I found myself at Central Market in KL a couple weeks ago in search of a particular little gift, and as it was quite a while since I last did any street shoots, I bought my trusted little Canon DSLR with.

central market

The last time I went to there must have been over ten years ago. In my memory, I always associated the place with the likes of Ben Thanh Market in Ho Chi Minh City, or a very scaled down version of Chatuchak in Bangkok, full of traders offering all sorts of touristy and artsy merchandise in a crammed, hot, and very sweaty environment.

picking an altar

As it turned out, to my surprise, Central Market is fully air conditioned! While there are still many stores selling anything from religious statues, post cards, photo frames, art works, jewelries, cloths, 101 types of souvenirs, you can also find Old Town and a couple restaurants and food court within the main building.

guardian buddha

Note the giraffe statue right next to the wooden Buddha on the picture above. Cheesie bought them all the way from Bali while we have them right here in the heart of KL. I have a feeling these things are probably made in China anyway.

windless wind chimes

In addition to plastic and rotan sepak takraw balls (which hurts like a bitch if you try to do a header), wind chimes seem to be a popular item around here though there isn’t any wind at all inside the building.

snoozing artist

The annex at the back of the main building houses quite a few local artists, some with very impressive looking masterpieces. For a small fee, you can commission a painting of yourself in pencil, water color, or even oil. Business wasn’t exactly brisk on that Sunday morning though.

catching a breather

The street to the right of Central Market is cordoned off for pedestrian access only. Hawkers and street artists have taken up this space to offer anything from cold drinks to barely bearable music.

grabbing a bite

I took a breather at the side of the building with a can of chilled Coke, looking at the hawker arranging her keropok lekur, and wonder how this place will look like in another 10 years.

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Celebrate Like A Champion

This portion is to help me hopefully win some MU tickets and a jersey woohoo! (from TGB’s entry)

• Name 4 of the Manchester United legendary players.
  Bill Foulkes, Bobby Charlton, Eric Cantona, George Best
• Name the founder of Smirnoff Vodka, and the country Smirnoff originates.
  Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov, Russia
• Complete this sentence, stating the partnership between Smirnoff and Manchester United:
  Smirnoff is the official Spirits Sponsor and Official Responsible Drinking Partner of Manchester United.
• What is the latest Smirnoff’s Limited Edition bottle called?
  Smirnoff® 21, Smirnoff® limited edition promotional pack.

Ahhh, after a hard day’s work on the field, ze Champion gets a bit of a rest!