I initially planned on waking up really early to avoid the crowds that would be thronging Lal Bagh in the days leading up to 26th January (India’s Republic Day), but given the cold weather, throwing aside my cozy blanket and getting out of bed early morning seemed near impossible.
So post lunch, I set off.
I parked my bike inside, paid the Rs. 30 entry fee and walked towards the glasshouseIt was 3pm -- and crowded!I walked around the glasshouse to get to the starting pointEvery year the organizers have one major attraction that's the signature showpieceThis flower show's main attraction was a Peace Pagoda, a Buddhist StupaThis one was modelled on the Buddha Sharira Stupa in Jeju Island, South Korea
Group of Annuals at the corner
Recognized some of the flowers from my last visitRight next to the Geraniums were the DahliasThey - were - pretty
These flowers were quite the hit among the public
Dhalias?
They had a section for orchids
Needless to say the orchids on display were nowhere near the orchid collection I saw in Singapore’s Orchid Garden.
This was the other part of the main attractionI don't know what the inspiration behind this piece of work wasLook, a flower swan too
Wonder what flowers they used
I would say the big attraction was quite impressive his yearThis section was being arranged by a floral arts schoolIt wasn't just flowers they were usingThey had floral arrangements inspired by select Indian states and their respective cultural contributions
This arrangement inspired by Indian classical dance
Inspired by Kerala's symbolic kathakali dance
These rose-like flowers looked really niceWhat the flower is actually called
The ever so interesting cockscomb plant
The Indian flag made using coloured rice grains and our national anthem written using mustard seedsA portrait of the Taj Mahal made using rice grains
It was time to leave
I actually did two rounds — first with my wide angle lens mounted on the camera, and then a second round with my Tamron 28-75mm macro lens.
This is why I need the Tamron lens for such occasionsI love taking such shotsTook the final few shots of the main attraction at this year's flower show
I had spent well over an hour inside the glasshouse
There weren’t many new flower varieties on display inside, many of which I had seen in the last flower show I attended. Still, I got my money’s worth of photographs.
Saw a kid outside blowing soap bubbles and I had the spontaneous instinct to just click this bubbleI'm glad I did -- check out that reflection!Followed the bubble as the wind lifted it up in the sky -- until it burstHistory of the glasshouse at Lal BaghWent up to the fountain
Played around with shutter speedsSlow shutter speedFast shutter speedI was quite enjoying thisOkay fine, I'll stopI stepped away from the fountain
It was nearing 5pmI walked backMade a quick visit in here before leaving
What's a visit to an attraction in India without the presence of these guysInside here, this was drawing a lot nearSo was this sand sculpture paying homage to one of India's greatest epics
The branches look like reindeer antlersAll in all, a good photo session
I wonder what the organizers have in store for this year’s Independence Day Flower Show.
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After concerts by Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd tribute acts, it was a time for another tribute concert organized by Gigbox. But this time, it was for a far more recent band — Coldplay.
If you are wondering “why Coldplay?,” well then, you probably aren’t aware of the slew of hits the British Band have produced since 2000. Coldplay (and Linkin Park) are undoubtedly two of the biggest bands to come out of the 2000s, and both are still going strong. Sales in excess of 50 million worldwide and hit singles from four studio albums — that is enough material for a tribute band to play in Coldplay’s honour.
I wasn’t expecting as many people as there were for the Breathe – The Floyd Sound concert, simply because Coldplay’s fanbase isn’t as big as a legendary band as Pink Floyd. Plus, April 2nd was the Cricket World Cup finals which India won, so most of the city was still reeling in the joy (and hangover) of last night’s match.
But being a massive Coldplay fan, there was no way I was going to miss this show.
The opening act was American solo artist Thom Chackon.
His music was mostly acoustic fare with a country vibe
Here’s a video of some songs he performed:
Thom Chackon performed a good 6 to 7 songs
Once Thom Chackon left, it wasn’t a long wait before Coldplayer hit the stage.
I didn’t record “Violet Hill” in full because I needed to conserve space on my camera memory card.
The band were dressed similar to how Coldplay dressed for the Viva La Vida tour
One of Coldpay’s greatest songs – “Clocks”
More songs from A Rush of Blood to the Head (“In My Place” & “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face”)
Lead vocalist, who does a really good Chris Martin
“Trouble” and “Strawberry Swing”
(“Strawberry Swing” was performed two tracks later actually)
Gareth Whiteside on guitars; bassist Craig JohnsonJacob King
Moving on to my favourite Coldplay album, X & Y (2005)…
Coldplay’s epic “Fix You” (followed by “Talk”)
And then, the song everybody knew (most of) the words to…
My card got full halfway through the song and had to swap the second one in, thus the break in recording. No worries… as you’ll see down below
The band then left the stage after “Yellow,” which didn’t imply the show was over. There was no way a Coldplay tribute act was going to end a show in 2011 without playing “Viva La Vida“.
