Freitag leads, others follow.

Hm, still not over my Singapore trip. One of the things that are quite important in life that I just noticed is that, there are more than one company selling messenger bags made out of recycled industrial-strength materials. First I spotted Airbag Craftworks at Wooonderland. Then I saw MILKBERLIN at 3. Then, tagger bags at VivoCity. And now, I am making a list of these kind of bags and let you judge which is the best bag [best as in good looks, design, variations, functionality, brand name, history and country of origin].

FREITAG [Switzerland]
I believe [and insist] that the first messenger bag made out of recycled materials [talking about industrial waste-resemblers] is FREITAG. See? German name [+ 5 points]. Designed by brothers Daniel & Markus Freitag, it made its debut in 1992 [some say 1993]. The components that makes up a FREITAG bag are "used truck tarpaulins, seatbelts and innertubes". The only thing that's not recycled is probably the description tag sewn on the shoulder strap. So far they've got nearly 40 different designs, from punching bags to DJ bags to laptop sleeves.

FREITAG F11-F14

Here's something that makes FREITAG stand out above other bags by a thousand kilometres - the F-CUT feature. This allows you, bag-lover, to construct your desired FREITAG from scratch. You get to choose which truck tarp to use and cut your desired sections using the handy stencils provided, then previewing it in real-time. One thing that sets it apart from other ready-made FREITAGs is that instead of having a normal 'FREITAG' label, you can opt for a label that says "Your Fault"... which doubles as a disclaimer if you are not satisfied with the bag you just purchased.

When it comes to design, the Swiss does it better. And the price is unbeatable - CHF 220 for their largest messenger bag. And when I say 'unbeatable', I mean that it's so pricey that no other recycled bag companies can be more expensive than a FREITAG. But hey, when compared to the price we have to pay to decrease global warming, CHF 220 is nothing!

FREITAG F14 Topcat

Yes... six weeks' worth of salary for a part-timer at IKEA is 'nothing'. I paid some RM 800+ for this object... About RM 200 more than CHF 220 when it is converted to RM. But according to Actually..., the price is cheaper than other store's prices in Asia. But I like to look at it this way - I don't need to buy another bag ever again. And for the sake of education, the brand is pronounced as Frhy-tahg. Not Free-tag. OK?! And also, you can find FREITAG's first prototype at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. How cool that it's not just a bag, but also a work of art.

My tendency to purchase this product [again] : 7.4/10.

Airbag Craftworks [Germany]
I discovered this brand when I was informed that the Actually...'s new sister shop Wooonderland sells these cool bags made out of air mattresses [I heard that some are made out of Swiss Army's mattresses]. At first I thought "Bleh, FREITAG rip-off alert", but after getting to know this brand, I took note of their own identity and designs and the only thing they have in common with FREITAG is that they are made out of recycled materials, too. Their shapes are different [may I add that they are padded?] and they've got several outstanding products such as the sketchbook pouch, a good-looking man-purse-like leather bag and sweet reflective t-shirts.

Airbag Craftworks Offenbach

My tendency to purchase this product : 5/10.

berlinbag [Germany]
This brand is a little interesting. The bag is fully customisable [there are none that's ready-made], and you can upload your own graphic design and purchase a bag with your own illustration on it.

Berlinbag

It doesn't say anything about using recycled materials, just "new, clean lorry tarps and are equipped with practical Velcro fastenings" and "new car belts"... so in a way, it's just like any other bag you find at common stores.

My tendency to purchase this product : 0.6 / 10

MILKBERLIN [Germany (most likely)]
Crappy site design, lack of information and limited options. And the bags? Well, since that this post is about comparing European messenger bags brands, MILKBERLIN scores the least. It's not even made out of recycled materials, even though they are aiming for the pseudo-FREITAG industrial look.

I'm not amused.

My tendency to purchase this product : 0 /10.

tagger [Netherlands]
I spotted these bags while loitering about VivoCity recently... I'm sorry to say this but they are like the footless tights of messenger bags. I don't like the shape of it and the way it can customised, because it will never be as cool as the F-CUT. The pre-designed flaps aren't interesting; I'm not digging the fact that it's made out of brand-new materials. And the name. It sounds too much of a FREITAG clone to me... so this bag scores very low on my list.

