My aunt – a bubbly, hunmourous lady who has a deep passion for art and Bali-style architecture/products and backpacking (she went to Yunnan, China for a solo backpacking trip), also shares with me a penchant for earthy tones and Zen-esque designs. Last weekend on Mother’s Day, she brought me out for a trip to Central Market for an art exhibition, as well as a hiking trip to Gasing Hill (known as Bukit Gasing locally).
Art for Grabs, an art exhibition at Central Market
Visiting Central Market on a weekend gave me a different feeling than a previous trip to the same place on a weekday (Jeremy and I visited the place last Tuesday). The place was crwoded, tourists and locals swarming around the place hunting for souvenirs and artisic works. We headed right for the Central Market Annexe after asking a guard where the exhibition was held.
There was a photography exhibition on the second floor, where we lingered for awhile with my other aunt and my grandaunt. Love the portrait shots over there, and they remind me that I still need to get seriously started with portraiture photography. So far one year after getting a dSLR, I’ve only been shooting inanimate objects, landscape and architecture, very little about people in a personal approach.
On the third floor, we met Tako, a brilliant miniature model maker and artist. Today she wasn’t selling anything (just like my aunt, I love her lomo camera miniatures!) – I hoped that she would be because I can’t wait to grab some really lovely miniatures. With her friends, Tako set up a stall, thrid one from the main door in the crowded but peaceful (there was not pushing or shoving, surprise!) exhibition room, displaying a few sets of miniatures on the tables. Here are some of my favourite:
Miniature models - At the barber shop
Miniature models - Table at a bakery shop
Miniature models - The Florist
We settled for lunch at a Thai restaurant in Central Market. I love the ambience of the place – lime green (not neon green though, that would be weird) walls and ceilings, wooden chairs and tables and the dimmed down lighting. The cutlery we were using seemed to be of really great quality, and my aunt and I love the tea spoon they used for the green tea we ordered. It’s slightly heavy, but not too tiring on the hands and feels different from other tea spoons I had at home. Four of us (my two aunts, grandaunt and myself) had fried tofu, tomyam soup, simple stir-fried vegetables and chicken. The restaurant serves one of the best Thai food I’ve ever tasted, especially the tofu! I’m not a person that really likes tofu but their tofu totally changed my mind – it didn’t have the heavy, sickly beancurd taste in it, and wasn’t oily at all.
Hiking at Gasing Hill
After lunch, we split – my other aunt and grandaunt headed home for the Sunday evening market while my aunt drove us to Gasing Hill for an evening hike. Gasing Hill is a gazetted area measuring around 280ha big, located between Kuala Lumpur (the Federal territory) and Petaling Jaya, a large suburban sprawl in Malaysia next to the city.
We travelling along the well-walked paths, so there was no way we could get lost in the jungle. Plus, there were quite a lot of hikers that day, taking a break from the tropical heat underneath the cooling, protective canopies of the prime forest. At the first 15 minutes we met this caucasian guy who was very friendly and greeted us with his cute cuddly beagle. Oh, I’ve always wanted a beagle!
Around 25 mintutes into hour hike, we came across this burnt patch of forest. It was out on the papers today (I wonder why it took so long for them to publish the article) – the fire was probably started by drug addicts who wanted a quickie in the middle of nowhere, equipped with candles, matches or lighters. Being totally irresponsible people, they started the fire which razed around 2ha of the reserve, around 1% of the total area. What a shame.
Walking through a burnt patch of the forest reserve.
Further deep into the reserve, we came across this suspension bridge. Pretty cool eh? An interesting thing is that the bridge is just a 5 minute walk away from the nearest home and street. That’s because the reserve is actually surrounded by housing developments aproved by the government eager to expand the city in the expense of nature – they couldn’t be bothered with conservation.
On the suspension bridge.
So here it is, the photo of my aunt on the suspension bridge. The bridge was sturdier than I thought, so I kept my camera on my hands instead of stuffing it in the bag. It’s around 30 feet above the tiny stream below, not too low but not too high either – the Goldilock’s height, just nice!
A photo of yours truly, on the suspension bridge.
Here’s a photo of yours truly on the bridge. Now that’s how I look (well, consider it a rare chance because I rarely reveal my face). I did airbrushed out a big zit on my nose, but other than not, it’s not photoshopped. I’m getting my braces tightened now, by the way. I’m changing the colour as well because it’s too hideous (partially, that’s the reason why I desaturated the photo).
We initially wanted to enjoy the moment after the hiking at the nearby A&W restaurant, sipping on their root beer, but we lost our way in the complicated web of roads and streets so in the end, we drove to my home and I made her a cup of iced Korean tea as a way to say thanks for the hiking trip :) she goes hiking on a weekly basis, so I’ll most probably be tagging along every Sunday then!