Come back on stage they did. Now, it was time for a break in pace and some acoustic fare.
Besides “Don’t Panic,” they also sang “Green Eyes” and one other song which I wasn’t too familiar with.
“The Hardest Part/Postcards from Far Away” and that song which is now a Coldplay anthem…
For the final song of the night, since the reception this song got the first time was so good, Coldplayer ended their gig with an encore performance of Coldplay’s first hit single:
With that, Coldplayer bowed to the audience and finally left the stage — this time for real.
Gigbox’s third concert was yet another stellar show. Sure, the UB City amphitheatre wasn’t as packed as it was for Breathe – The Floyd Sound, but you really can’t compare the fanbase Pink Floyd has in the city to Coldplay. The crowd was a lot younger this time and as you heard from the videos, they were very receptive.
My brother (extreme right) and his friends surely enjoyed itThe folks at Gigbox who put on the show
So after tribute acts for Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Coldplay… who is next?
Ireland’s biggest musical export — U2, played tribute by U2UK. May 7th, see you there
Today we needed to be out and early as we had to head far out to reach Batu Caves, a famous Hindu temple site — and one of Kuala Lumpur’s must-see sights. Since I was up and ready first, I decided to take a few photos of the place where we were staying.
You have to leave your shoes downstairs as no shoes are allowed into roomsThe place is quite clean though. These are the rooms downstairs.The dining room is downstairsThe kitchen is where you can make yourself toast and coffee/tea
As was the norm everywhere we stayed on this trip, once you are done with breakfast, you wash the dishes yourself and keep it back from where you took them.
The lobby/reception/living area has books, a TV and two computers with free internet serviceThey sell bottled water lower than what the 7-Elevens chargeThis is the sit-out area. Smoking is not allowed inside the rooms.This is where we sat yesterday night and had our dinnerNo elevator. You have take these stairs to go up.Upstairs, where our triple room was (Photograph by Loiyumba, taken yesterday)How appropriate our room number was ‘F1’ for this ‘F1 trip’ of oursThese are the bathrooms upstairs
Given that our triple room cost us around Rs. 4300 (RM297/$96/€68) for 3 nights, we couldn’t have been more happier with Irsia, given the location. Yes, the walls are a little thin and ventilation isn’t great, but if you are going to be spending more time inside hotel rooms, you best look at proper hotels. By the way, that is Rs. 4300 for all three of us — Rs. 1400 per person, for 3 nights in KL!
Once all three of us were ready and done with breakfast, we stepped out. We decided to take the monorail to get to KL Sentral.
The monorail station in front of Berjaya Times Square is called ImbiAt 9:30am, the station wasn’t all that crowded
The ride takes around 15-20 minutes with all the stops
Once at KL Sentral, we asked the information desk how to get to Batu Caves and were instructed to head downstairs to the train platforms. We bought our tickets (RM2/Rs. 30/$0.60) and headed down.
There are frequent trains to Batu Caves
Unfortunately, in the confusion of which train to get on, I accidentally stepped into the wrong train but was too late to step out as the doors closed with Ramesh and Loi still on the platform.
I got down at the old Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, which was the next stop
But by then, Ramesh and Loiyumba were in the right train and already ahead of me.
I soon got the next train and was on my way
The ride took nearly 30 minutes and by the time I arrived at the station (which by the way is the last stop), Ramesh and Loiyumba were already at the temple.
There is no entry fee for Batu CavesHanumanji’s presence isn’t the biggest hereSri Venkatachalapathi temple
This is a Chinese garden; I believe entry wasn’t free
Pigeons must hate kidsScratch that. Pigeons hate humans.
It was time for me go up, Ramesh and Loi were already in the cave
This statue of Lord Murugan is the biggest of its kind in the world272 steps to climbAlong the way (as was the norm on this trip), you’ll encounter plenty of monkeysAnd as usual, monkeys will try and grab stuff from you
But they are generally well behaved here
Once I reached the top, I met up with Ramesh and Loiyumba who were done and were ready to head back down. They said they would wait for me down below and so, I went in for my photography.
It only got better once insideThere were gaps in the ceiling through which water was dripping downThere are two temples in side the caveThis. apparently, is the ‘main temple’
This monkey was a spoilt one. When this Indian couple gave hims some food, he dropped it and picked up a burger instead.
I was glad I had my wide angle lens with me
Apparently they should have also mentioned ‘No Scribbling’I liked the photos I clicked in here
But even with a wide-angle lens, trying to capture the scale of the caves from the inside (without distortion) was near impossible, so I took a few multiple shots and merged them into one using Photoshop.
