Shopping Time

Contrary to popular belief I’m not a big fan of shopping. So as I find myself in desperate need for some new clothes I decided to go out yesterday. Unfortunately I picked the wrong day. We went up to Pavilion right in the middle of town and being a public holiday – Deepavali –  the whole place was packed. It took us 15 min to drive to Pavilion but another half an hour to find a parking spot. And it was only by sheer luck that we got the spot as I was close to giving up.

We also found out that there was this fashion show going on right in the middle of the shopping mall. The place was full of photographers. It was full of tall women. Since we were caught in a traffic jam on arrival to have some coffee first.  This was when we first noticed the tall leggy women. Nope! I didn’t have my SLR with me. Even if I had, I might incur the wrath of Puan Anita - being left with a broken camera!

Next come the shopping. I’m never been keen shopping during sale. Even though they will bargain to be had I detest the crowd. I detest the long queue. What I did was a jazz rule into Parkson where main sale was happening. Picked up five shirts. Picked up some ties and T-shirts. Then off to pay. I was really not keen to meddle for too long, but there were so much bargain to be had. Took some time to find some new trousers that clearly there were not doing any Dockers there.  Luckily Puan Anita managed to get the boys occupied at the children’s department. Looking at some toys, I don’t think she had much problem doing that. How good was the sales? Most of the line were selling at 40% discount. Even the premium brands had a nice price-cut. Not bad actually!

That's one big shoe!Winding downNext on the list, a case for my MacBook air. I tried a few shops so far, but unfortunately since the product was still new they win any good cases out just yet. I ended up buying some software is instead the main one being the new office 2011. I got it for under RM600 for 3 licenses which I thought was not to bet. Yes contrary to popular belief, when it comes to serious work and by genuine softwares. Plus the fact that my software dealers been put out of business recently.

After the shopping was that it was time for some food. The boys again wanted pizza, just like last night. At least the traffic going home was not that bad.

Oh! So posh!

iPad? Rubbish bin?Brought the boys to Pavilion yesterday, since I had to hop round the corner to sort my credit card payment. Thought I would take my camera along to see what the decor was like there. Suffice to say I was disappointed. There was hardly anything, apart from a few decorated trees here and there. THere were not much in the way of Merdeka celebration either. Put it this way, the Ipoh Municipal would have closed the shopping centre if it were located in Ipoh - they insisted on all shops there displaying the National Flag - Jalur Gemilang - at the front of their establishment.

On the way back, I noticed that somebody just stacked away an empty box of iPad at one of the rubbish bins. A quick look around for cameras to make sure it was not a candid camera prank, I took the snap. Oh! So posh!

Walk around Bukit Bintang

During my couple of days off, I decided to have a quick walk around Bukit Bintang area and of course Low Yat. Took my camera around, but unfortunately, I couldn’t get that many snaps because it started to rain. Thought I’d share some of the snaps. I needed to familiarise the settings in time for the upcoming photowalk you see …. Or at least that was what my excuse was.

Balloon Time

We headed out to Pavilion tonight for dinner. Idlan wanted to have fried rice at Yo Sushi!, and I needed to go to a bookstore. Took us a bit longer than expected due to the heavy traffic of people leaving KL for the school holidays. We finally reached Pavilion after one and a half hour.

The poster mentionedLife sizedAnxiously waiting for his turn - all strapped-up of courseUp he wentWith everybody looking onWebsite on the organiser's shortWhen we reached there, we noticed that there were plenty of balloon around. Then we read a notice, apparently there is a balloon art festival going on at the main foyer. Apart from the balloon sculpture, the main attraction was an indoor balloon ride. There is a big floating balloon - tethered of course with can lift a child. For a small fee - apparently you have to spend RM200 to be eligible for the ride, you can have your child harnessed on a chair strapped underneath the balloon, and being lifted up in the air. It can actually go quite high - around 10 meters. The child will obviously be strapped tight, complete with helmets in order to take the ride. A pretty nifty thing if the child can stomach it. As for Idlan - no way! There was also the usual clowns and balloon artists walking around entertaining the children. From the signs, the event started today and will go on until the 15th of this month - June.

Stay away from my handroll!Idlan amused with the way his dinner being preparedThen came time for dinner. Off we went to Yo Sushi. Learned the other day that it will be closed later this month. So, no more Yo for the boys then. No more fried rice there. After a nice dinner, we then had a stroll outside the center. There was a live jazz band playing by the fountain at the main entrance. Played sweet jazz rendition of popular songs. Awesome stuffs. After 10 minutes or so, the boys wanted some drinks, and as usual, Irfan wanted some ice latte from Starbucks. We went in, ordered some and the barista was surprised that Irfan did the ordering, “one ice latte please!”. The guy behind the counter asked, “are you sure?”. Yes, the boy’s a coffee-drinker, while Idlan loved English Breakfast tea. Spoilt!

Proper live music - Yeah!Coffee in hand, we left for the car park. Irfan took a good hour to calm down from the caffein, but did so and has already been fast asleep. Going through the snaps I took with the 7D, I can’t get the punch and snaps I usually have from the SLR since I realised I turned off the RAW capture - silly boy! Off to bed soon. Ward round beckons tomorrow morning.

In Wonderland

As planned, we drove out of the house just before 11 and reached Pavilion and settled in within half an hour. ‘Alice in Wonderland’ was the boys first ever movie experience at the cinema and we were not sure how they would react. We were well prepared in our sweaters and socks as we imagined the will be freezing and we were not wrong. Luckily there were blankets.

Ordering drinks

As customary, we bought our drinks and popcorns. The boys wanted some nuggets as well. We quickly settled into our seats and tucked them in. They were surprised initially at how loud the sound system was but soon their apprehension turned to delight. Munching away on their food, they were totally immersed into the movie. In fact, they recognised the characters from reading the storybook. They clapped when Mad Hatter was introduced and booed when the Red Queen strolled in. They were making noise. Luckily it was in Golden Class and there were hardly any other punters. An hour in, the both of them were already out of their seats and chatting to each other, jumping around. It was havoc. If this were to happen in a packed cinema, I was sure we would have been led out by security. The two hours passed by so quickly and they were already planning to watch Shrek in the future.

All tucked inYes! We survived it!The movie itself was surprisingly very enjoyable. I initially was not very keen since I have been disappointed big time with Tim Burton’s fares in the past. One good thing about the movie was it never ever tried to give any back stories to the imaginary characters in Wonderland. It assumed that we knew the characters or at least knew enough as not to be asking too much about where they were from. Johnny Depp was spot on as the Hatter, so was Helena Bonham Carter. The CGI complemented the scenes very well although occasionally Burton’s choice of eclectic colours did come to the fore. The boys loved the fat twin and the invisible cat. Irfan left the theatre in the end trying to dance like the Hatter doing his closing number.

Irfan tucking into his sausages
Cookies for dessert In it goesThat's how the cookie crumblesAs we watched the first screening of the day, we were starving for lunch when the movie finished. We caught a bite at Dome before going home. Puan Anita and the boys were fast asleep half way back home. So much for excitement. I was looking forward to watch the badminton, Formula 1 and football later today.