开始那一段你是在形容我么？hmmm～我好像不认识这样的人哦～
另外我要和你说的是……你没有拍到TAKO的作品！上面那3个miniature都是她朋友做的～哈哈～你要赶快改正一下哦。（可以去去ＴＡＫＯ的网站看）
这些手作小女生真的很厉害！
Check out nann nann biaoyi’s latest blog post » 终于见面了，TAKO和她的手作。
对啊，就是在形容你。You just don’t know how good you are :) heheh.
噢，那些不是TAKO的作品吗？哎呀，好可惜，竟然人到Central Market都没有拍到她的艺术品。
Hi, just surfed here from ping.sg. Great photos on your blog, especially like the infrared shots!
Wow, didn’t realise that Bukit Gasing was that…rainforesty (haha, all I could come up with). I had always assumed that it was just a little slope with steps cut into it! Will definitely visit the next time I’m home!
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Thanks for the kind words – I rarely have random visitors dropping comments, so thanks again for taking some time to leave a comment.
Bukit Gasing isn’t as rainforesty as you expect, I’m afraid :P it’s nothing different that the secondary forests in Singapore, the canopy is rather empty and doesn’t have that ‘tropical jungle’ feel. But well, nothing beats spending an evening climbing up and down the paths. Tiring but time well spent.
Do you visit Malaysia very often?
Yep, I’m back in Malaysia at the end/beginning of every year. Hooray for AirAsia’s cheap flights!
Well, I’m actually glad that Bukit Gasing’s not TOO rainforesty. Means that there would be fewer leeches leaping out at me. Bad enough that I’ll be sweating blood to get to the top, I can’t spare any for the slimy little buggers!
Check out Chubby Zebra’s latest blog post » Milkmilk from the Couscous
Surprise! There aren’t any leeches in Bukit Gasing at all. We’re walking on dry land almost all the time (except for crossing a stream so tiny it has less flow than the drain outside my home). The terrain is a little rugged midway through – you climb all the way down to find the tiny stream I mentioned, and then all the way up again. It’s a valley!
I remembered this trip my friends made to Taman Negara (National Park) in Malaysia, and he found a leech in his groin. I wonder how did it get in at the first place – given that my friend sealed up all possible routes of entry by typing all openings around the legs and hands with strings. Spooky stuff.
The miniature models look soo cool! What are they made of? Clay?
Your pictures are looking as awesome as always too Teddy. Sorry I’ve been lurking your blog a lot lately but haven’t been commenting! =0
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i never hiked bukit gasing although i was pretty close to it when I was in UM..haha
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You seemed to have had a wonderful time! Lovely photos. Those miniatures were so darn cute. I especially loved the bakery one! hehe, not much of a surprise, right?
That is so terribly sad about the forest catching on fire! All because of some really poor choices of some really irresponsible people! Such a shame. The forest seems like a beautiful area too. The suspension bridge! Ahh, I have never seen one of those. Seems a bit scary but I would so love to cross one. Haha, if I were to come visit you, you’d be so shocked by all the things that would fascinate me over there! I would nag you with so many questions, lol.
Nice photo of you btw, I can tell how much you enjoyed yourself! :) Very impressive aunt you have, Teddy! She seems to be in good health & shape from the photos and all the things you’ve told me she does. I would love to go on hikes every week! So much fun, I bet.
Haha, I love your honesty about photoshopping out a pimple. Too funny!
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Yes, being a big food lover, I love the bakery table miniature set too! Yummy.
I never knew there was a suspension bridge in the reserve until my aunt told me about it. It is actually very sturdy, a little wobbly though, so if you’re afraid, you will want to make sure that there’s nobody crossing the bridge at the same time as you. I remembered going for this canopy walk in Penang (the bridge was around 50ft off the ground) and my stupid friends were jumping on it. I freaked out pretty badly… and my legs were still shaking after I’ve reached solid ground, lol!
Thanks! It’s one of the few photos I’ve posted of myself because I’m quite shy and self-conscious, teehee.
Now the pimple has turned into a black head (some dirt, dead skin cells stuck in the sebaceous gland). Mom thinks she’ll need to get someone to squeeze it out for me, or else she’ll do it herself. NOOOO.
ah…A&W root beer!! suddenly i’m craving for that so much!!!! :(
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ooo…miniature model..reminds me of the CSI episodes hehehe
i have heard so much about Gasing hill but i havent actually gone there b4…so neat yet so far…hmm…must go and visit soon…while it is still there ;)
Terry!! Wow you know, even when I was young, I always hated doing “masak masak” (those self-entertaining little plastic kitchen tools for kids to play). And I tell you, I was really impressed what Tako came up with. I thought those pretty miniatures are just adorable! Really got me ecstatic!
Also, I’m so jealous of you now, I wish I could’ve gone to the outbacks too! I bet I’m gonna see the “charred” look on Terry when he comes back.. So green with envy now..
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