Jalan Jalan di Kuala Lumpur (Part 2)

We walked back to the National Mosque after spending about an hour at the Islamic Arts Museum. Took some photos and explored the outdoor compound of the mosque. 

I was wondering where the Makam Pahlawan was as I've been wanting to visit Arwah Uncle Ghafar's (the late Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba, Malaysia's 6th Deputy Prime Minister) grave which I have never gone to since he passed away in 2006. He was my late mother's boss when she was working at Pegi Malaysia Berhad back in the 1980s. I grew up knowing him as Uncle Ghafar and he called me Miss Kong's baby. I remember sending him back to his house in Jalan Duta after having dinner at the restaurant in Lanson Place together with Uncle Eng, Uncle Kamal and my parents. There were several occasions when we visited him at his Bukit Pantai house and the time we attended his 81st birthday party at Prince Hotel in KL. He surely was a very nice person who inspired me to take an interest in politics (at some point, I even wanted to be the first female Prime Minister of Malaysia).  Don't ask me what happened to that political dream of mine. 

We discovered a staircase leading up to the Makam Pahlawan. Unfortunately, the area under the dome where the graves of the late Prime Ministers (Tun Abdul Razak & Tun Hussein Onn) as well as Deputy Prime Ministers (Tun Dr. Ismail & Tun Ghafar Baba) are was locked. I could only say a silent prayer outside the locked gate. May their souls be blessed by the Almighty. Al-Fatihah

The area outside the covered dome where the graves of other national leaders such as Tun Syed Nasir Ismail, Tan Sri Khir Johari, Tun Ghazali Shafie (King Ghaz), Tun Omar Ong Yoke Lin etc are. 

Ok, Nad, where to next ? 

Walking back to the bus stop

Only had to wait for about 5 minutes for the bus to arrive. Air cond, we needed you badly!

Next stop, Sultan Abdul Samad Building. My favourite building in Malaysia mainly because of it's Mughal architecture (I am no design/architecture expert, source : Wikipedia)

The building was declared as a National Heritage in 2007 by the Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage, Datuk Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim

Any building with red bricks like this, iLike!

The best shot of our national flag, the Jalur Gemilang at Dataran Merdeka. Selamat Hari Malaysia, tanah air tercinta! Semoga bendera kita terus berkibar megah di persada antarabangsa.

Next stop, KL City Gallery. I didn't know about the existence of this place. You should definitely check it out the next time you're in town as you can learn a lot about the history of KL especially.

A video of the installation of our very first Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Duli Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad (not to be confused with our first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman)

Managed to find it on Youtube. What a gem!

Other historical events that were categorised by the year

I know it's senget but it's the only photo I have of this. We did it! If you don't have anything to do on a weekend, I suggest you go on a tour in KL just like you would when you go overseas. If you can do it in a foreign country, why not do in your own 'tanah tumpahnya darahku' ? You will appreciate the beautiful buildings, see things you never slowed down to see and learn something new about this amazing city that we live in.

Got our 'semangat patriotik' all pumped up! 

That's the Royal Selangor Club on the left

KL Tower in the background

Syafiq with his hat, all of us in sunglasses and with a camera hung on my neck, TOURIST mode : ON!

It was about 5pm when we decided to call it a day. Waited for the bus for nearly 20 minutes, turned out it was their break time. 

Based on my observation on that particular day, the GO KL bus was mainly used by Malaysians of the lower income group with a few exceptions : a Korean couple who happened to sit in front of us and I overheard them talking to each other in Korean, a Middle Eastern couple who brought a shopping trolley filled with things and us, the youngest riders on the bus for the day. Our bus ride back to KL Sentral took us around half an hour and since we were sweaty and hot, we decided to go to Bangsar for ice cream! Took the LRT to the Bangsar station which was one stop away from KL Sentral and walked all the way to Inside Scoop in Jalan Telawi. At least we burned off the calories before having the sinful desserts! Hehe

Waiting for our waffles & ice cream and resting our tired legs

 Nadia and I shared this. Green tea ice cream for her and salted caramel ice cream for me

Syafiq ordered the blackberry ice cream

Walked back to the Bangsar LRT and went our separate ways back home. The next day I KO-ed with cough and flu. Glad we went for this heritage walking trail though. Would love to walk around other parts of KL in the future. Anyone wanna come with me? :)

KLCC on a hazy Wednesday evening, a day before Syafiq left for JB

Jalan Jalan di Kuala Lumpur (Part 1)

I've been wanting to go on a walking tour around KL for a very long time but I never found the time or the people who wanted to go with me. Last Sunday, my cousin Syafiq came to KL to stay with us for a few days as it was the school holidays. Since it was a day before Malaysia Day, I thought it was a great idea to bring him around KL to see historic buildings and explore the city instead of bringing him to shopping complexes which are pretty much the same anywhere in Klang Valley. We challenged ourselves to only walk and use the free GO KL bus which we boarded at KL Sentral. We met up with Nadia at Nu Sentral for lunch and planned our route around town.

Lunch at Jeneris by Ahren. I loved their croissant with chicken mayonnaise filling. Avoided coffee and chose tea instead because I started coughing and feeling feverish.

I didn't know of the addition of 2 new lines : Red & Blue which started in May 2014. Thanks Jo Dee for the heads up! 

Our first stop : Masjid Negara, only about 5 minutes from KL Sentral

Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, completed in year 1910 (source : Wiki)

Lovely weather for a walk, slightly windy 

Found this in the station 

This has got to be one of my favourite buildings in KL

Continued walking around the area and found this. A few days before this walking tour, I just read Tunku Abidin's article "Running with a view" published in The Borneo Post on 22nd August 2014 : 

"Certainly only very few young Malaysians will know that Jalan Perdana was once Venning Road, named for Alfred Venning, the architect of the Lake Gardens and founder member of the “Europeans only” Lake Club who served as Selangor State Treasurer and Chairman of the Kuala Lumpur Sanitary Board".  For the full article, click on this link 'Running With A View'

This is why I love exploring a city by walking. I've been doing that a lot when I go on holidays overseas but then I realise I don't know that much about the city that I live in and the history behind certain road names. I have probably drove past this sign many times before but I never knew the old name for Jalan Perdana was Jalan Venning.

Entrance to the Islamic Arts Museum located a short distance away from the National Mosque. Entrance fees for students is RM 7 and RM 14 for Adults (Syafiq had to pay RM 14 because he didn't have a student card and the IC showing he is 16 years old didn't help).

Tourists in our own city

Amazed by the beautiful designs everywhere. I can spend a whole day at the art museum admiring all the tiny details at every nook and corner

The museum was filled with kids who were there for their school field trip. I didn't know they organise field trips even during school holidays. Our field trips used to be on schooling days and we would all be so happy we got to 'ponteng' a whole day of classes. They could be students from outstation, I guess.

"The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you" - Stephanie Perkins

Museum gift shops are my ultimate weakness. I had to stop myself from buying too many things. They were just too pretty and at reasonable prices! Ended up buying a laser crafted wood veneer bookmark and keychain, geometric pattern and Turkish flower motif magnet as well as a note book with a Ottoman empire mosque drawing. I had to say to myself 'Liyana, that's enough, go to the counter and pay now!' Haha

to be continued...
Click link below :)

 Jalan Jalan di Kuala Lumpur (Part 2)

Photos taken using Sony NEX 5N and the iPhone