A turn-off.

My tendency to purchase this product : -30 / 10.

Kultbag [Germany]
Hm, looks like Deutschland are specialists in making messenger bags. Kultbag is, I think, a nice alternative to FREITAG. There's a better variety of materials; other than the regular truck tarps, you can choose the bag of your dreams made out of army blankets, postbags, rice sacks, diving suit and many more. This, I like.

Made out of the German Army's blanket.

Nice, eh? The shape is ideal for those who prefer right-angle corners. I'm not sure if the parts like the strap are recycled... and the brand name isn't creative enough. But that's not a big deal because there is just so much designs to choose from, and it has handy compartments. I don't mind getting one, if it's not so expensive...

Nightlife bag.

Actually, I would like to get one of these... they look so swell!

My tendency to purchase this product : 6 / 10.

The 'not quite there yet' bags:

Switch-bag [Netherlands] - Not made out of recycled materials, uninspiring design, but it's the cheapest among all.
Feuerwear [Germany] - Stuff made out of fire hoses... which makes me wonder how they obtain the material. Can't really buy them from a fire station... though it's not rare to see empty hose reels in public places.
Timbuk2 [USA] - A yuppie's favourite. I can just imagine them dressed in suits, cycling to their high-rise office in some densely-populated American city, with their custom-ordered, Sony VAIO-occupied Timbuk2 strapped across their waists.
Crumpler [USA] - A fave among geeks and pseudo-Mac users [the only thing that's Mac about them is that they use an iPod]. You can't really wash them.... and apparently rich school kids are beginning to choose these over their Roxy backpacks.

Objectif Singapour - Part One.

Hello there.

If you didn't know, I was away from Monday to Wednesday, having a good time in a neighbouring country called Singapore. Where everything is better than here, except the cost of living. I'm not the kind who knows how to describe cities in one exciting paragraph, so let's get to the usual picture journal format you and I have always enjoyed.

Nine in the morning of Monday, 25.06.07, my brother and I, accompanied by my father, waited and boarded the Aeroline bus from a building nearby my house. After about an hour's journey, after I had my light meal that was served on board, I passed out [this was because I didn't sleep for the whole night the night before]. And the next thing I knew, we were approaching the Tuas checkpoint [also known as Linkedua]. It was raining, too, so there was no nice view to photograph, just the bus' interiors...

Zzzzzz.....

After going through a snappy... er, the thing you do before you're allowed into a foreign country, the bus brought us through an area full of factories and offices and apartments before finally arriving at Harbour Front, which was our stop. This was also the place to catch a cable car to flee to the recreational, man-made Sentosa Island.

We took the MRT to Chinatown because we haven't found a place to stay [bad planning by yours truly], and I was attracted by a particular boutique hotel 1929, featured in the Wallpaper* City Guide.

Featuring wide aisles.

Several stops later we landed in the middle of busy Chinatown.

Underground stations are cool.

How cool is that, and underground train station sprouting up in the middle of a very strategic location [*hint* KL should learn something from here...]. We wanted to go to Keong Saik Road, where the hotel was located, and asked directions from the person at the little info counter. Then we walked and walked and walked...

Walking off.

Jinriksha station on your left.

Along Keong Saik Road.

When we reached Hotel 1929, we were informed that the only room they have available is priced at S$ 189. No way my father would want to pay for that. So we walked out, searching for a decent hotel and finally landed at Hotel 81 [famous cheapo hotel]. We were relieved that there is one room available, priced at S$ 120, though we had to wait for the room to be ready, so while waiting, we had a cooling drink at Whatever.

Whatever Cafe.

I did a little research on the recommendations I received from a very friendly Singaporean I messaged on Myspace and asked the bar guy about the locations. After drinking the very refreshing juice concoction, I lurked around the shop and saw a turtle crawling about on the floor. How adorable. Then I let it go back to its pond together with its fishy friends.

Anyway, my brother and I went back to Hotel 81 to check-in to our rooms and rested for a little while, when I declared that I want to go to Orchard Road right away.

So we walked to the nearest MRT station, which was Outram Park and along the way, I photographed some of the old-school shophouses.

Hotel 1929.

Old shophouses / new apartments.