Vertical panorama comprised of 10 shots
Vertical panorama comprised of 11 shots
Vertical panorama comprised of 8 shots
I was trying to capture water dropping on to the stepsAfter nearly 20 minutes inside the cave, it was time for me head down
It was a cloudy day, so I couldn’t see the Petronas Towers from here. Actually, I’m not even sure if they are visible from up here.Vertical panorama comprised of 5 shots
Once down, I caught up with Loi and Ramesh and we decided to have lunch from here itself.
This is where we ate. There aren’t too many options actually.
Post lunch, we just sat outside for a while and observed the crowds. We were even approached by some PR team for Sony, and asked to pretend we were using Sony camcorders. In return for doing so, we asked them if we could keep them — but they said no.
Not sure if this couple were shooting for their wedding album or notI took one last look at Lord Murugan before leaving (This is a single shot)
This is the Batu Caves train station(Photograph by Loiyumba)In case you wanted to know the Malay words for public signs (Photograph by Loiyumba)Tandas = toilet (Photograph by Loiyumba)
We bought our tickets (RM2) and boarded our train.
It was a cloudy day, but we could still see the Petronas Towers from afar
If you were looking for nasty hotel in KL. (J/k, it’s quite fancy: http://www.dynasty.com.my/)(Photograph taken by Loi)
Once we got back to KL Sentral, we decided to head to the IKEA store as Ramesh was keen on picking up some stuff from there. The outlet was located in the area called Mutiara Damansara and we asked around on how to get there by bus. We waited at bus stop outside KL Sentral and hopped on to one that went that way.
The journey took us through a lot of residential areas in Kuala Lumpur.
(These were taken on my Nokia E72)
An hour long journey later, we were in Petaling Jaya. Even though it was a long journey, it was quite a relaxing one for me as I got to see residential areas outside of the CBD (Central Business District), something I wouldn’t have seen given where we were staying.
The IKEA store is right adjacent to this
Once we entered the IKEA store, we were hooked! There was soooooo much that we felt like picking up, but just couldn’t, because figuring out how to carry them home was something we couldn’t comprehend.
Regardless, we still picked up quite a bit of stuff and by the time were out, it was well past sunset.
Technically, the IKEA store is not in Kuala Lumpur, it’s in neighbouring district
Since we had quite a lot of stuff with us to carry, we decided to just take a cab.
Though bus only cost us RM2.60 for 3, taxi was much required to save time
And save time it did, the taxi took the highway from the IKEA store into KL and we were back in our rooms in just half-an-hour. (IKEA store directions)
For dinner, we decided to head to Kuala Lumpur’s China Town, which was also accessible via monorail.
From Imbi, the monorail stop for getting to China Town was only two stops away, at Maharajalela.
If you ask locals around for “Chinatown” and they don’t get it, just ask for Petaling street
Once inside, it was a just one street (probably covering two blocks) with a lot of stores and street shops. No vehicles allowed.
You have the usual gamut of fake goods, pirated CD/DVDs and clothesBut I didn’t really find anything particularly interesting about this ‘Chinatown’Plus, the prices were quite high considering the stuff they sold weren’t what you would call “genuine”
A lot of the t-shirts were from Thailand and so, cost a lot more than what I saw them for in Bangkok. Yes, you have to haggle, but even when Loi did so for a backpack, the price they came down to was still too high. We soon left Petaling Street.
And just as we left, it began to rain all of a sudden.
Fortunately we had umbrellas
We saw an Malay Indian restaurant and jumped in for a quick dinner.
The place was run by Malay Tamilians; food was simple and decent enough taste-wise
Ramesh didn’t find anything on the menu that was pure veg, so it was just myself & Loi. Once we were done, we headed back to Berjaya Times Square by taxi (cost RM5) as it was still raining.
It was dinner at Krispy Kreme for RameshIt stopped raining by midnight
We headed back to Irsia, calculated our daily expenses, sorted out who paid for what, and who owes whom how much — pretty much a daily routine for us on this trip, before hitting the sack.
I was quite happy with some of the photos I took inside Batu Caves and rate the caves highly as one of the “must see” sights in Kuala Lumpur. It only costs RM 2 for the one way journey to Batu Caves by train and is a nice break from the city.
Tomorrow morning, we planned to get up early (again) and head to Petronas Towers to try and get a ticket to visit the observation deck. We only had one more day left in the capital.
Needless to say the orchids on display were nowhere near the orchid collection I saw in Singapore’s Orchid Garden.
There weren’t many new flower varieties on display inside, many of which I had seen in the last flower show I attended. Still, I got my money’s worth of photographs.
