Retro Post - Today's Walk - Ampang

Today I decided to go check out a place suggested by a friend - the White Horse Tavern on Jalan Ampang. It was quite a walk (see below), close to the longest I have done so far. What made it more challenging was that I had to go all the way to the Twin Towers before I found a place to buy a drink! So I was parched just quietly.

The walk took me along Jalan Duta and Jalan Parliamen, although this time I managed to avoid a lot of Duta by heading up the hill towards the houses of parliament. That was a bit longer a route, but a nice diversion. The heading photo is me taking a quick breather to watch some guys practicing their rugby kicking at one of the parks along Jalan Parliamen.

Rather than going through Chinatown, this time I went through Chow Kit, which is renowned as a place to avoid due to drugs issues. I guess that only occurs at night though, as I walked right through it and saw no evidence of anything dodgy. Still, I wasn't exactly looking for it either - by that stage all I was looking for was the good old 7-11 sign!

It was nice to walk along Jalan Ampang, my old stomping ground from both the first time I lived in KL and also when we came back in 2013. Not much has changed, apart from more and more condos being built. When the government will decide enough is enough is beyond me - or at least when they will decide to upgrade roads at the same time as adding huge numbers of residences to already overcrowded roads is beyond me anyway.

So finally, after close to 2 hours, I reached the White Horse. As I had suspected, it has taken over the old Jarrod & Rawlins pub in the Ampwalk mall. The old J&R brand used to be an institution when I first got to KL, but seems to have dwindled since, with at least 2 venues I know of closing. I will keep an eye on the one closer to home and see what happens there. It is a pity, as they did damn good food in their heyday.

The White Horse itself is much like the old pub used to be:

Pleasant surroundings, nice and cool, but being at the back of the building, not much to see out of the windows. But that's ok. Drinks and lunch were fine, and soon after I jumped in a cab to head home. Over 11km for the day, happy with that!

Retro Post - Today's Walk - SS2

Ok, so this was last Friday's walk instead, but I have been flat out for the last few days and only now found time to post it!

My wife told me SS2 in PJ has great food so I thought I'd try walking there. It was not an easy walk to plan, as I intended to walk along the highway for a portion, which Google Maps refuses to acknowledge as a valid option, so I have to post two maps showing my route:

This was the first leg, from home along Highway 23 for a while, then behind Eastin Hotel and through the burbs. It was a little difficult along the highway as I had to skirt the MRT construction sites for a while and deal with either being adjacent to the road or on rough ground, neither of which was very favourable.

Wow, so here I am on April 26 finishing off this draft. Apologies for the almost 2 month delay. In that time we have made the decision to move back to Australia due to me losing my job and also had another child! So it has been busy!

I won't dwell on this post much longer other than to say that once I got to SS2, I was not impressed. Not too many guai lous get out that way it would seem and I was not made to feel very welcome. Might have just had a bad luck day, but I suspect not. In any event, I am glad I did the seriously long walk, but won't be hurrying back...

Now here is the second leg, as I couldn't find a decent spot to chill in SS2, nor a bloody taxi, so walked all the way back to Tropicana to find one...

All in all it was a hell of a walk, and I guess one benefit was it didn't end in beer! Haha!