Messages of Hope

During my walk yesterday around Bukit Bintang, I came across these boards for anyone to put their message on. It was for the #MH370. The plane was yet to be found. And everyone was getting edgy.

I saw a couple of those boards, one in front of Pavilion and the other at the entrance to Fahrenheit 88.
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I could pick up some if them being written by foreigner. I guessed everybody shared the sentiment. I even saw one in Arabic. I picked up one of the leaflet and wrote a note as well.

What I out down on paper? Nothing special. But just leave it at that.

Tokyo Street 2014

I used to feel the charm of the place in the previous visits. It was after all something quite different. Nice selection of Japanese food, great café and just chic ambience.

That was a couple of years ago. Moving on, there seemed the much of the same. Same shops and the quality of the outlets had pretty much deteriorated. A couple of new restaurants but they were non-halal.

I didn't mind the non-halal issue, but I would've preceded it to be segregated clearly. Had a separate wing where one could go and enjoy such food. Building the outlets together at one area just create confusion and for me suspicion as I couldn't trust the whole area to be halal as such.

That to a certain extend had put me off having meals there. I still loved the café but the numbers were dwindling. We were down to one at the minute withbanither Japanese-themed café located at the central walkway of level 6.

Down to the bottom line, Tokyo Street should be a themed outlet and should run around on that novelty, as an attraction of all things Japanese. There were promotions going on all the time but they were located outside the main area. Something of an afterthought and it was always business as usual for the vendors inside as if they were separate from the effort of the promoters of the event going on elsewhere. Things felt detached and disorganized.

I felt that those running Tokyo Street should look into this and tow all the vendors to be in line. When there were promotions going on, everybody should be involved. That was clearly not happening yesterday when I visited the place. Without this effort, Tokyo Street would lose its charm and turn into any other themed street stalls. And you could get that in Chow Kit...

Walk in the Haze

It was time for my afternoon photo walk but shane that it had to be in the haze this time around. It wasn't as bad as earlier in the week, but it was pretty obvious nearing sun down. The smell was also there.

The children stayed in as expected playing their PC. I didn't want to bring them out in the haze anyhow. So, it was me and Puan Anita in the end, enjoying a stroll and a bit of shopping. While she shopped, I ventures on towards Low Yat just soaking in what was on show.

Nothing new. I wanted to have a look at the new Panasonic GM1, the compact camera. Smaller than the Sony RX100 but with a bigger sensor. A truly pocketable which I had been looking for. But event conspired against me.

I also dropped by Parkamaya for a quick look. My cousin launched a clothing outlet there earlier in the day, but I was late to the launch. I just dropped by to say hi and wished them good luck.

The theme at Pavilion today was World Women's Day. But there were not much in terms of organised event going on. The central foyer was filled with handbags - not sure but that may be a celebration in itself. But what ever happiness and joy today was hampered by the news of the missing #MH370. The authorities were still trying thieve together what exactly went on. And the natives, both local and abroad were vetoing restless. Speculations afloat at the minute and my thoughts were with the family members as hope were fading.

I will blog about Tokyo Street later as the place seemed shave lost its charm as far as I was concerned.

Pavilion CNY Slideshow

The narrative from this visit can be read here.

Return to Pavilion

After seeing one of my friend's entry about the decorations at Pavilion, I was suckered in to return. The new additions were hordes of horses - as the coming CNY would be the Year of the Horses.

They had 688 of them at Pavilion. Exactly 688? I didn't actually counted them all.

Visiting Pavilion on a public holiday - today being Maulidur Rasul - was never going to be fun. I got there before noon, straight after my morning ward round, did some quick snaps walked towards Fahrenheit 88 - then drove to Syria Suria KLCC before returning home to get some errands done.

I didn't hang around for too long. By the time I left, the queue coming I to the car park was horrendous. Guess people wanted to get their shopping done before the coming CNY.

As you could see, the hordes were small but many. Two main colours, white and red. The Bukit Bintang entrance by the famous water fountain had the usual trimmings of lantern and sakura. All to good effect.

It soon got crowded that I was getting in the way of those about to have their photos taken. Time to escape...

More photos from this visit can be seen in this slideshow.