A Tardy Weekend Post

Saturday was 'let's go somewhere new day', so we trooped off to Central Market. It's in the city center and a tourist trap for sure, a bustling indoor market selling primarily Malaysian arts and crafts. Still, it was nice to spend a few hours fingering batiked cloth and woven shawls. There were also lots of badly designed t-shirts featuring KL landmarks. Our favourite spot was the antiques and collectibles area, where we found a box of ephemera - old used envelopes sent from Chinese migrants working in Malaysia back home. Or so the stall holder told us. We'll have to go back when we have spare cash and sharper bartering skills. Attached to Central Market is the Annexe, where all manner of 'fine art' is housed. No, it was pretty cool. There was a street full of portrait artist, each with a small studio where you could watch them work. The quality was pretty darn good, and we chuckled over the idea of commissioning a family portrait. (Like the one of the Kennedy family hanging over their mantle in Neighbours.) The real reason we made the trip to Central Market though was for the Annexe Gallery, a great contemporary art gallery. We saw a wonderfully tactile show called 'Please Touch' by Simon Keogh. So we did, and it was good fun!

After lunch we wandered out onto the street and eventually stumbled across China Town. I was quite excited about this, but it turned out to be full of knock off designer goods and sweaty people sneaking up to us and coyly opening a vinyl wallet saying 'DVD for you? DVD?'. Not very exciting. Still, not much compares to soaking up the energy of a city and you know what, we didn't buy anything remotely tourist-y. Except for a bottle of water...


Can you believe we didn't take any photos in either Central Market or China Town? All the above images are from the streets in between these two places.