Colours of Kuala Lumpur | Chinatown

It's been officially a month since I moved to Kuala Lumpur. Well, a little over a month as I went back to Macau for a bittersweet week for my visa run. How time flies. And yet I still feel like I'm floating around, haven't completely settled in despite the fact that half of my wardrobe from Macau is neatly placed in my new condominium room. The trip back home didn't help much realising just how much I missed my dear old Macau, perhaps not its bipolar Summer climate, but everything else. The food, the place, the littleness of it. Sigh. But I am back and I can't dwell on being homesick so instead, let's focus on the good sides of living in a new city.

For one, there are places to explore and that I did with my colleagues a little over a week ago. I've always been curious what's there to see in Chinatown and so one weekend afternoon, we decided to explore. From our place, it's around half an hour by car. There's really no more convenient way to get around here than taking GrabCar. Maybe I just haven't gone out a lot but from what I gather, the train system here isn't that well connected and spread out around the city. And so we live by Grab.

Got off at the main entryway to Chinatown, the famous Petaling Street. We were greeted by lots of red lanterns hanging from some dome-like structure above us. I mean, it's a typical Chinatown scenario if you've ever been to one. I thought there'd be something more. Aside from your local vendors selling knock off items and whatnot, the place was underwhelming.

We went specifically to look for a good place to have brunch, local style. Thinking of Chinatown, we thought it would be swarming with street food vendors. Alas, it wasn't. It took a few turns before we were able to find a food market that sold local food albeit a little overpriced than what we expected. To be fair, the portions were big and the food was good. But nothing too impressive.

But we were not fazed. We were determined to explore a bit more of that part of town so we went for walk around the neighbourhood. That's where things got interesting on my part as we strolled past old pastel-coloured buildings. Suddenly we're seeing charming little spots, concept boutiques and cafes, all that jazz that millennials are into. I'm a sucker for hipster places where old concepts blends with the new, and pretty much any place that's vibrant and full of colours. It was the moment I'd been waiting for to finally bring out my camera and snap some visuals. I felt so in my element and it has been a really long while.

Sadly, I only managed to get two with me being in the shot. It's hard when you're with people who aren't really into this silly photo-taking thing, I feel bad of having to make them wait while I do about with my business. But I made a note to go back on my own or perhaps with Penguin when comes to visit. Then you'll be seeing more. For now, I hope you like these visuals.

I wish I can be a bit more present with ya'll and with this space. But 90% of the time my head is occupied by work stuff. My work-life balance is non-existent at this point but promise this isn't permanent. Give a month or two more and my busiest phase will soon be over. Soon we'll be up and running like the good old days again. Yes, there is hope.

Until then, I'll be in and out, here and there. Bye for now!