Kelby Walk 2017

The weather didn't look promising at the start of the day. After waking up extra early, I must say that I was disappointed when I pulled the curtains. There were heavy clouds, even threatening to rain at certain parts of the horizon.

Selfie with the walk leader, RipiHalimi brought his own transport ...Catching up with the news ...And so we embarked ...Making my way to the hospital for an extra early rounds, I was happy to see that the cloud had begun to dissipate. I was even more optimistic as I made my way into town for my yearly meeting with my friends. It was that time of the year again. The Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk. And this year, we would be following the Heritage Trail starting at Central Market.

Time for a pose ...A mural near Pasar KaratA peaceful Chinese teahouse. Business started early ...Looking up as we approached Pasar KaratThe gear I took with me this year was the the X-Pro2 with a wide angle zoom as well as the Ricoh GR as backup. I also brought the 35mm f1.4 lens just in case it started to rain and I needed a faster lens.

After meeting up at one of the mamak shop along Kasturi Walk, we confer gated at the Central Market main entrance for the obligatory group photos. This was followed by a short briefing by Ripi who was again the walk leader.

Welcome to ChinatownFollowing my own shadows ...Stop for a second breakfastAnd the weather turning gloomy ....We were soon making our way to Pasar Karat and Chinatown. All in glorious sunshine ....

River of Life Video

I was on call yesterday and to be honest, rather to tired to bring up an a blog entry. But the video I recorded last Saturday night at the River of Life in the City Centre would serve as another teaser of what coming in the next few entries ...

Cycle Away

This is something new for KL. oBike is a bike sharing system where you use a smartphone app to book a bicycle point one point to another in town. That saved you from hailing a cab or Uber while helping to reduce pollution as well as keeping you healthy.

I downloaded the early this week, topped up some credit but has yet to use the service. The bikes in town were parked strategically making picking and dropping off the bike convenient. Anita was keen to try as well and we might just try that in the coming few weekends.

Hopefully the service could be maintained as the idea was certainly a good one. My fear was our culture of maintenance and responsibility were still generally lacking. The service owner must keep their bicycles in good nick, otherwise the public would stop using them once the initial novelty wore off.

As it stood, it was certainly a welcome sight when you see a row of bicycles parked neatly as you leave the MRT.

#PokokPercuma Pokok Power

I only learned about the event on the afternoon when I was making my way around town. It was my first walk since the end of Ramadan and I was curious to see what was happening.

After finishing my clinic, I soon realised that Anita were away for a wedding and I had to go out for a lunch. A quick search on the net and I learned that in conjunction with the World Population Day - to be honest I did not even know what that was - LabDNA organised an event at Medan Pasar giving away free plants while hosting a small party and sing song.

The event was scheduled to start at 4 pm, running until the evening. I reached there too early and the organiser was still trying to get things sorted out. I decided to sit down for some coffee first before coming for another look. No joy and the sky looked like it was going to rain any minute soon.

I couldn't since I have errands later on the day. To be honest, since I was taking the LRT, I don't think I was able to carry any plants with me this time around. Good idea. But I wished that the publicity would have been more viral. Next year maybe ...

Stop at MATIC

“Interpretasi Hitam Putih Jalanan”. That was the title. Enough to intrigue me and on the sunny Saturday afternoon, I decided to go and have a look.

It was a local exhibition on street photography, all in glorious black and white featuring local photographers with a number of international contributors. Well curated and well presented. The venue as MATIC, in a purpose-built room ideal with such exhibition with plenty of natural lights and cool ambiance.

I found some of the featured photos intriguing and at the same time familiar. There were plenty of KL flavours in them and some of the landmarks were easily recognisable. Certainly the theme being black and white, made the photos contrasty and gripping. I always preferred narration and again I struggled to grasp the overall direction of the exhibit. But that does not mean that I did not enjoy what was on show.

I wished that the exhibition was better publicised. I only learned of it from Facebook. There was no dedicated website, and the mention on the MATIC webpage was only nominal. The exhibit will go on until until the end on the month - 30 March 2017 - and it was certainly worth a visit.

Parking was an issue if you were driving. I got duped into paying RM10 as I was told that I was suing a private parking. To encourage local visitors, they could have made the parking cheaper at least. Usually I would’ve parked at KLCC and walked, but with Anita coming along, it was too much of an ask for her to walk across. Again, local authorities conspired to make those who wanted to explore KL that much more challenging ...