And now, we are in the extremely long train... possibly three times longer than our LRT trains...

And I wasn't standing at the end of the train.

Soon we arrived at Orchard Road, and I made Wheelock Place as my first retail stop. I heard of this new shop called Wooonderland, by the makers of Actually... [where I bought my Freitag] and learned that they sell these cool bags made of recycled rubber dinghies... or was it air matresses, of a German brand called Airbag Craftworks.

Wooonderland...

After deciding that their prices were just too high for me, we made a move to The Heeren, aiming to buy my first pair of Cheap Mondays at a shop called Queen's Couture.

Drainpipes are for dummies.

Those jeans that are on the mannequins aren't Cheap Mondays... they're some jeans by a French brand. They look quite swell, but then I thought "drainpipes are overrated" so I chose to buy a pair of high-waisted raw denim Cheap Monday, which I think, looks very underratedly cool. I normally wouldn't want to touch anything by the brand Junk Food, but I was seduced by the coolness of this particular long t-shirt which had Monopoly money graphics on them, and if you didn't know, that board game holds fond memories for me. So I gave in and purchased that Junk Food product.

An hour passed and didn't realise the sun was away when I came out to wait for my brother outside.

Night time in Orchard.

I announced that the next place I want to go to is Far East Plaza [good place to get affordable street clothes]. So we treaded along the tiled sidewalks, through the crowd and passed by more malls...

Can't miss the sign.

We arrived at Far East Plaza to see shops that were about to close! I quickly browsed through several boutiques before ending up at Sidewalk 10, the ONLY shop in this region that sells original graniph t-shirts, which I love so much.

graniph sold here, though slightly overpriced.

Good news that they have lowered the price of one graniph t-shirt to S$ 39.9, from their original S$ 49.9. That made me dug up every graniph tee they had to get it in my desired size. I chose two designs, one had an illustration by Han Hoogerbrugge, of him in various poses, and another by... well, the tag says that the embroidered illustration is titled 'Animal Poem', and everything else in is Japanese, so I don't know who the designer was. But it's a cool t-shirt. And another good news:

Let's raid graniph on the seventh of July!

HURRAH! graniph is opening its official store in Bugis Junction! Time to save up your paycheck and loose change!!!

So the shopping trip ended there and we headed back to the hotel by MRT, stopping at Outram Park where there was a wholesale fair going on...

Mango-selling action.

OK! That's the end of day one. Stay tuned to find out more on what happened on day two, featuring Haji Lane, Ann Siang Hill and Purvis Street! Watch this space!

Objectif Singapour - Part Two.

My brother and I was out by 10 a.m. We first had breakfast at some mamak nearby. Note that in Singapore, they don't call the roti canai as 'roti canai', but 'roti prata'. And they're square. But what we had were roti telur with some curry. I think it taste less fatty than the ones we have in this country.

Frühstück for you and me.

After breakfast, we walked to Ann Siang Hill. Know that this area has many nice boutiques selling lifestyle products and fashion, but the kind you look at, but not likely to buy it [due to premium prices]. Notable shops were Front Row, which sells nice clothes by APC; Style Nordic, which is having a sale on clothes by Fillipa K and Nudie, along other furniture and home decoration items; and The Asylum, specialising in art books, manual cameras, unique home furnishing stuff, accessories and stationeries.

Ann Siang Road before noon.

Then I realised that shops like these would only open at noon, and the time was only 10.45 a.m., so we only walked around to view the architecture of the area.

Can't get enough of the old-schoolness.

I am so glad that these pre-war shophouses are so well-preserved. Singapore is just a little island but they make loads of effort to protect their historical sites and not just demolish everything to make way for some high-rise office building or something.

Well, we were soon on our way to Chinatown MRT station to get to Bugis. On our way, we passed by these funky block-coloured double-storey shophouses. Very cute.

The paint colour makes them less boring.

My brother decided that we should get to Haji Lane in a cab, and we did just that. It was a short trip that costs S$ 3.90. And when we got there...

Haji Lane doesn't wake up until 2 p.m.

Shops don't open until after lunch! Argh! How upsetting. There are people who still get up in the morning, you know? After one trip down the lane, inspecting the shops that were closed, I suggested that we should look into Bugis Street. From what I heard, it's a good place to find nice cheapo goods.

