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)
Ahhh, after a hard day’s work on the field, ze Champion gets a bit of a rest!
Nasi lemak RA at Jalan Raja Abdullah is one of the original famous nasi lemak places in KL city, alongside with Tanglin and Antarabangsa (which I haven’t try). Of course, there are also the very good Jalan 223 and Seapark versions in PJ for those who doesn’t want to drive to KL.
I had the chance to try it out a while ago when Kelvin and I went to the city one particular weekend morning.
plenty of dishes to choose from
There is always a crowd at this stall with customers arriving in their latest luxury Mercedes as well as the 12 year old Honda EX-5. At this place, you are treated the same whoever you are, line up and self serve.
The choices of lauk lauk (toppings) for the nasi lemak is probably the biggest here, curry chicken, deep fried chicken, beef rendang, tripe, lung, prawn, squid, fried egg, and so forth. Of course, peanuts, anchovies, 1/2 hard boiled egg, sambal, and sliced cucumber come standard.
rendang, sambal, egg, excellent!
I had my plate with plenty of sambal, a piece of beef rendang, and a fried egg. The meat was very tender and the redang very flavorful, I also particularly like the fried egg that is done just nice with the yolk still half liquid, very sinful. The rice was warm and didn’t stick together, and of course, the sambal did not disappoint either.
the nasi lemak stall is a short walking distance from Dang Wangi LRT
Despite being at a prime location, the price was very reasonable at the time of eating. The standard nasi lemak was RM 1.50, with extras ranging from RM 2 to RM 5. Nasi Lemak RA opens every morning and weekday evenings.
Address:
No. 15, Jalan Raja Abdullah
Kampung Baru
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.156649, 101.700965
Other reviews:
masak-masak
makan trip
Right after the awesome Nuffnang pajama party, myself and the Suan rushed to attend Sunburst KL 2008 at the Hartamas equestrian club. I was supposed to get a chance for a photo session with Incubus thanks to the invitation from Tuborg, but due to the delay of the bidding game at the Nuffnang party (which I won a camera!), I missed the chance by 15 minutes, dang it!
There’s a few more photos on my flickr set.
Incubus rocking the field
Actually, Suan and I attended the cocktail party for Sunburst the night prior as well. There were plenty of booze and finger foods at that event hosted at Ritz Carlton hotel. Quite a few famous people were at the scene, as with many of the Sunburst artists too. However, I did not get the go-ahead with bringing the big camera, so no pictures from there.
2 of the local artists who played at the cocktail party: Reza Salleh and Yuna were very impressive though!
giant screens and huge number of crowd
On Saturday night itself, despite arriving pretty late, we somehow managed to find a parking spot rather close to the main entrance. I do think that the place is set up quite nicely, with many giant projection and LCD screens benefiting those who didn’t manage to squeeze to the front rows. Beer and food counters were set up at many locations, as with the ever important toilets.
the Tuborg square with cold beer and live screens inside
John Legend was performing as we got there, and then of course, the main act, Incubus. They were really good and the atmosphere were totally changed when they came on. The crowd at the main stage swelled up to a huge number. I’d be dancing even more if I wasn’t so tired from whole night of partying, but it was good nonetheless.
Siao Ling from Tuborg who invited me to the party
Before leaving the show, we met up with Siao Ling and Chui Hoon who invited us to the party and had a cold Tuborg (Thanks for inviting!). Chui Hoon was also the one who was responsible for the 3 crates of beer during the last x’mas eve party. (It was nice meeting you!)
KY, Suan, and Chui Hoon (Siao Ling’s boss)
We left the party at around 2:30 and went to the 24-hour KFC (near University Malaya) for a quick meal before heading back for some well deserved sleep. It was a busy but very fun Saturday night.
Last weekend we headed to Kampung Baru in KL to capture some election colors. On the side note, election is this weekend, please do vote and vote wisely. The worse thing you can do is to give up the most basic of our democratic right. I am ashamed to say that this would be the first time I go to the ballet box due to being overseas and so on, but it’s a start. Assess the candidates and parties carefully, and make your choice, every vote counts.
As it turned out, I only managed to snap something like a roll of pictures before the rain pours, but here goes:
Color Imbalance
It was also one of Kim’s first photography trips and I must say she has an eye for this thing! Check out her post on the trip.
The whole area was filled with banners, mostly of the ruling party and some of the opposition. It is sad to say that in this country, we still have to resort to putting candidates of the same race (and sometimes same sex) against each other. But hopefully change to the better is on the way.
Stare Cock
If I vote for you, will you buy me a motorbike?
Kampung Baru is one of the very few real kampungs left in the city of KL. Located just a stone’s throw away from the bustling KLCC, here you find people living a much simpler life. With roosters still roaming the streets and houses built just good enough to have a shade under the sun and rain.
Welcome to my Home
For the old folks, evening is spent chilling with friends and having a good time. No sense of urgency, no rushing for deadlines, no hunting for more gold.
Relax and Laughters
In a city with more toll ways than rivers, many folks here still rely on motorcycles and bicycles as their primary transport, getting them from A to B. Of course, there is also an LRT station just around the corner transporting them to a very different world just a single station away. It is truly a time machine more than an underground tube.
Clinging On
Kampung folks are also usually a lot friendlier. I took the opportunity to snap a picture of this chubby kid at the restaurant. I think he was confused, this is the world he lives in, we are the visitors.
The boy will grow up to inherit the country from our generation, and it is us that must make a choice to give them what they deserve.
What’re you looking at?
I hope you enjoy this series. Thank you for viewing.
Today is the 9th day of Chinese New Year, traditionally the day Hokkien people worships Jade Emperor of Heaven “Tian Kung” (天公). I did hear quite a bit of fireworks as midnight struck even though the government has imposed a complete ban on such celebration.
The pictures I am posting here are of “Tian Hou Temple”, a place that might not be related at all to today’s occasion. But anyhow…
Pagoda with 8 sided roof
We went to the temple for some photography a week before Chinese New Year hoping to get some shots of the beautifully lit decorative lanterns, but luck was not on our side as it seems that conservation of electricity was the priority of the night. I only managed about a dozen different shots before the temple closed at around 10:30pm.
3-tiered roof with guardian dragons
You can read more about this place at Thean Hou Temple wiki entry.
pillar
You can find a few more pictures in my flickr set.
