Saturday, January 26, 2013

Micro-adventure: First lil' adventure for 2013 - Part 2

Thanking the lovely ladies at the museum's reception counter for watching over my lil' red, I continued on. The next stretch of sidewalk was under construction. Hence, I had to cycle on the main road which soon lead me to Kuala Lumpur City Gallery. 

I've always seen the signage whenever I pass Dataran Merdeka. First thing that caught my eyes was the history section. They have photos of old Kuala Lumpur, from tattered huts to pre-independence brick buildings. I watched the original "Merdeka" reportage from FNM (I think it stand for Filem Negara Malaysia). 






Tailing a bunch of Japanese tourists, I went upstairs into a dark room. In the middle of the room were models of some buildings and sky scraper. The models lit up beautifully in the dark room.








Other model that caught my eyes was the scaled model of the Sultan Abdul Samad Building.


Naturally, after seeing the scaled version of the building, I had to go and see the real one. It was near by the KL City Gallery. In front of the building was Dataran Merdeka. There were thronged of tourists at the Dataran, taking photos of themselves using Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad or Royal Selangor Club as their back drop. I revisited the spot that I stood about seven years ago. This time I had my lil' red with me.




It was already noon. The cloudy day give the false impression of it was still morning. It was time to think about lunch. However, since I was still full from the heavy breakfast that I had, I continued paddling. On the side walk where ever possible, and on the main road when it was not.







I had wanted to have a picnic lunch. Knowing that KLCC Park is actually a private property, I doubted that the lil' red could go in. I parked and locked lil' red in one of the railing barricade. I continued on foot to the park. Instead of just a picnic lunch, I decided to try and see if I could get away with a cook out in KLCC park. Picked a bench and began unpacking my cooking kit.









Menu for the day was "Masak Lemak Cili Padi" (boneless chicken cooked in spicy coconut milk gravy). I didn't exactly cook the meal from scratch. It was a MRE (that's short for Meal-Ready-to-Eat) that I bought in TESCO a few days ago. The small alcohol stove performed well. Its small size, colourless and smokeless flame attract no attention.







I initially planned to dip some bread into the "Masak Lemak". Unfortunately I forgot to buy any bread. In my cooking kit was some angel hair pasta. Added a few strands into the gravy. A few minutes later, the masak lemak began to boil.





Once the flame was out, it was time to eat. I could just eat straight out of the pot, but I figured it looked better if I eat out of the stainless steel 'plate'. Plus I didn't think I could finish the small pot of "Masak Lemak".





Amazingly, I did! Time to clean everything up. Nothing sticked to the stainless steel pot and 'plate'. A quick rinse and wipe, everything was clean. I think the cooking kit could cook for two people. The lid could be used as the second plate. The only thing missing from the kit is cups.



Anyway, packed everything up. And got ready to leave. Dark clouds loomed. I had to make a move if I was to beat the rain. As I unlocked the lil' red, a man in office attire walked to me. He asked where I was from and told me nicely that bicycles are not allowed in the park - as I had guessed. Since he was nice and polite, I smiled and replied that I was just unlocking the lil' red. I was going to push it to the main road where I would be cycling. He smiled back and went on his way.





I didn't get far when it began to drizzle. Took out my poncho and put it on. Soon the drizzle turned into a downpour. I had to stop and took shelter at a bus stop.









Half an hour must have passed. The downpour showed no sign of stopping. I decided it was time to pack the lil' red and hailed a taxi. The taxi ride - the only thing I had to pay for the day - was RM 11.










The taxi ride was the end of the day's adventure.








Over all route:

A little more detailed route:


more:






2 comments:

pummkin said...

You're a foldie too! What kind of alcohol stove did you get??? I was thinking of ordering one but I need to successfully start a fire on my existing kit before I buy anything else.....

Me said...

It's a DIY pop-can stove. Featured here (the little round thingy at bottom left corner of the cleaned cooking kit pic) is the double-walled version. Easier to fill and fire up compared to pressurized-penny version and I don't have to worry where I (miss)placed the penny.

Nifty little thing, this stove is. Had succeeded steam-baked some muffin mix and brownies mix.

My latest DIY stove is a groove stove. Can boil a cup of water using about 10 ml of alcohol (tested indoors without wind). Will feature it if I go for a cook out with it.