Section 8 - 05.08.08
One of my bicycle's tyres was flat and the only place I know that offers complimentary tyre-fillings is the Bridgestone workshop nearby the police barracks in Section 8. I drove to the food court nearby to have a plate of Mee Bandung, before inflating my inner tube and set out to explore the old houses in the area. I was chased by a mad stray dog after I photographed this dead squirrel.
The houses in this area are small and linked, but many of them are expressively-decorated with lawn furniture and variety of shrubs.
There is an orphanage/shelter on a dead-end road, and here's what they have for rubbish collection.
Jalan Templer is, from what I have read, the first road built in Petaling Jaya. It's named after one of the state's British... er, important person back in the pre-Independence days, Sir Gerald Templer. There is a golf course in the north of Klang Valley named after him, too.
A living quarter for government workers with its gates open invited me in to check out the simplicity of compact, fence-less link houses with its pseudo-chimneys and nostalgic wooden shutters.
By the Federal Highway is a dual-sided billboard of PIXAR's new movie Wall•E, which I must go watch at the theatres [preferably a near-empty one on a weekday] next week. Last time I watched a PIXAR film at a movie theatre was for A Bug's Life [how come no one likes it?!], nine years ago.
MBPJ is approving building projects like crazy! PJ 8 is about 75% complete and will welcome more traffic congestion near the Jalan Utara exit.
PJ State - 11.08.08
The PJ State area has a famous landmark - the State cinema. I've watched a movie here once... Batman Forever, I think, back in 1995 [I also remember seeing posters for Apollo 13]. The road system here is badly-designed; all roads within the State commercial centre is narrow and one-way.
I dropped by a newsagent [plenty in this area] to buy the latest issue of TeenVOGUE. Apparently, MBPJ hates cyclists. These signs were placed all around the MBPJ building.
Near the entrance of the MBPJ building, I spotted a man called Mazidul Akmal Sidek, a presenter for a popular TV show called '360'. He likes to intimidate mat rempits [illegal motorcycle racers], bohsias [a type of promiscuous people] and bapak ayams [pimps] in his shows, and I find it funny. I approached him for a photograph, when he questioned me "Ni lelaki ke perempuan ni? [is this a boy or a girl?]" and I thought, "Oh crap he's suspecting that I am one of those 'pengkid' [lesbians of the butch variety]", which is a popular subject in his shows. I think he was just joking [I hope].
There was once a corner shophouse with ferns and ivy creeping up its exterior, which I thought of photographing, but now it has been renovated and look brand-new. Unlike this newsagent, which you can see its base coat paint from the 1970s.
On my way to Amcorp Mall, I stopped by Kelab Syabas, behind a curry house. Decades ago, it was a well-patronised public pool, until 2005. Now it's a great place to breed mosquitoes.
Down the road is the iconic A&W drive-in dating back to our parent's time. I saw a pleasant-looking man in a green t-shirt with bicycle logos, standing in the parking lot. I wanted to photograph him after making one round within the drive-in, but by then he was already driving off in his grey Proton Saga. I went to Amcorp Mall to get a travel magazine from the back-issues store, then headed home, passing by BB Boys School, which is embarrassing because the schoolboys just love to yell out pointless remarks of me riding a bicycle.
