they were planning to put up a skating rink judging from the flooring. The shops were up and fully made up as you can see from the pics, complete with fake snow. What interesting was the candies on offer were all imported, reminding us of Xmas in the UK. Marks & Spencer booth on the old wing also offered some authentic English condiments, such as Christmas pudding - non-halal of course, topped up with brandy sauce. The boys got some Twix bars and other chocolate.

More shops at the Old WingOrnaments ....They deserved a breather ..... There were shops selling Christmas decorations to those who will be celebrating. The ornaments looked authentic, especially the small Santa snow grottos they have with tiny little shepherd dolls and sheep. I think I will give the place another visit in a couple of weeks when the full decor would be up. Parking has always been a bane for visitors at 1Utama, and we spent a good 20 minutes trying to find a bay yesterday. The fact that we were driving a minivan did not help. We used to park at the OneWorld hotel, a building right next to the old wing, but it was also full yesterday. So, if you are visiting, be prepared to come extra early, or else you will probably be parking outside. Public transport was not an option for us unfortunately as the shopping mall was well out of any of our usual routes.

Xmas at The Curve

 I spent most of the day today in bed. Since yesterday evening I had been troubled by sore throat, I knew something was brewing. I went to bed pretty early but was woken up by cough and shivering. Paracetamol helped but the sore throat continued until the morning. By breakfast I was not able to swallow anything, so I was not able to go to Kelang today. Instead I spent the whole day doing some slides, getting through some paperwork, and generally just taking it easy.

Complete with carol By the afternoon the fever subsided. I was able to walk around a bit. The boys has been rather restless today, and by early evening they insisted on me taking them out for a drive. Since I hardly have eaten anything, Anita was keen to take me out for dinner. I wanted to have some soup and finally relented. We headed out to The Curve. For the boys, The Curve equals Marche.

 For the Christmas period, the main foyer of the curve has been transformed into a winter wonderland. The transformation was pretty drastic to be quite honest. There was  Christmas Carol singing as well as the oblogatory Santa’s Grotto. Unfortunately there were no Santarina. They were stalls selling ornaments and cookies. After a few snaps, we decided to head for dinner. I wasn’t in much of a mood to walk around anyway. I had some pizza and mushroom soup. The Swiss mocha was nice and it did wonders for my palate. The boys enjoyed the time there especially with the very nice indoor decor and lighting they had in the restaurant. I felt a bit better after dinner, so we decided to have a nice evening walk. Few more snaps, and I felt that I needed more paracetamol. Time to head home.

A more subdued IKANO Power CenterTopped off by Puan Anita buying a couple of umbrellas  

I wish that I had a bit more time to walk around enjoying the decorations. Unfortunately with the flu and sore throat that was just not possible. I don’t think I would have enjoyed it that much. Anyway as you can see I managed to get a few nice photographs to share and I bet it was going to be jam-packed during the weekend with all the Christmas shoppers showing up. While at Marche, we also booked them up for a gingerbread-making session some time during the last week before Christmas. I think this session will be on a Wednesday afternoon and we booked both Idlan and Irfan to join up. Something to look forward to.