Of Arches

After studying the route for the year's walk, I was sure that we would come across a couple of features aplenty, the art deco like arches at many of the shophouses and the bright yellow zebra crossing at this traffic-dense part of town.

And they came along as promised.

This one was right opposite Central Market. In need of some restoration work ...

Many of the buildings and shoplots around the old Chinatown area still retain their colonial architecture and the walk ways were covered with arches. These were painted bright and framed my shots perfectly as patrons walk along doing their daily business. They sheltered the shoppers from the elements as well as protecting the walkers from the busy traffic.

As the areas where being developed, I was sure these arches would be preserved and the reflected the charm of old Kuala Lumpur perfectly.

These arches were not specific to Kuala Lumpur. Many of the old towns such as Ipoh and Penang retained such similar architecture and hopefully those would be preserved as well. The bright colonies really made them stand out, perfect for photographers killing for angles and lines.

A Teaser

From last weekend when the Kelby Photowalk group reached Chinatown. More write-up on the walk in the coming few entries ...

Capital Cafe

This was one of the old café from the heyday of 60's KL. At the time, the newly formed Malaysia was still searching for their identity. The place was still thriving and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman formed the hub of the business district.

It was kinda a trip to the mall when you go out on a Saturday at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman back then, and no shopping trip would be complete without a meal.

Zol reminiscing about the good old daysDone with the hailamShe recognised some of us ...And age-old cooking techniqueIn the good old days, Capital Café used to be a famous joint. Until this day, it was still famous for its mee hailam, although you had to be lucky for the" uncle" to fry you one as he had many helpers. The helpers didn't cook as well as he did.

During our walk, one of our friend suggested that we stopped there - just as we did a few years back. I had some mee hailam of course and I must say it wasn't as impressive as I hoped. Maybe the times had moved on.

The Fruit Market

The first port of call would be the fruit market. It was newly renovated and the whole place appeared new compared to the last time we came to visit.

According to the vendors, the new market had only been opened last July. They were nearly arranged in rows and very spacious. One thing that was very obvious was how clean the place was.

A bit of TLCColourful

The vendors were friendly and were smiling away. Some asked about what we were up to and we told them that it was a yearly thing that the get together for this sort of a hunt. Some of them were reluctant to have their photos taken, and we completely understood.

Glorious petai

He was muttering away ....

Of course we didn't take pictures at the area which did some copied products. There were also a thriving business of gold-plating jewelleries around the place.

The fruits there were nice and fresh, much better compared to the local supermarkets. No durians though. Those were sold outside the market...

Nangka ....The lights in there was fantastic. The new building allowed for natural lights to enter from high above, all at an angle giving nice, soft light. It was still early afternoon and it didn't feel warm. A perfect place to do photography. Shame that I didn't have a telephoto lens with me at the time.

The Route

The route this time around was straight forward although the catch was the point and the end were different. They were about a couple of kilometers apart.

We met at Shazz Restaurant, a Mamak outlet behind the old Batu Road. The scheduled meet up was 8.30 for breakfast before setting off at 9. Luckily I made it just in time.

After the briefing and if course the group photo, we went through Chow Kit market. We first entered the dry part which was recently opened after renovation. Excellent lights in there and that formed the bulk of the walk.

We then exited the market via the older wet part where things could get messy. We then walked towards Safuan Plaza on the other end, before joining Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman proper towards Maju Junction, passing by a few restaurants.

My group stopped for some food at Capital Café, opposite Sogo before turning left towards the end point at Semua House. Again some of us had biryani but I gave that a miss after having a drink at the last stop.

After lunch, I walked through Masjid India to take the LRT at the Masjid Jamek stop to get to my car parked at Nu Sentral.