Me at Urbanscapes 2012

I had a full clinic in the morning. Returned to Gombak to get changed, before leaving the house again at around 3. Then, I was caught in traffic with the Himpunan Hijau folks making their was along DUKE Highway.

Parked my car at AmCorp Mall, planned to make the 10 minutes walk across Federal Highway to get to Padang Astaka. Arriving at the entrance, I was told that the entrance was at the other end of the field. And that was the only entrance. That meant I had to walk around Jalan Utara, a kilometer and a half away just to get into the field. Sigh! 20 minutes later, I paid my RM90 entrance fee and ambled my way into Urbanscapes 2012. Not much fun wasn't it. But at least it was in glorious sunshine.

We are talking oppa bendang style here!It was around 4.30 when I finally made it in. Did I feel the vibe? Hmm! To a certain extend I did. Then I realised how much Urbanscapes has changed. And the mud just spoiled my mood. Luckily I was sure that my maid wouldn't mind cleaning my shoes later.

I started by venturing into the stalls by the entrance. Mainly clothing and ornaments. Nice ones at that. Then to the food stalls, and the stages. A young DJ was plying his trade while the crowd just ignored him. I was looking around for performances, but none was to be found. More stalls then.

I approached one of the smaller stage where a band was playing. Nice live music. All their own songs. Quite nice. I left after they closed their set. Again I wanted to see improvisation and performances. Music was good, but I was looking for a bit more. Maybe my timing was off.

I said hi to a few of my friends. Some of them were involved with the event this year, but most of them, like me were just there to enjoy what was on offer. I went to look for some drinks. It was hot and sunny. Some nice chilled cola would be nice.

The main cafe was cordoned off for Moslem as they served alcohol unfortunately. But there were plenty of stalls to get food from. I just had some drinks, and were soon again looking around.

It struck me as odd that Volkswagen was there. Target audience - hipsters? But wrong cars. The were a few Polo, but there mainly sedan. No new Beatle. Next to it, Hong Leong Bank. Again, was I missing something here? Next to that was AirAsia. I could understand why they were here, but the other tenants just didn't add up.

Well. Let's move on shall we. Well away from the main stage, from the main attractions were the creative area. This was the heartbeat of Urbanscapes from the years gone past. They seemed to be at the background in this year's chapter.

I was glad that Urbanscapes was still going strong, but personally again i felt hat it had lost its soul. Urbanscapes were supposed to be for the underground rather than the mainstream. We don't want to escape the common daily chores for more of the same mainstream stuff. We have shopping malls for that. Maybe they were turning into Jom Heboh! I wouldn't bet against that. I hope that the organiser would rethink what Urbanscapes were all about. Because if they don't, I wouldn't be surprised if there were alternatives sprouting out. Perish that thought!