So we began our short stroll down North Bridge Road and passed by this piece of green plain. I stopped to look at the coolness of this building known as The Gateway.

The Gateway by Ieoh Ming Pei.

Harhar, note that I was standing in the same area where the photographer took the picture of this building, shown in my Wallpaper* city guide.

Shortly after that, we arrived at Bugis Street, which is "The Largest Street-Shopping Location in Singapore". Well, I make an effort to creep into each lane and crevice to check out all of the shops there, just walking straight through the complex and came across this mammoth of a fan.

Resembling a helicopter's blades.

And it made that area very windy, but it was just hot moving air. We walked out of the complex and saw tents lined up this street known as Queen Street. They were selling fruits and stuff you may find in any good old pasar malam. It lead us to Bras Basah Road, and I announced that I want to visit Purvis Street. And as we walked, we saw...

The modern building's the National Library.

Passing by the War Memorial when the picture below was taken, with the background of the business district and the Esplanade [the structure that looks like fencing masks].

That's the WWII memorial, I think.

And now, we finally reach Purvis Street.

Purvis Street.

There were a bunch of home furnishings shops selling designer furniture, which was so odd, because there would be some cheapo Chinese restaurants right beside those shops.

After we shop at cappellini, we go eat chicken rice OK?

I went inside cappellini [probably to just feel the air-conditioning] and captured this picture.

Which way is up? Hehehe...

Harhar.

Shortly after that, we returned to Arab Street, where my brother had his lunch at the well-known Zam Zam Restaurant.

Known for its Murtabak.

Which was just opposite of this...

Sultan Mosque on North Bridge Road.

I refueled with cold wintermelon tea. Then, my brother announced that he'll be going off to do some work-related activity, which means that I get to venture out alone. So after that, I went around the Arab Street area to look at more and more old-school shophouses, while roasting under the hot sun.

Another view of the diamond-shaped layer cake building.

Neon paint's not just for Nu-Ravers.

It's global warming, I tell you. My skin was hot enough to fry an egg upon it. So here's one last view of Arab Street before going back to Haji Lane.

Check out my pagoda.

By then, it was already half-past two and I am convinced that the shops at Haji Lane are open. Now, for a proper introduction.

Haji Lane - this time it's for real.

I went into numerous shops, mostly selling unique brands and designer clothes. There was one shop selling Cutler and Gross eyewear, which is THE eyewear I'd want to wear. But I didn't dare to ask for its price, because the rest of the shop's merchandise are quite pricey. There were also shops that are kind of hidden, where you'll have to climb up some stairs to get to it, such as this one.

Shirt dress by a Finnish designer and Svensson jeans.

I didn't remember any of the shop's names, probably because they are all of 'their own kind' and it's hard to tell the difference from one another. Also, their names can be quite random and doesn't really describe the shop well, making it not easy to remember which shop sells which. Also, there were boutiques selling vintage clothes, and nearby were bundle stores selling S$ 5 jeans, and this made me suspect that these boutiques buy the good pieces from the bundle stores and selling them in the own stores at a higher price [just an assumption].

You're what?

You like bundle shops?

Sunning the carpets.

I did take one picture of a shop's interior. I remember the name of this shop just because I have read about in in FL.ag magazine.

One of the few pictures of shop interiors that I took; this is in Pluck.

I spotted some lovely clothes which I didn't take note of the brand, so maybe when I've collected enough money, I'll visit Haji Lane again to get all of those nice stuff.

OK! One last picture before heading back to the hotel.

The shop that refused to open.

Taking the train back to Chinatown so that I can see more on foot. I saw this poster displayed at numerous bus stops.

Three cheers for fresher air!

Less pollution for all!

Alright, now that it's dinner time, my brother recommended a meal at Newton Circus, which is located one train station stop away from Orchard. As usual, we took the train from Chinatown and arrived at Newton Circus, a very popular eatery among... well, I'm not sure if the locals enjoy eating there regularly because the meals we kind of pricey for that type of place, but it was delicious because we got to eat fresh seafood like stingray, calamari and clams [which I don't like] with rice.

Foodie's delight.

Food-eating action.

It was an open-air eatery, and it was fun to look at other people, hearing their conversations and just chilling out.

