Jogging @ KLCC Park

We’re running out of parks to visit. Looks like we might soon be going back to our routine. Bummer. There are only so many lakes you can go run around, I guess. Well, this Sunday morning, it’s the KLCC Park. It’s not easy, I tell you. Do you have any idea how it feels to be walking through the Shopping Mall and not … actually shopping? (Partly cos no stores are open at 8am, and partly cos I’m here to exercise my body, not exercise my credit card). It’s agony. But having said that, I do like the feel of a quiet, empty mall. It’s almost like being in a place of worship. You feel a sense of awe, of reverence, makes you want to drop down into a lotus position and start to meditate. We don’t do that, of course. Instead, we march past it all and go out into the 20-hectare park.

The fountain area is full of workers hard at work cleaning it out. Yeah, they should. Clean up the garbage before the 10am lepak crowd throngs the place to hang around on the steps, throw rubbish on the ground and have Ramly burger picnics on the tiled floor.

Anyways, the KLCC Park jogging trail starts here – somewhere to the right of the fountain area, where the Convention Centre is. So used to being on tarred road all the time, I’m not used to the rubberised path, but it’s definitely easier on the joints. Looks incredibly inviting too. By then, there are quite a lot of people at the park – families, kids, photographers and several serious runner-types (you can always tell from their tanned, toned arms and legs – sigh).

I really like it here. Beautiful wide open spaces, plenty of cops around (just in case you decide to run amok and you know, tunjuk perasaan or something), quite a number of drinking water fountains – while I would never drink from them, it’s nice to see that they’re there. There’s also a kiddie playground right in the centre of the loop.

The entire trail is about 1.2km – a lot shorter than I’d expected. Along the way, though, you get to enjoy plenty of nice views …

… like the sight of ongoing construction …

… a humongous mosque (it wouldn’t be Malaysia if there weren’t a mosque nearby now, would it?) …

… and of course, the splendorous Petronas Twin Towers …

… I love the sight of the towers and no matter how many times I see them, they never fail to impress. I love how they loom majestically above everything and can clearly be seen no matter where you are in the park.

If I had to work in KL, this is where I’d like to be. Come 6pm, when everybody’s all busy crawling their way home in the mad KL traffic, I can nicely put on my workout clothes and go let off some steam in the park, come back up, shower and then, when traffic has eased, go home. Ah, that would be the life. Unlike where I’m working now (which shall remain undisclosed), there’s nothing green within nowhere. It’s very pathetic. Only plenty of lousy longkangs, rows of haphazardly triple-parked cars and a contingent of notorious snatch thieves that prowl the streets at lunch time. Sure, there’s a gym two minutes’ drive away but I don’t feel like paying money to climb stairs that aren’t there or run on a ‘road’ that goes nowhere.

We do our customary one hour thing and then, head out of the park and back to the mall. We toy with the idea of breakfasting in one of the cafés but decide against it cos we have no cash on us. Besides, nobody wants a bunch of sweaty, stinky girls sitting in their establishment, scaring away the customers.

Walking through the mall again at 9am, we’re again burdened by the guilt of being there and not buying anything. It’s a crime, I tell you. But when we get to the machine and have to pay a parking fee of RM4 for a measly one hour, the guilt quickly dissipates. Hmm. Guess my purse gets a workout after all.

Putrajaya Perdana Park

I’ve ever only gone to Putrajaya for work but this morning, my friends and I popped by one of the taman-taman awam in the area, namely Putrajaya Perdana Park in Precinct 1. There are quite a number of other tamans there – a botanical garden, wetlands, agricultural park and the hutan rimba – but we decided on PPP mainly to check out the jogging trail and the famed panoramic view (it’s located at the highest point in Precinct 1).

The park was easy enough to find (it’s next to Putrajaya Shangri-La). Upon arrival, we are greeted by a wondrous sight: an almost empty parking lot. I get a sense of déjà vu – a number of the places we go to also tend to be quite empty. I’m beginning to wonder if we’re the only nerds in Klang Valley who wake up so early to do this sort of thing on a weekend. Probably.

