http://leatherpotato.com/2023/12/20/klcc-christmas-prelude-to-our-visit-pt-1/
http://leatherpotato.com/2023/12/17/shes-in-town/
As we got on the northbound LRT train towards Gombak (the other way is southbound, heading towards Putra Heights); I still hadn’t reached that “Yay! let’s go to KLCC” mood level yet. I was quite apprehensive that it was going to be overly crowded. Getting on the train itself met with quite a bit of a crowd. We managed to get seats as we got in.
Throughout the journey, the train met with near full capacity status. At one of the stops, an elderly couple got on board. Jeannie and I immediately got up to offer our seats. A couple of young ladies got up to offer their seats to us; we, who were slight-ly older than them.😉
We were at KLCC soon enough. Sure beats driving down to K.L. which usually requires a lot of energy sapping concentration due to the usual heavy traffic.
The shopping mall was as expected – crowded. However, we still could move around without physically bumping into people. We walked to the happening place, where the main Christmas decorations were up. The whole shopping mall was in Christmas mode with all its decorations, music and festivities. I will always love toys. What better way to know the latest and the greatest is when they are introduced just in time for Christmas. I figure that toys are an excellent way to get kids and adults away from screens – phone screens, pad/tablet screens, tv screens, cinema screens.
Here I am 🎅👆, in the two pictures above; inspecting the gingerbread train. Got such thing, meh? (Local English for: “Oh really! Is there ever such a thing as a gingerbread train?” You may be forgiven to think that this a subtle “Teva” brand advertisement (hint, hint).
We had to take a break from the festivities of walking the length and breadth of KLCC Shopping Mall for a while. Jeannie bought some curry puffs and other delights. Just before this break, I managed to find a writing instrument at Kinokuniya Book store for my mini folio.
The eats from “Kampong Kravers” was very, very tasty. You guys, if you ever do come to KLCC, should have a go at the variety of food they have on offer. At reasonable prices, too. Jeannie got a couple of can-packed coffees, both from the Pokka brand. Their premium rich coffee was quite nice. It did not have that bitter after taste that comes with most coffees in a can. Their Mocha was quite nice, too; though I stuck with their premium rich coffee.
My wife, Jeannie; as usual, signed us up for the gingerbread decorating session. “Why, or why?”, I kept asking myself.
Some people around me may have thought I was a bit whacky, what with the waving my hand this way and that, raising and lowering it, opening it and closing; all these actions in front of my phone, sort of hand gestures with the hocus-poke us, abra-ca-de-bra magic mantra saying, trying to get the phone to do something. In this case, it was to take pictures.
When, the decorating session started, Jeannie and I were the two oldest amongst the children. Before long, we could hear kids telling their parents, “Stop helping me. I want to decorate on my own”. Those parents may have thought either their kids needed help to compete against us, or they themselves wanted to decorate gingerbread cookies but were to shy to come forward on their own. Now, they made it seem that they were “helping their children”. How mischievous could that be?
Jeannie told me that we weren’t (old word, not used in a long time. Pronounced as “weren’t”. However, locally pronounced as “wer-ren’t”) decorating gingerbread cookies. There were actually butter cookies.
That was fun. Especially getting to eat the decorated cookies after that. We were soon on the LRT train heading back towards Putra Heights, but had a stop to do, which Jeannie kept insisting we had to make. And that was to “Pasar Seni” or Central Market, where the artsy people gather to sell and buy stuff. It was only 4 stops from KLCC.
The weather held up pretty good, as we had to walk about 5 minutes (including crossing the very busy streets where vehicles do not respect pedestrian zebra-crossings at all.
With a bit of patience, we managed to get across the busy street. When we got into Pasar Seni, we were greeted with a new, large grocery store, surrounded with many eating places. There was as usual, a wide variety of foods that one could choose from. Pasar Seni, besides the new grocery store and eating establishments, was as usual, a hive of activity.
Before long, (actually it was quite a long time), the Batik Influencer, Jeannie; had canvassed some of the grounds at Pesar Seni for what was new on the batik scene. She purchased several pieces of batik and a very traditional blouse for herself. She was happy.
I, in the meantime, came across Koopi, a new coffee brand in town. The booth was manned by Kate Poon and her mother. They were promoting their new brand (at least to me, it was new) by giving out taste samples.
Kate is a very approachable person. She was full of passion for her product. She was not trying to sell coffee. She was promoting an experience, a wonderful experience at that. A business that she runs with her father. She comes from three generations of kopitiam business. From the samples I tried,I liked the coffee. I purchased the different types of coffee they were promoting. Keep a lookout for my review on Koopi coffees.
We had to make our home as it had been quite a long morning and afternoon expedition. The train ride back home was not as crowded as when were we heading to K.L. We reached home with just enough time to freshen up and meet Laura and her boyfriend, Praga; for dinner.