Well, after all those seafood, we went back to the hotel, practicing the same procedures. As we walked passed hotel 1929, I noticed there was an intriguing man in the window [when I say intriguing, I mean attractive]. Though in this picture, he appears to be acting suspiciously. Harhar.

I spy... a hot guy [acting suspiciously].

The next day was nothing noteworthy, so I'm not going to talk about it. At 4.00 p.m., we boarded the bus back to PJ at Harbour Front. And before I know it, I'm already leaving the island...

Crossing the Straits of Tebrau.

Several hours later, the bus stopped at an R&R where I bought a Kaya pau. I realised that the pau sold at these establishments are really the most lovely-tasting paus I've ever had. Or maybe I was just hungry at the time.

Kaya Pau, I like.

400+ kilometres later, we have arrived PJ. As they say it, home sweet home.

Back to square one.

How I say it is, home sweet depression. The trip ends here. =(

Post-Singapore blues.

I want more graniph.

So here are my notable purchases. Two graniph t-shirts, a pair of Cheap Monday jeans and a long t-shirt with Monopoly money graphics by Junk Food.

The ones that I have fell in love with are : Oversized colourful t-shirt by Material Boy [S$ 99], Fantastik Antik shift dress [S$ 120-ish] and a pair of Cutler and Gross eyeglasses [probably exceeding RM 1 200]. I'd have to reserve at least RM 1 700 to get all of that. Why does looking good have to be expensive?!?!

Hm, the title of this post is 'Post-Singapore blues', but I don't want to share my blues on here. I just wish that I didn't need to return to PJ!

Hello pals.

I am back from Singapore and ready to publish an exciting post but VOX has been excessively slow, so I can't upload the full-sized pictures for now. Do come back soon to read about what happened in Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

A hint.

Schoolboy-gawking and going to free shows, I like.

Hello everybody! If my last post was about everything ordinary in PJ, this post will be about everything exciting in KL. I've never attended daytime free events, and Saturday the 16th saw two fun happenings in the city which are Victoria Institution Carnival Day and Junk Figure 8ight Music+Fashion Mash-Up.

Victoria Institution Carnival Day flyer.

Well, the day started when I took the LRT to Masjid Jamek, then switching lines to go to the Hang Tuah station. The second train I took was formerly known as the Star line, and the last time I was in the train was back in 2004. It was also different than the train on Putral line because it treaded above ground level, so I could see a different view of the city. Two stops later, I took the overhead bridge to cross the mighty busy Jalan Hang Tuah to enter Victoria Institution.

If you didn't know, Victoria Institution is one of the oldest secondary school in the country [over 100 years old]. Loads of politicians and VIPs and famous people went there when they were young. It has a cool colonial architecture that was made to suit the local weather, kind of like the Bukit Bintang secondary school for girls [back when it was still standing, that is].

Rolling green lawns.

The weather was unforgivingly hot and the first stall I visited was the drinks stall. I rested for a little while under one of the huts, then began to tour the grounds. There were loads of stalls selling homemade food and drinks, games and gifts.

Fishing for fishlings.

Human dunking.

It was so nice to be walking among young teenagers in a school again. Kids gossiping and flirting and going bonkers under the sun and shade. I took this opportunity to shoot interestingly-dressed kids for my fashion blog project [launching very soon!].

View One.

Performance by an in-school band.

View Two.

In a different section of the school were boys playing futsal and practicing their instruments as a part of a marching band.

Once more, with feeling.

Nearby was an 'Adopt a pet' corner, hosted by Animal Angels. There were parakeets, cats, dogs and even a deer waiting for someone to take them home. These pair of kitties somehow remind me of a pair of very famous celebrities...

The feline version of the Olsen twins.

And here are some more pictures to end my VI Carnival Day coverage.

The school's very own clock tower.

Here's your change.

I toured the corridors past the classrooms and photographed more kids before deciding that I am done with that place and took the LRT back to Masjid Jamek. From there, I walked through Medan Pasar and saw several old but cool buildings as I head to Central Market Annexe for the Junk Figure 8ight event.

Architecture in Medan Pasar.

Junk Figure 8ight flyer.