Ah, welcome to the park and here’s a long list of regulations. There are many things you’re not allowed to do here: cannot panjat any of the pokok, cannot throw stones or sticks, cannot pee into the pool or take a shower anywhere in the park, cannot start a bonfire, cannot fly kite, cannot bring your carpet here to wash and cannot bring dog (but can bring horse; such harsh double standards). With great disappointment, I rolled up my carpet and put it back into the car. Looks like carpet-washing Saturday will now have to wait till Sunday.

Walking past the entrance, we’re immediately ushered down a wide path landscaped with trees and water fountains to the Mercu Tanda right at the end. We are the only ones here at this point – the foreign workers there outnumber us 2 to 1. They’re there painting the seats, picking up dead leaves, cleaning the place and in general, gawking at us like they never see people before. Maybe they think we’re Japanese tourists or something.

And this is the grand landmark: the Mercu Tanda, which symbolises the beginnings of Putrajaya. It’s a time capsule, you know.

Go past it and you’re led to one of the highest grounds in the city where you can enjoy a panoramic view of practically the whole of Putrajaya. There are telescopes available and it’s a really great view too. Apart from this though, what strikes me is how quiet the city is – which to me is weird for a Saturday morning. It’s so still it’s almost like looking at a painting. I don’t see a single person down there. The only movement is from one bus and two cars on the road. Where’s the hustle and bustle of a vibrant city? Where’s the energy? The vibe? Oh well. Maybe Putrajaya folks are not morning people.

I really like the jogging trails here and there are plenty in this 158-acre very beautifully landscaped park. I read somewhere that of the many jogging routes here, the longest one is 1.5km. Yes, I’m aware I should have discovered this on my own instead of getting it from some other source but truth be told, I suck at gauging distance … just as much as I suck at reading those really big maps you get at the gas station.

At some point, along the jogging trail, we see a Kembara ambling towards us. I remember the big blue regulations sign out front expressly saying that “vehicles are not allowed on the footpath”. Sigh. So Malaysian. I can see tomorrow’s headlines now: Local Girl Mowed Down By Car In Park.

Farther down the trail, we bump into a car parked right smack on the footpath. It’s empty and the door is open. The driver’s probably jogging somewhere nearby.

We run around until we come to another park attraction: the Megalith Park, a collection of stones brought over from Tampin, Negri Sembilan – our very own mini Stonehenge. Being the semi-camwhore that I am, I take a pic of myself and clean forget to snap one of the prehistoric stones. Oops.

Before we leave, we pay a visit to the ladies. As we’re about to enter, a man with the eyes of a crazed killer armed with a mop and bucket comes out. Hmm. Definitely not something you want to see if you’re here in the evening and by yourself.

Anyways, the toilet is thankfully (and surprisingly) clean except that the flush doesn’t work. The flush doesn’t work because there is no flush. This may look like some sort of ashtray in the wall but it’s really where the flush is supposed to be. If you look closely, the pink dot is a hole that you can see through to the outside. Which means somebody on the other side of the wall can look in and you know, see you in there. Eeww.

And oh look, there’s also a hole in the door of that same stall. Why this place got so many holes one? If you ever go there, take my advice, steer clear of the last stall.

All in all, we spent one grand hour at the Putrajaya Perdana Park and my verdict? I like. It’s got enough variety in its routes to keep you going for a while without getting bored. It’s very clean and well-maintained and safe. It’s got ample free parking space. My only beef is that it’s too far from where I am, which means this is probably the one and only time I’ll be coming here. Or maybe I should just move to Putrajaya. After all, as we plainly saw, they could use a few more residents.

The Terry Fox Run 2008

I bought my Terry Fox 2008 T-shirt three days before the run. Sure, you can buy the shirts on run day itself but you know la, kiasu a bit. Apparently, last year’s run saw a turnout of 9,000 over people, so I can just imagine the last-minute T-shirt queue. But ha ha, looked like I wasn’t the only kiasu person around – by the time I got to the Canadian High Comm, there was only one shirt left! Lucky for me, it was an XXS and fit just nice.

