One Night in KL - A Christmasy Shop-Hopping

Christmas Tree at Berjaya Times Square, December 2009.

One restless night in Kuala Lumpur, I skipped on festive lights and enjoyed what the city had to offer.

Berjaya Times Square’s gigantic Christmas tree always rises at their main centrum every December. For 2009, the tree stands on top of a circular log-cabin, presumably Santa’s house. Multi-colored incandescent balls surround the tree. Snow patterns hang in abundance from the ceiling, while a smaller cabin (Santa’s workshop?) stands beside the giant tree. This was a more ambitious project compared to 2008’s Christmas Tree (see photos for comparison). At Suria KLCC Mall’s atrium, a slimmer Christmas Tree is sidelined by a colorful Candy House. 

At its periphery, there are gingerbread sticks, candy canes and lollipops. Glittery balls hang from the dome above. At the Central Market, the decors are less festive, but shopping is hard to resist. I was stopping myself from buying those great paintings (two samples are posted here). I bought some postcards and found a Postal Shop inside, which saved me the effort to go to the nearby Post Office a hundred meters away. I bought a stamp for its Manila destination (0.50 ringgit/$0.15/PhP7).

I love evenings. I am a nocturnal animal. My brain works better and emotions are calmer. People are more relaxed. The solitary walks back to my hotel are fraught with keen observations of my surroundings, the streets where I walk, the people fidgeting, hurrying to go back home. Evenings are made to sooth the soul and recharge the spirit.

Christmas Tree at Berjaya Times Square, December 2008.

Christmas Belle and a starstruck child.

The dome at Suria KLCC Mall.

The Candy House at Suria KLCC Mall.

This and that at the Central Market.

Sarongs and garments at the Central Market.

Beautiful paintings (above and below) on display at the Central Market.

Lights at the Bintang Walk.

Here are some insightful quotes about “cities and night time” that I’d like to share:

"Night, the beloved. Night, when words fade and things come alive. When the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again. When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree." ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

"Every city has a sex and an age which have nothing to do with demography. Rome is feminine. So is Odessa. London is a teenager, an urchin, and, in this, hasn't changed since the time of Dickens. Paris, I believe, is a man in his twenties in love with an older woman." -John Berger

"By night, an atheist half believes in God." ~Edward Young, Night Thoughts

"In my age, as in my youth, night brings me many a deep remorse. I realize that from the cradle up I have been like the rest of the race - never quite sane in the night." ~Mark Twain

This is the Eye in the Sky wishing you a restful night!