When I got there, I didn't see much people loitering on the ground level, but when I went to the highest floor, there was a HUGE crowd checking out the fashion section. One stall that got the most attention was Monik House, a graphic design / fashion label from Bandung, Indonesia, I think.

Monik House drawing crowds.

The lady who was in charge of the stall was busy entertaining her curious visitors, and it caused a traffic jam at the beginning of the hall.

View of the fashion stalls.

I walked further down where there were less people, and found a pair of fashionably-aware friends, which will end up on my fashion blog [sit tight!]. There was one particular stall that sells shopping bags made out of fabric from IKEA, and what I didn't like about it was that they would put them inside plastic bags for their customers to carry it in. Hm, it's a shopping bag, so it is supposed to replace the plastic bag, not to be carried inside a plastic bag!

Next door was the music section where local bands got to perform. I am clueless on which band was performing at that time, but the crowd seem to be enjoying them.

My dear subjects...

Oh, your attention was towards the band?

Nearby were several fanatics of the band called Hujan who were selling the band's CD, shouting "CD Hujan! 10 Ringgit!".

Promoters

Apparently Hujan was a crowd favourite for the day. The crowd was so huge that we all had to be seated on the floor.

Give it up for Hujan!

Between performances went to the main building to have a meal at Mangrove food court. While walking back to the Annexe, I spotted a foreign couple standing near the road. I asked them if I could photograph them, when they told me that I'm wearing a t-shirt that represents their country, which is Nederland! Harhar, how joyful.

So I went back to the Annexe and continued to lurk around and observe people. I saw several people from my former college, and Ashanya was there to help out with the event.

Umi tries to get a hold of something.

Skaters in discussion.

A Hujan guy with his fans.

There were also some musical action happening in the hall next door, but I didn't know who was performing, with all the people blocking my view, so I decided to end the day at about six p.m. The weather was wet and Sungai Klang was looking dangerously deep when I was about to board the LRT back home. What a tiring Saturday it was. And I didn't need to pay a single cent to have fun!

What a trip.

This term break was starting to get a little unexciting, so I decided to visit one of the most ordinary places in Petaling Jaya, which is Old Town. This was where PJ first started out as a satellite town to Kuala Lumpur [back in the 1950s, I believe], and you can find the Section One [Seksyen Satu] here.

I just got out of the house on one weekday afternoon when it started to rain with no forgiveness. I had a jolly good time treading through flooded roads [in my car, of course] and parked near an old-school supermarket. Several units ahead was a mini-warehouse which had tall stacks of rice in gunny sacks, cooking oil and various root vegetables...

Cellar-like.

Featuring sugar, soda and flour.

I wandered through the five-foot ways and soon the rain came to a drizzle.

Plastic shop.

After crossing the street, I went into the plastic shop and saw loads of kitchen utensils being sold, the kind that you find in hawker stalls and warungs. There were these shelves of drinking glasses... beer glass, cocktail glass, milk glass [if there's such thing], which are all French / Italian made. The look quite dusty also [there were cobwebs here and there], and the reason that they are selling it individually with varying prices might be because they were the kind of glass you'd find in Tunku Abdul Rahman's kitchen cabinet. This kind of reminds me of drinking glasses my grandparents had with the Johorean coat of arms imprinted on it, but that's another story.

Probably dated back to the 1950s.

After that I came across Baker's Cottage, where I had a sandwich while spying on the secondary school students standing nearby. There are a number of tuition centres in the area; I knew some of my former classmates who went there back when we were in secondary school.

The kind of shops you would find in PJ Old Town are mostly the ones you'd expect to find in... FELDAs and small towns along the old trunk roads in the country. There were shops selling cheap but outdated clothes, rubber mats, school bags, frame-makers, film processing shops, bookstores selling school workbooks, banks, clinics and coffeeshops.

Not his bike.

Flower prints for you?

Looking down Old Town.

Old-school shophouse.

There was a shop selling cheap toys near the end of the area. It was insanely old-school because you can find stuff that are as old as 20 years here [among them were video game cartridges that was just too old for me to remember]. Look at the suspended footballs and how they have aged through the years.

Toy shop.

By now I was ready to leave the place as the sky become darker. I did a quick survey of the neighbourhood and saw 5 old-school Volvos lined up on the street. It's crazy to know that these people who are living in the same row drives a Volvo.