True to kiasu tradition, my friends and I reached Taman Tasik Perdana at 7.30am this morning (still 1.5 hours until the flag-off scheduled at 9am). Car parks in TTP were already full, so we had to park over at the Tugu across the road. By the time we walked from the car to the assembly area, we’d clocked in about 1km already. My friends went to get their shirts. But since you don’t necessarily have to wear the Terry Fox shirt to run (purchase is really a donation to CARIF for cancer research), we decided to walk back to the car (+1km) to leave the shirts there and walk back (+1km) to the park. By the time we reached, we were sufficiently warmed up already!

From 8am onwards, the crowds started to thicken … it was a really good mix of people too. From older folks to young adults, kiddies to babies. Many cute little kids in their tiny Terry Fox T-shirts roller-blading, tri-cycling, cycling, being pushed around in prams, etc. So, you don’t have to run if you don’t want to or can’t. Just strap on a pair of skates or get your friends to push you around in a wheelbarrow.

At a little past 9am, Yasmin Yusoff took the stand to welcome everybody blah blah blah, and then, the run started. Finally!!

I turned on my ipod and … just as I’d expected, there were so many people that you could hardly walk, let alone run! It was a few minutes of halted half-steps, shuffling along a sea of people while making sure I didn’t step on somebody’s kid or injure somebody’s dog.

After a while, as I moved farther down the route, the crowd started to thin out a little. Ah, finally got room to run … that was when it began to be fun! So much more fun than say, doing loops around a lake and imagining you’d done six rounds when you’ve really only done four. With so many things going on, so many people running alongside you, time just whizzed by. And because the ground’s level all the way, 5 to 6 km was a breeze. Of course, the downhill parts were the funnest cos you’re zipping by with hardly any effort!

Before I knew it, the assembly area / finish line was back in sight …

… and by this time, accompanied by Mr Milo, Mr Teh Sabah and F&B tents with volunteers handing out muffins and other snacks. I was too thirsty to eat anything.

By the time we were ready to leave, it was about 10am or so … all in all, a fabulous way to spend a gorgeous Sunday morning! And for a very worthy cause.

No matter how many times I hear the Terry Fox story or see that iconic picture of him running with his prosthetic leg on the highway with the bustling traffic in the background, it never fails to move me. Come on, your heart’s gotta be made of stone to not be moved by that.

Long story short, Terry Fox – a Canadian athlete and humanitarian – was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of cancer that starts at the knees. At 18, he lost his right leg. At 21, he embarked on the Marathon of Hope – his goal was to run from coast to coast to raise $1 from each Canadian citizen for cancer research. He ran 42km every day from Newfoundland to Quebec to Ontario (that’s one full marathon every single day; most people manage about zero in their lifetimes and they don’t even have cancer). Terry had run for 143 days straight when he developed pneumonia and was forced to stop. He slipped into a coma and died in 1981. He was 22. The Terry Fox Run is, today, the largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research in the world.

8 Fun Things To Do In Our Very Own Central Park

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.

I went to Bukit Nanas. Somebody had to.

Okay, so I stole that opening line from Bill Bryson’s book The Lost Continent (which is hilarious, btw) but I think you can already tell just from that how my visit went. Yup. Uh huh. You got that right.

I wanted to visit Bukit Nanas because … uh, I can’t remember why. No wait. I do. I wanted to visit it cos it’s one of the oldest forest reserves in the country – over a hundred years old. It’s also the only tropical rainforest left in KL. It’s also named after a fruit. Besides, I read this on www.malaysiatravel.org.uk: “People, who love jogging, can have a good time here because certain paths in the forest are ideal for the activity. An open gymnasium is also accessible for everyone who could do with stretching and exercising.”

So, me and Siew Fun wake up early this fine Deepavali day and drive to the city. We get to KL Tower (the reserve’s located at the base of the tower) and it’s empty. Not a soul. I’m happy cos I don’t have to worry about fighting for parking space or bumping into picnickers.

