Thursday, April 1, 2010

Finding Lake Titiwangsa in Scorching KL



I had to visit that white washed church I see from Jalan Pudu. By 9:30AM, I was walking towards St. Anthony's Church. Unfortunately, it was closed and would only open during Sunday mass. From there, I walked towards Chinatown area. New places I have never walked before, so it was nice despite sweat trickling down my shirt so early in the day.

From Pasar Seni station, I went to KL Sentral and changed trains via KL Monorail, 6 stations til the last - Titiwangsa Station! I wasn't sure if I should really walk as suggested by some site in the net: 10-minutes walk or take bus 120! There was a Bus Terminal just beside the train station, but they were all headed to the Genting Highlands. So I didn't have a choice, but to walk. After several tries in various directions, I was finally headed to the right direction, all the time basing on instinct and intuition since most of the people I asked from the roadside didn't seem to hear of a Lake Titiwangsa! The reason: they know it more as Taman Tasik Titiwangsa!

The walk turned out to be an arduous one that took 30 minutes under the scorching sun! After several curves on the trail, I reached a highway where Istana Budaya stands proud and mighty. It is a beautiful building which hosts musicals and cultural events. I went inside - no shows at the moment! I was to learn that 300 meters from the road beside the istana is charming Lake Titiwangsa!

The place is a lot better than the KL Lake Gardens, and the park grounds is huge and boast of several sections - fountains, jogging/race track, a huge colorful children's playground, gigantic trees, an events hall where a wedding reception was taking place. I loved the place! If only it wasn't so hot! All this sun was dissipating my soul into vapors of exhaustion!

I braced myself for the walk back to Monorail's Titiwangsa Station. I stopped several times along the way, fully aware of how exhausted I am. The ride back to Imbi's Berjaya Times Square was heaven! Cool AC fumes wafting through my train seat. I decided to watch a Malay film, "V3 Samseng Jalanan" which is another derivative action-drama-comedy-racing flick. I didn't have the constitution to finish the horrible film. Must have 30 minutes left but I just couldn't it further. I remember this movie ad with an erroneous message, "Malaysia makes great movies, and it's not just Malaysians saying it." This was their anti-piracy pitch, but heck! - Malaysia makes TERRIBLE movies! Whoever says that Malaysia makes great ones is one heavily inebriated soul!

For the record, I believe that Malaysia has done almost everything right - economically, culturally, etc. But movie-making isn't their strong point. They are among the worst in the region, I wonder why!

This is the Eye in the Sky!



Update: (March 12, 2011)


5 comments:

Trotter said...

Hi Eye! Excellent shot you have here! Surely much better than those movies you're talking about... ;)

Thanks for your support to Blogtrotter Two, now departing Miami by air; my Easter egg to you... ;). Have a great weekend!!

eye in the sky said...

to our 1st commenter: thanks for dropping a line.

eye in the sky said...

@ Trotter: I wonder why they can't make good movies.

pamatayhomesick said...

tele novela meron din kaya sa malaysia?

eye in the sky said...

Yes, Ever. They have telenovelas but they're mostly a mixed bag of drama-romance-slapstick comedy. I saw one prime time show called "Cuci Cuci Services" directed by Hans Isaac. If you have seen the new Bea Alonzo-John Lloyd Cruz movie (am sure aabot sa Kuwait yan ASAP) - "Miss You Like Crazy" - Hans Isaac is that Malaysian guy completing the love triangle in that movie. In "Cuci Cuci Services", he is supporting cast AND director - about a wacky group of for-hire drivers, slapstick a la "John en Marsha".

I even saw Angel Locsin in a "Head & Shoulders" commercial speaking Malay Bahasa.