Country of origin : SWEDEN.

And that was the end of my very plain trip to PJ Old Town.

It has been too long.

And I still lack two posts for the month of May! I've been busy for the past two weeks, but I'm fine now. The remaining posts for May is still under composition, so I am going to move on to the first post of this month.

Right. Did any of you receive a flyer from MBPJ about two weeks ago? I mean this one:

Flyer.

Usually stuff like this would head to the old newspaper pile, but I realise that this is the perfect event to be snooping around and watching other fellow PJ residents having fun. The Karnival Mesra Rakyat was held in conjunction with Petaling Jaya's first anniversary after gaining city status, back in June 6, 2006 [06.06.06, get it?]. At the back of the flyer was the schedule for the day, and it had a lot of activities listed, like aerobics, 'Poco-poco' [I really don't know what that is], freshwater fish cooking competition, various sports and others, which you will be reading shortly.

Saturday the 9th came soon enough, and after I had a very exciting video chat with John, I went to Taman Jaya lake at around 9 a.m. The sun was annoyingly bright and hot, which reminds me of the good old days of secondary school when we had Sports Day. Near the entrance, there were dozens of Mini cars parked because there was a 'best-dressed Mini' contest.

Walking into the park, I came to tent where the VIPs gave their opening speeches, which weren't really interesting...

Opening speech.

... so I moved on to the exhibition tents. Then I saw this nutty machine.

Does it destroys DVDs, too?

It's a VCD-destroying machine. You put the pirated CDs you desire to destroy at one end, then it will churn out its 'processed' product.

On to the next tent which housed kiddies participating in a colouring contest, which is A MUST in every local family event. Some of the kids were seasoned pros because they brought along their mini-desks and 5 different types of colouring pencils.

Colouring contest.

Also, another [unofficial] compulsory activity is the rope pull competition.

The infamous tarik tali competition.

At a different location was where the kindergarten kiddies played netball and futsal. This was really fun because there were parents of the kiddies cheering for them and recording their antics on their camera phones. Back when I was a 5-year-old, futsal didn't exist!

Leetle footballers.

It was hilarious to see these kiddies kicking the ball randomly, and the referee would blow the whistle every 10 seconds. Don't they look cute in their kit? There was a man acting as a commentator, and it made the atmosphere full of laughter and excitement. *gets sentimental for awhile*

On to even more laugh-inducing sights; there was a mummy contest nearby. I don't know what the point of it was, but I presume it's like a 'last one standing' thing where the winner is the one who is... well, the last one standing. Though, to be politically correct, it's a waste of loo roll.

Mummification.

Moving on to the next section was the wall-climbing wall [doesn't make sense]. Now that I thought about it, every activity was free of charge, and if I was the active type, I would participate in every event.

Wall-climbing is a must.

Just a few metres away was the well-recognised green Milo truck, which is always present at Sukanekas, Karnivals and perhaps Jom Hebohs. I didn't get any free drinks because they were mixing the drink at that time.

Not to forget, the Milo truck.

And all that free Milo makes the kiddies go on a rampage at the playground area, not caring for the hot sun that was burning the back of my neck when I took this picture.

Kiddies terrorising the exercise equipment.

And all of that heat made me grab some keropok lekor and lime juice at the nearby stalls.

I snacked under the shady trees and looked at the kids running around like they were on Ecstasy. Then I heard a wail from a section of the park. I followed the voice and came across the karaoke competition booth. This was a cheesy moment, the kind where someone would walk up to the singer to hand him/her a rose.

Karaoke competition.

As I was moving on to another tent, I spotted a familiar face among the crowd. It was Nazihah, my former classmate back in Assunta in Form 3. Harhar, what a coincidence. She's working as a kindergarten teacher and studying at the same time, child psychology, I believe.

At another tent, there were these aunties clad in embellished jeans and matching tees, forming a 'line dance' team, dancing along pseudo-Latin music. I learned that there was a competition going on, and found it kind of funny to see some old aunties [or should I say, grannies] dancing in that fashion.

Aunties line-dancing.

Yes, it was a really hot Saturday morning, and it made Koko, the mascot for Koko Krunch cereal, take its head off to let people to fan it. I'm so disappointed; mascots should NEVER reveal their identity, if not the kids would know that it's just a person in costume, therefor making things less exciting.