We find the entrance to the forest reserve and just like outside, there’s nobody in there. Not a soul. My initial happiness fades a little. I see a stray dog in the bushes, scampering away. It’s deathly silent. Then I see this sign about poisonous animals like snakes, scorpions and some kind of bug. That’s when I start to feel a little creeped out. What if we bump into a poisonous animal or a really big dog? What if there are robbers in there? Who’d help us if something happened?? Siew Fun calms me down by reminding me that she can run really fast, so she can speed off to get help if I get mauled by a dog or something. Gee, thanks.

Because I’m a bit creeped out, I don’t feel like running. Or even walking, for that matter. So we trudge cautiously down the path. Trudge, trudge, trudge. There’s still nobody around. It’s like a ghost forest reserve.

The ‘jogging trail’ – if you can call it that – is a straight cement path that descends into a staircase. A really really long staircase. The cement path gives me a sense of comfort. At least we won’t ever get lost. So we trudge on.

A few minutes into the trail, we hear sounds. Yay! There’s somebody in here after all!! It’s … an old pak cik working his leaf-blowing machine. We walk past him. He ignores us. I swear, he must have the most boring job in the world. We trudge on.

After a while, we hear a whole other symphony of sounds. The sounds of … traffic. Buses are honking, people yelling, cars whizzing by. It’s not all that clear from the pic above but right out there is KL city in all its smoggy glory. Cough cough. Choke.

Now that we’ve seen one other living soul and have heard the familiar sounds of traffic, I feel a bit better. We pick up our pace a bit. After all, we’re supposed to be working up a sweat what. We run along until we come to a large tong unceremoniously dumped right in the middle of our path. Good grief. Talk about a breeding ground for aedes mosquitoes! It’s filled to the brim with stagnant water. It’s disgusting. We run past it.

Ooh, and here’s the highlight: we come to what the website called the “open gymnasium”. Our reaction? Holy moly. This place looks like a bloody stretching station in Pudu Jail!!! I can’t imagine families here. All I’m seeing in my mind are hardcore criminals with tattoos, ripped bandanas and cigarettes dangling from the sides of their mouths, cussing at the prison warden for forcing them to do hamstring stretches. Oh my god.

And look at this sign which says Senamriang. If you’re not Malaysian, allow me to translate: ‘senam’ is exercise and ‘riang’ is joyful. Joyful exercise??? This place looks like a freaking drug addict’s den! I can totally imagine them using this spot as a location to film a Pontianak movie.

The fact that we’re totally alone here makes the place even more eerie. On the other hand, because we’re totally alone here, it’s a perfect opportunity to do things like this:

And of course, wrap up with our usual tribute to Ribena Berry. We leave the Pudu Jail stretching station and make our way down the stairs. Run run run … until we come to a little orange house, which is of course, empty.

There are only two defining features about this spot: (1) you’re so close to the highway that you can literally hop out of the forest reserve and grab a bus; and (2) there’s a pond of stagnant water here too. What’s with these people? Haven’t they heard of aedes for crying out loud?!

Up until now, I have neglected to mention two very important things: the reserve is full of vicious mosquitoes (so every part of my body is, at this point, obviously being devoured by them) and cobwebs. Everywhere you go, there are cobwebs. It’s really gross, especially when you feel them all over your face and neck and shoulders … eeewww. I read that spiders can spin a strand of silk at the rate of six feet per minute. That’s amazing. Until that web is matted on your face, then it’s bloody gross.

This is the one toilet we find in the entire reserve and in true Malaysian fashion, it’s locked. I don’t understand. It’s like we’re a nation of people who don’t need to use the loo. “Yalor, we’re building this gigantic park and we’ve included all the essentials: confusing signboards, gaudily painted picnic tables and benches, the suspension bridge, the big animal mascot at the entrance to welcome people … what else, what else … what? Toilets? There’s already a toilet in the mamak stall three miles down the road what, some more need to build another one meh?”

Then surprise! We see somebody!! A fellow jogger. Wow! What? You don’t see her in the pic above? Look harder. She’s there! We saw her. We’re not imagining things. She was wearing black, had a bandanna wrapped around her head and looked really fit.

