Hotel Malaya

I noticed this hotel right in the middle of China Town (Petaling Street) for some time and had been curious about it. Never stayed there or anything but along some of my photowalks, I tended to pass by the old art deco-inspired building.

But last weekend when I passed by along during the Scott Kelby Photowalk, I was surprised that the hotel was closed. In fact, the entrance looked like it was about to be demolished. Maybe a renovation was in the card since the location of the hotel was really central. Backpackers and tourist on a budget would love such a place!

Would definitely be watching what would happen to the place. I did some searches on the web, but the returned were all about the past review on the hotel - which I would diplomatically labeled as "mixed". No entries talked about renovations or demolition. It was just that Agoda and the likes had stopped taking bookings, and that was about it.

Merchant's Lane

Even the name stroke a cord. This is the new cafe - opened in the last couple of months, located at Petaling Street. It was at the quieter end of the street, towards Bulatan Merdeka, located right next to Advanced Tertiary College.

Nicely tucked away on top of a stationary shop, if could prove to be tricky to find as the sign leading up the stairs were pretty small.

But once you got into the cafe, you would surely be charmed by the rustic surrounding and ambiance. You might mistaken to be in either Penang or Melaka. An old pre-war building, a converted shophouse - apparently it used to be a brothel! - with the exterior and anterior walls preserved.

The ceiling was opened up letting in natural light making the place appeared bigger and cosier. There was the main part where the coffee counter was located with an open seating area, but should you venture towards the back, there were more seating, and this time it was out in the opened. A pretty unique find and from now on, I would definitely be sitting at the back!

I stopped there to join my KLickr friends during the recent photowalk, and I would definitely be taking Anita along the next time. She would definitely love it.

How was the food? The menu was still pretty basic, and they were heavy on the breakfast and comfort food. I ordered some fried salmon with wasabi mayo. It was really nice, plus a hot mocha. A definite retreat away from the hustle and bustle of town life.

There were parking lot right opposite as well if you plan to drive in. In my case, I was on foot all the way from Central Market with the rest of the gang. Certainly a great little cafe with plenty of potential. It would sure to generate plenty of Instagram photos and Swarm check-ins. Highly recommended!

Pasar Karat KL

Karat literally translates to "rust" in English. We were not talking about diamonds here, but sure enough Pasar Karat is a flea market near Petaling Street in KL, and one could unearth some gems from time to time!

Some dubbed it "Market of Thieves" and certainly one can't help but wonder why such term was coined when you walk around the market. They were filled with antiques and certainly some stolen goods as well.

How to get there? It ran parallel to Petaling Street (KL Chinatown) in the middle of town, within walking distance from Central Market, and it formed part of the route for our #WWPW2015 - Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk - the other day. It opened every Saturday and Sunday as early as 6 am, and one had to get there early to get the best bargain.

We entered the market from the Jalan Sultan entrance, making our way into Petaling Street proper. When we arrived there at almost 9, the place was already packed. They were all makeshift stalls and tables, the wares being left displayed in the open for us to bargain on the price. The main stalls by the entrance were selling proper antiques. The deeper you go, the dodgier the business were until right at the back where you suspect that those were all stolen items.

But it was all in good spirit. The sellers were pretty approachable, but be sure to ask their permission before you take their photos. They can be a bit touchy. After all, it was their turf.

After walking for around 20 minutes, talking to some of the sellers, we sat by a coffee stall to have a drink. According to the owner, Pasar Karat had been around since the early 80s. It used to be exclusively Chinese but in the last 10 years, foreigners came into the picture, and with that some rougher characters. There were always some plain clothed policeman around patrolling the area and see if there are any disturbances. One had also had to be wary about your pockets, and make sure you keep your personal belongings to yourself. But generally speaking the place were quiet peaceful.

I didn't buy anything since I couldn't bother to carry them on the rest of my walk. Certainly not a place I would come alone. Safety in numbers, that was the key. The vendors could tell if it was your first time there, and how good could you bargain.