Fanning the overheating Koko.

Near the edge of the lake was a group of senior citizens having a light workout of... er, most probably Tai Chi. I wish I could join them.

The zombie move.

Near the end of the park were booths from various companies, even the military, selling fruits, magazines and services. One of them was the NGO Friends of Bukit Gasing, which are all about protecting Bukit Gasing from greedy DBKL developers [since that half of the hill is in Kuala Lumpur territory]. At first I was just interested in getting the t-shirt, but a spokesperson told me that it's only available if I'm a member, and briefed me about what the society is about, what kind of things they do and how I can be a part of them. I was given some forms; the membership fee isn't expensive. You only have to pay RM 10 per year if you're a student. I don't know if they have a website, but here's their mailing address if you're interested:

116, Jalan Radin Anum Satu, Bandar Baru Seri Petaling, 57000 Kuala Lumpur

It was already half past 11 when I left Taman Jaya for KLCC. I was scheduled to meet JK for a discussion on our much-hyped Singapore trip. While I waited for him, I visited the British design exhibition that's held at Avenue K. I think it ends on the 24th of June, so if you're interested in seeing original sketches behind the animated Gorrilaz, models of buildings designed by Zaha Hadid, identity branding for the newspaper The Guardian, TOPSHOP's in-house design team, Boutique's creations and the like, go have a look.

Finally, JK arrived and I declared that I haven't eaten lunch, so we marched to the food court, where I ate a bowl of soupy noodles as we talked about what to do in Singapore. After that meal, we went up to Kinokuniya to discover the no-longer-existing alternative fiction shelf, before heading up to Page One. I found a really nice DIY book produced by ReadyMade, which is disappointingly similarly-priced as the DIY book I wrote about last time. Meaning that I should have gotten ReadyMade instead. Oh well, I guess I'll know what to get when I'm in KLCC with my father next time.

We went back to ground level and headed to Traders Hotel. I was told by my classmate that its Sky Bar has a really nice view of KL, since that I was all over Luna Bar last month. We stopped by a shop near Aquaria to acquire a roll of film which is needed for my photography assignment, then continued to head to Sky Bar. And when we got there, the first thing we saw were disastrously-appalling obese 'lobsters', lying down half naked by the pool. It was a total distraction from the view of the city from the 34th floor.

We occupied a booth next to the full-length glass windows and as JK operated his iBook, I filled my borrowed SLR camera with film and started to shoot. The wireless internet connection was fast; I could probably download a 5 MB file under 3 minutes.

How do you like the view from my office?

We probably spent about a half hour there, fooling about by taking pictures and lurking on the WWW.

After that, we went back down and walked to the playground at the park, where I did more shooting of children playing about in the wading pool. Several shots later, we headed back to KLCC. To be precise, Starbucks, to conduct our research on where to stay in Singapore, aided by the crappy wireless connection. Then, all of a sudden, we heard a police siren...

What's going on?

I still don't know the answer to the question above, but it's a rare sight to see a vehicle on the park's pavement [actually, it's common to see a Traders Hotel buggy scooting to and fro from the hotel to the park, acting as a shuttle for its occupants].

After a not-so-productive lounge at Starbucks, we decided to get away from KLCC. Before we left, JK wanted to have a look at the British design exhibition, before we went to the bus stand to wait for a bus to Medan Pasar for a pre-dinner meal. But it was a mistake. We waited for a half hour, in the fumes of carbon monoxide and all, but the bus to Medan Pasar never arrived. In the end we boarded the bus heading to KL Sentral. We couldn't find a decent place to eat there, and settled for a less-than-average meal at KFC. After that, JK took out his iBook once more, and discovered that he still keeps one of our IMs, dated back to April of 2005. It was crazy. It had the pictures I took during my pre-Glaucon days [details to come]. Also, I laughed at the pictures he took when I was at the men's restroom at Starhill Gallery, our night out to see Dirty Three in my IKEA uniform and many others. So expect a nostalgic, walk-down-memory-lane post in the future, once JK sends me the iChat file, that is.

Well, alright. That's it for now. The posts for May will be up by this weekend [I hope], so have a good week and see you when I see you.