We then come to this red suspension bridge (see, I told you – every park in Malaysia sure got some kind of suspension bridge). The bridge carried a sign which said Welcome To Bukit Nanas Reserve and we’re like, huh? Welcome? You mean all this while we were not actually in Bukit Nanas, but some other place or what?

We get on the bridge and before soon, we’re out!! Yippy! The first thing I see once we get out is a man squatting on the ground, sorting through a pile of bricks. I’m so happy I snap his picture.

Now that I’ve been to Bukit Nanas, I can say one thing for sure – it’s small and I won’t ever go back there again. Okay, that’s two things. No, let’s make it three. Leaving the place, I felt a little sad. For a place that’s supposed to be the only green lung left in the heart of the city, I think that it deserves a bit more care and respect from the people managing it.

Doing The Rounds At Kiara Park

We’ve been going to Kiara Hill twice every weekend for over a year now and every once in a while, we pop over to the neighbouring Kiara Park. I personally like the Hill better cos it’s a tougher workout. The Park’s very pretty and all, but I don’t really fancy running around in circles … though, as you’ll see from the pics, it’s a pretty dang big circle.

Anyways, today, after finishing our Hill loop, we decide to venture into the biker’s trail that connects the Hill to the Park. The pic above is the entrance to the trail, from the Park’s end.

A young guy from the tau foo far van gave us a little tip: bring a whistle to signal to oncoming bikers that you’re in there so they can avoid crashing into you. Few minutes into the trail, I understand what he meant – the path is so narrow only one person can pass through, so it can be dangerous if an army of helmet-wearing, Spandex-clad bikers come charging through.

The biker’s trail is clear and very easy. I’d say no more than 1km in distance. My only beef is the giant mozzies. They’re the gross stubborn ones that won’t bugger off even when you jump around like a crazy person.

While we don’t encounter any bike nuts that day, there are quite a few runners. Apparently, there’s a Pacesetters event going on today (which explains the crazy parking situation earlier this morning).

Like I said, it’s a short trail. A few minutes in there and pop, you’re out at the other end.

And here we are back at the Hill again. This is the entrance into the trail from the Hill’s end. For some reason, there’s a sign that prohibits you from going in unless you’ve obtained permission for your … vehicle. What vehicle?

We then pop back into the trail and wade through the mozzie-infested air so that I could pay a proper pictorial tribute to the Park. In other words, so I could camwhore my way through the place. So here goes.

One of the things I like about Kiara Park is the stretching station. It’s not too shabbily maintained and it’s way better than at the Hill where you either stretch at the ’roundabout’ halfway up, or back at the bottom near the guardhouse with the monkeys looking at you all queer.

The entire park is built around a man-made lake. Beautifully manicured lawns, plenty of trees, water fountains …

… even a waterfall and a stream … Sigh. I wish I lived here … like in a house across the street la, not here as in the park itself. If I lived across the street, I’d come here every day! Ya ya, I know. You think yeah right, if you really lived here, you won’t la. Just like those people who buy condos with gyms and swimming pools. “I tell you, I’ll swim/work out every morning before work,” they say. And they never do. Well, maybe they do. One time. And they never do it again.

There’s even a section mid-loop where there are quite a few palm trees swaying in the hot, humid Malaysian air. Perfect setting for a Bollywood song and dance sequence. Hey, maybe SRK might want to come here instead.

But since SRK isn’t here (yet), Siew Fun feels compelled to do this: her personal rendition of Ribena Berry meets Kuch Kuch.

We’ve now gone past the halfway point on the lower loop and are now approaching the loo. I will always remember this spot because it’s where, once, I encountered a psycho dog that practically lunged out of the bushes as I was running past. I freaked out but I didn’t show it (dogs smell fear, you know). Instead, I picked up my pace and ran like a maniac. I had no idea I could be that fast. Fear is very motivating. I noticed several people running really fast alongside me too. I guess we were all scared of the doggie.

And this is the toilet (drumroll please!) …. For the longest time, this toilet has been closed. Every time we come, it’s locked … until today. It’s officially open for business!!! Pun totally intended. FYI, there are toilets near the stretching station too but I didn’t want to snap pics of that because they are gross. My advice: bring tissue paper and be prepared to hold your breath.