The items sold there were also rather dodgy especially the electronics. One could get an 32Gb SD card for around RM30, but one couldn't guarantee if you can safe more than 4Gb of data on the card if you know what I mean! Watch out for bargains that were too good to be true! And everything has a price!

As for photo-ops, certainly there were plenty to snaps. There were some nice looking murals on the walls and the patron there tended to be characters as well. But be sure to ask permission before you snap. More likely than not, they would say yes. And if they say no, move along. Just google "Pasar Karat KL" and you would sure to get the directions to the place. Happy hunting!

A Hazy #WWPW2015

It was finally done and I stayed indoors most of the time. The API doubled between the time we gathered until we split for lunch. And the KL Marathon scheduled the next morning was cancelled soon after due to the haze.

But that did not deter our determination to shoot. In the end, only 40 shooters turned up, which was a decline from last year. On paper it should have been at least 70.

We congregated as planned at Restoran Yusoof dan Zakhir right opposite the Central Market main entrace. Since I arrived late from the hospital, I parked straight there. Luckily it wasn't affected by the KL Free Car Day that morning. Had a quick breakfast before we congregate at the front of CM main entrance for a quick briefing as well as the obligatory group photo.

Soon after we that, we set off. We walked past the old “Bus Stand Kelang” - now transformed of course, passing by the far entrance of Petaling Street towards Pasar Karat, which was our first shooting area. We spent around half an hour there, shooting and mingling around with the crowd, having some coffee in the end as well.

I then walked past Petaling Street proper - which was still closed as it only operates from 11 am - through the remnant of Hotel Malaya towards the Guan Di Temple. Here, the group started to thin out with half of the group moving on towards the Sri Maha Maniaman Temple while others decided to hang around at Pasar Karat.

Me? I went to a completely different direction. I turned back towards Petaling Street, all the way towards Stadium Negara and join some friends at Merchant's Lane Cafe. This was a real discovery for me, a quaint, rustic cafe bar, renovated from the old pre-World War shophouses along Petaling Street with a hipster twist. Something that Puan Anita would appreciate! More on that later.

I had a slightly bigger breakfast, took some photos there while catching up. Half an hour later, it was time to walk towards the end meeting point while taking snaps along the way of course. But by this time, the haze was really picking up. The sky was even greyer than when we started, the air quality deteriorated, not a conducive time for a photowalk all around.

I skipped the planned stop at the Indian Shops along Leboh Ampang, and went straight to Burger King where we end our walk. We reached there quite early and got the best seats in the house. Again, we caught up with friends, said our goodbyes, quenched our thirst before finally setting off towards Central Market again, via Dataran Merdeka.

At this point in time, the KL Marathon had yet to be cancelled and preparations were in full swing. A long of runners were there to pick up their gears for the next day's race and judging from the air quality, I wasn't surprised that the announcement for cancellation finally came. We walked past the Masjid Jamek bridge and walked towards the CM Annex for our final stop - lunch.

Bob Magnus suggested that we have lunch at his old stomping ground on the top floor of Central Market. It must have been around 20 years since I last been at the stalls there, and not much had changed. More food and finally time to pack up and go.

A subdued walk due to the haze unfortunately, but the flame was still there. Definitely would be going again next year. And now time for post-production …. and uploads of course!

Time for Goodbye

Another photowalk was sorted. Certainly this year the walk was different. There was a more raw edge to it. And this happened in Pudu a few days after a bomb exploded in Bukit Bintang nearby killing one person.

There was always a suspicion that the local triad had a hand in that. This was always a case in a Chinese dominated business district. Pudu was no different.

As usual, the walk was started with the obligatory group shop. And at the end point, there was always lunch. This time the exit point was back at Pudu Plaza. That was handy since I parked there.

After a quick snack, it was time to say goodbye. We shall meet again next year ...