My first Urban Exploration!
Hey everyone, I hope that you week has been going well! Today was an absolutely wonderful day and I managed to easily hit my Actifit 10K activity goal. You see, I read a post shared by @slobberchops about how he was exploring this old strip club and I came across the Urban Exploration community. I fell in love with the idea because Malaysia has been on lockdown since June. It is only now that the restrictions have eased and I can actually go back to work in the office.
For days now, I have been dreading the idea of going back to work in the office. The thought of wasting time in traffic jams and most of all being away from my little boys made me a little sad. But also in a way, I felt quite ready to be up and about.. just NOT the traffic jams I guess. So yesterday was my first day back in the office and everything proved to be exactly how I pictured it. I spent half an hour trying to make what is usually just a 5 minute drive to the highway, I spent another one and half hours trying to get home after work! Then I read all about the different urban exploration adventures and thought that I could do it and that is exactly what I did today.
The coffee joint that I used to visit a lot before the lockdown. Just come down the lifts from my office and voila! Morning coffee!!
My journey started off from the lobby of my building and I walked along the connecting bridges to the main station building which is about 5 minutes walk. The place the was still very quiet as many people were still working from home.
Right out the door of my office building, I am so glad for the wonderful connecting bridges
No one at all, it was almost creepy! This is the main part of the bridge that connects many different office buildings??!!
Yes, I still have to work but I took a little more time off lunch today and explored the KL Sentral area which if the main transportation hub in Kuala Lumpur. All the different trains services converge here like the LRT (Light Rail Transport), MRT (Mass Rail Transport) and Monorail to different parts of town. You can even take an Express Rail Link to the main KLIA International airport and you get there in half an hour, which is by far the fastest way to get to the airport. If you took a taxi or drove to the airport it would take you at least 45 mintues to 1 hour. My office is actually within the KL Sentral development and I haven't been here for about 4 months.
Passed by the Express Rail Link service to the KLIA International Airport...once again sooo quiet
This is the welcome sign for visitors directly opposite the exit
We continued walking through the main station to get to the Nu Sentral shopping mall. Yes, we got to see more people here
The main station building connects to many different office buildings and hotels. We have 3 main ones here namely, Le Meridien, Hilton and St. Regis
Entrance to the KTM Komuter trains that go interstate
Entrance to the LRT trains that go around the KL and Selangor area
We finally got to the entrance to the Nu Sentral Shopping Mall, a lot of shops were now open and in order to get to Brickfields, we had to cut through the mall
My colleague and I decided to then head over the Brickfields which is also known as the Little India of KL because I was craving for banana leaf rice. The area is pretty old and has many little nooks and crannies where you can look for food and specialty shops.
This is a picture taken of the street view of part of the Brickfields area from the overhead bridge
Our destination is a well known to the locals food court tucked away in a kind of shack like structure, well a big shack like structure. If you were a visitor to this place you would never find it!
See what I mean? You walk through this alley way and no signs??!!
This is the food place that we came here all the way for. Yummy!
This is my banana leaf rice and the dishes that I choose. Hard boiled egg with chili sambal, eggplant in curry and fried baby bitterguard! So so so good! I am just glad that we have to walk quite a way back to the office. I thought I was going to roll like a barrel! LOL!
There are also many other choices like pork noddles, chee cheong fan and yeong tau foo. This is basically fish cake and beancurd.
Once again, it is really surprising to see places in KL so quiet. I remember this place to be bustling with people and street vendors galore! So many things to see, do and shop. Sadly, every second shop had their roller shutters pulled down with a for rent/sale sign stuck on it. Yes, signs of our current times.
Different shops where you can get nice Indian sarees and Punjabi suits. Further down the street is where you will see quite a few shops closed down for good which is so sad.
We walked by some street vendors and I remember these "kacang putih" stalls from my childhood. Basically it is a nut and snack vendor. Kacang Putih literally translates to "White Peanuts" No, I don't know why they called it that! LOL! I will have to ask around but will definitely let you know when I find out.
Another local vendor selling local buns (you can see them hanging from his tent) and hot milk tea and coffee! People who pass by will just stop, grab a tea and bun. Pretty similar I guess to the western practice of grabbing a sandwich and drink?
We walked past these arches and once again I was struck at how few people were out and about.
Finally we got to the connecting bridge to the Nu Sentral Shopping Mall which would connect us back to the bridges that connected to the different office buildings and eventually my office tower.
Phew, I am just glad that I took this adventure. I enjoyed time chatting with my colleague, good food and took in the sights and sounds of "Little India" in KL.
Thanks for coming on an adventure with me and I can't wait to read about yours! Hopefully we may be able to visit some of these places soon?
See ya!
Xoxo
Khim
It's not really Urban Exploring, perhaps I should update the details. Buildings tend to look like this in explores! Like dropping to bits.
Thanks @slobberchops appreciate the tip. Will note to do this kind of building instead. So sorry, as I thought it was adventures in the city! Will make sure to follow the next post!