Okay, enough with the digression. Kiara Park is essentially made up of two loops: one circling the lake (which are all the pics you’ve seen so far) and a slightly tougher, more uphill one at the upper level. The easy loop is about 1km or so; the upper one about 1.5km. (Ya ya, I had a pedometer and I went a little nuts with it, so sue me).

There are several entrances into the upper tougher loop, one of which is the staircase pictured here. At any given time, there are people hanging around the stairs watching other people exercise.

If you do the lower loop before you attempt the tougher one, you’ll feel as if the latter never ends. The other difference is that your view – instead of a lake – will mostly be of monkeys. Don’t worry. They don’t bother you. Just don’t throw things at them. Or look them in the eyes. Or make fun of them.

I wish I had more time to take more pictures of the upper loop but it was quickly getting very hot and I felt like I’ve had enough of feeling like a cheese pita baking in the oven. Maybe I’ll do it the next time I come here but I’m warning you: it’ll be pictures of cement paths and monkeys and cement paths and more monkeys.

But all in all, I really do like Kiara Park. Whenever we’re here, we try to average 5 to 6 rounds (a mixture of lower and/or upper loops). I wish I could say that excludes warm-up but it doesn’t!!! On the plus side, we’ve done a mighty fine job of not succumbing to the temptations posed right outside the park entrance. There’s a guy selling ice-cream out there, you know. Ha. And they wonder why more and more people are becoming fat and obese and diabetic.

Bungling About To Cherakah

It was a long weekend and we wanted to be a little adventurous because you know, routine is the enemy. So, we decided to check out Bukit Cherakah in Shah Alam instead of the usual Kiara drill. After all, a few rounds around a humongous agricultural park would be a perfect start to the day – right? Wrong.

We drive to Shah Alam early Saturday morning, on the lookout for road signs – a fatally stupid thing to do knowing how dumb road signs are this part of the world. All of us Malaysians are well aware of our city planners’ quirky little tendencies. For instance, they love planting trees … right smack in front of road signs; they love placing signs a few feet AFTER the turning; and they love teasing hapless road users and leading them on. You’re on a road and you see signs with Jinjang, Jinjang, Jinjang and then you come to a cross junction and there’s no Jinjang sign. You take a stab at it and turn say, left. You’re fumbling in the dark when suddenly, Jinjang comes back again but instead of Jinjang, it’s Jinjong or something. Being Malaysian, you follow Jinjong because you also know that they love interchanging road names for fun. (Oh yes, they also love changing road names for fun – read my previous post).

Okay, here’s an interesting little aside: Bukit Cerakah is also known as Taman Bukit Cahaya. I don’t know why it’s no longer Cerakah. Our theory is that too many Chinese people who can’t pronounce the letter ‘r’ were calling it Celaka, which is like, you know, not a good word. And so they changed it to Cahaya.

So anyways, there we are bungling about Shah Alam to locate Cherakah. We find signs that say Taman Bukit Cahaya … few minutes down the road, we see a sign which said Taman Tasik Shah Alam. Um, is this the same place or what? In we were in say, Singapore, two different names most probably refer to two different places but not here. In Malaysia, two (or more) names can refer to the same place one, so who can ever tell? We continue driving and surprise! We see Taman Bukit Cahaya sign again … after a while, we don’t see it anymore. Instead, we see Taman Botani Shah Alam or something along those lines. Um, so is this Botani place the same as the Cahaya place or what? We take a chance and follow the Botani sign. Not too long after, we arrive at Taman Bukit Cahaya. Finally! So good lor.

But we get there only to be told by some dude that the taman isn’t open yet. What??? It’s bloody 8am! What kind of taman isn’t open by 8am?? Ya ya, I should’ve double-checked before we came but still!! Apparently, this taman opens only from 9am to 4pm, is closed on public holidays and costs RM3 to get in. Celaka. Excuse me, I don’t know who’s managing this place but come on, who in this country goes hobbling around some taman in the afternoon? Want to get skin cancer or what?

