8 Fun Things To Do In Our Very Own Central Park

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There’s a park next to 1 Utama. It’s called Central Park (but for the sake of not bursting my stitches, let’s not even go there okay?). I’ve been to 1 Utama about three zillion times – sometimes, twice in one day – and I’ve never been to the park. So today, on this sunny Saturday morning, I decide to right this wrong. That’s right. Today, I went to the Park Next To 1 Utama (which shall be known henceforth as PNT1U or ‘Pintu’ because ‘Tiu’ isn’t a word I want to have appear on my blog – not repeatedly anyway).

There weren’t many people and only a handful of cars in the parking lot. The park is small and you can probably rack up 10km if you run around it like 10 times. The first thing you notice is the place is kinda sparse tree-wise, so it starts to burn when the sun is out. We were pretty much the only joggers there; there were some women doing tai-chi and a couple of folks walking their dogs. Like any other park, the path circles a lake of muddy brown water littered with flies and garbage (plastic bags, Burger King party hats, empty paper cups, etc).

After doing a few rounds around the lake, I got bored. But don’t worry. Walking/ jogging/ running aren’t the only activities you can enjoy here at Pintu. The park comes fully equipped to provide visitors with plenty of fun things to do!

For instance, you can play games like ‘Where’s Water?’ It’s just like ‘Where’s Waldo?’ except that you follow this ‘stream’ of rocks all over the park to find water. Playing time: 2 minutes (depending on how fast you walk); Difficulty level: 3/5 (because the water can be hard to find).

Walk, walk, walk … not a drop of liquid in sight … just rocks and rubbish …

… After a while, we see a patch of water – eureka!!

… And discover that it leads out to the lake! Yippy! But hold your breath, boys and girls. That isn’t the funnest part of the game …

… The funnest part is the bonus round where you score an extra 50 points if you can spot the rubbish bin floating in the lake. Oh look! There it is!!

After you’ve enjoyed a round of ‘Where’s Water?’, you can invite all your friends over and have a barbecue party right next to the lake …

… or ride the (non-existent) electric train on an exciting journey through what appears to be a barely-started replica of the Great Wall of China …

… or guess the number of garbage bags left lying around the park …

… or buy imaginary snacks and drinks from the friendly (but invisible) vendors in these nicely constructed, nicely painted pondoks here …

… and when the sun is at its most vicious in the afternoon, visitors can head to the any one of the many gazebos along the path for some R&R …

… Pintu is also the ideal spot for pak-toh purposes, mainly because of the many flower-adorned gazebos which give off a heady romantic vibe. There are also many rubbish bins around (except for the one floating in the lake) so you never have to venture too far away from your beloved to throw away the stick of the Paddle Pop ice-cream or the plastic bag of the kueh bahulus you both just lovingly shared …

… not to mention the view: there’s the mall off in the distance and the endless stream of Bas Kilangs sputtering toxic fumes in declaration of your love …

… and after you’ve had a fun-filled day at Pintu, you can walk up this path which abruptly ends and know that your day too has come to an end. Tiu.

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Tags: exercise, fitness, health, park, running