Long story short: we decide not to wait and head back to Kiara Hill. There’s no point letting a beautiful morning go to waste, is there? On the way out, I snap a pic of what I think is probably one of the longest road names ever. Well, at least something came out of this little detour.

A Walk In Perdana Park

Ah, Taman Tasik Perdana (aka Lake Gardens) … the city’s oldest and most popular park. Apparently, it dates back to sometime in the 19th century! I’ve been there a few times and I never knew that. The thing with TTP is that it’s big (all 91 hectares of it) and pretty well-maintained. Walking around there, I couldn’t help but wish there were more places like this in Klang Valley.

TTP is essentially one humongous man-made lake with everything built around it. Except for the fact that it’s right in the city (minus 10 points), it’s a great place to go walking/jogging/running. Only thing is, because it’s big, you might lose sight of your friends unless you’re all joined at the hip.

There are roads and nicely constructed paths for joggers. But because the ground is level, you won’t get any uphill action here. The only ‘climbing’ you’ll do is if you decide to sprint up the steps leading to the Memorial Tun Razak (not a bad idea actually – just run up two or three steps at a time really fast and do the entire stretch three times; then pengsan).

Inside TTP are many mini gardens, the first of which was the Oasis Garden.

We came to a spot called Taman Paya Bakau Manjung Perak where miniature mangroves were grown for display. They were kinda cute and I thought it was a good idea that they used this to introduce visitors to a park near Lumut, where you can go to see virgin mangrove swamps in natural surroundings. See. You learn something new every day.

At one point, we came to what they call a Boathouse, except that there’s no house, just sampans. There were no caretakers there either, so we were crushed. We were really looking forward to an afternoon of rowing the sampan and frolicking with the ducks. Oh well. Maybe next time.

We then came to the Edible Garden. Officiated by the PM’s wife apparently. This must be a part of their big campaign to get all of us to plant vegetables in our garden and exchange them with our neighbours so that we all don’t have to go to the pasar tani anymore and can therefore save lots of money even though they raised our petrol prices and we’re coughing up blood to pay for everything else.

Having said that, it’s a very pretty little Edible Garden. I wonder if it’s technically right though. To me, edible garden means, get on knees, pluck a leaf/flower/fruit, chomp away and not be poisoned like that poor guy in Into The Wild. I don’t know. Can you eat Tongkat Ali as is?

After going halfway round the lake, near the Memorial Tun Razak, we needed to go to the ladies. And guess what? Don’t have. Found some guy in a pondok and asked him where the toilets were. He said there was only one over here and it’s rosak. Bummer. He told us to go that-a-way towards the cafeteria. Maybe that one’s open but I don’t know la, he said. We went over to the next building and there were no signs or anything. Found another guy there and asked him where the toilets were. He told us here got one but not open yet (it was already 8.30am). He got on his kapchai and went to get the key to open it up for us.

Funnily enough, the toilets flanked the entrance to this hall (one side ladies, the other side gents some more). I’m no architect but um, is it like not a good idea to do this? Maybe they just really hated Tun Rahah, whoever he was.

There was a stretch of road where we saw many banners, one of which bore the headline ANGKASA UNTUK KESEJAHTERAAN MASYARAKAT, which translates to mean SPACE FOR SOCIETY’S WELL-BEING. Huh? What that mean ah? From what I understand, our Angkasawan spent over 100mil to tumpang some Russian dude’s rocket to space where he spent his time playing batu seremban and eating rendang balls. Okay okay, so he didn’t spend his time playing batu seremban and eating rendang balls. He spent his time conducting very important, scientific experiments that helped bring glory to our nation. Whatever.

Speaking of rendang balls, this is a billboard for the cafeteria. I thought they were serving turtle at this cafeteria. Looking closer, I realised it was really a disintegrating picture of a plate of steak. Ha ha ha!!

We finally came to the end of the TTP loop and fittingly, stumbled upon a long, skinny tape worm. See pic of slimy, wriggly tape worm above. Eww. Gross. And now, I shall end my post.