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I went to Central Market today. Its been like more than 16 years since I venture into this place? I used to walk pass by Central Market before taking my bus home at Klang Bus Stand. It is also a hang out spot to buy souvenirs, arty materials or merely getting a gift for someone. There used to be a cinema too but I think that has been closed down. I also noticed the Mc Donalds opposite Central Market still stands.

Coming back to Central Market after years of not visiting this place - it looks pretty much the same to me. Some shops still offers the same sort of stuffs 16 years ago but it seems it has successfully drawn more and more tourist to this place. A lot more foreigners are visiting here to get their last minute souvenirs or merely shopping for Asian antiques and arty stuff.

Central Market is located about 5 minutes walk from the Pudu Raya bus station and China town (Petaling Street) - at one of the oldest parts of KL so the place can look pretty dodgy. On a Sunday, Central Market looks more like its been invaded with foreign workers more than locals.

Same old stuffs, usually handicrafts and souvenirs are being sold here - something to buy before leaving Malaysia.

Old asian antiques can be found here in Central Market. Are these real antiques? I am not too sure but they sure look real and doesnt come cheap as well.

You can find some cute stuff as well.

Shops for collectibles are located everywhere in Central Market.

At times you could get yourself some real bargain. RM99.00 for a late Ching Dynasty bowls?

Colourful wooden eggs.

Looks more like balinese wooden carvings. hmm… Malaysia truly Asia?

There are 2 floors in Central Market offering great local handicraft shopping experience. There are even restaurants located on the ground floor and first floor offering authentic Malaysian cuisine or western fusion cuisine but made in Malaysia like Secret Recipe franchise restaurant.

Traditional clothes are also available for sale. Sarongs, uniforms or merely beach & fashionable sarongs and caps for your beach trips are also available here in Central Market.

More Asian stuffs to shop and I believe would make good collectibles or decorators in the house. Makes the house more mysterious dont you think?

Turning your home into a museum look-a-like would be ultra cool.

Overall the trip to Central Market was a nice one. Walking down memory lane after years of not visiting this place for so long. It is highly recommended to any tourist visiting Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

While most of you are resting at home - I work on Saturdays - however most of the saturdays are to catch up on some paper work that is overdue. Saturdays are usually very relaxed at work and I would bring along my camera and snap around KL. KL is pretty quiet on a saturday morning.

Picture of KL Tower which is my usual sight everyday. Its been raining throughout the week but this saturday is fine :).

This is a shot I took while I was driving home. I knew that I had only a few seconds to take it. I stopped my car by the side. Took my camera out and snap snap.

And before reaching home I felt like getting some crap food and stop over the familiar Rojak Van beside Petronas at Sri Hartamas to take home an Indian Rojak without tofu. It taste like crap but it is much better than the ones they sell in the mamak stall and I am not spoiled with food here.

Guess who won? The Hong Kong boys won the race despite the 4 hour penalty. Ida and Tania were stuck in Dubai despite coming in first. They could have won the race if not for the airport incident but in the end I was glad that the Hong Kong boys took the cash back rather than the filipinos. They deserve it though. The Filipino could have win the race but were lost which costed them valuable time.Anyway, congratulations team Hong Kong!

The champions of Amazing Race Asia 3.

Everyone was there to cheer the teams on.

They actually thought that the money was in the bag but they came in second which was pretty good. Congratulations anyway but that is not the way to play the game.

In our hearts or in my heart at least, the true winners of the race. 3rd place - the malaysian team.

Its been about a month now with my Nikon D40 DSLR and here is my personal review.

First of all I didn’t want to spend a hell of a lot on a DSLR. As a beginner trying out if photography is really my kind of thing and after much research I decided on the Nikon D40. I bought this camera at foto shangri-la for about RM1,680.00 which includes - D40 kit with lense, battery, screen protector, tripod, bag, 2GB memory card and uv filter. I know some places you could get it for around RM1,600.

After shooting around for like a month - well most of the time its been sitting at home but when I have a chance I will shoot away - I am quite impress with what it or I could do with it. It turned me into sort of a pro photographer. It doesn’t take that long to learn either.

For a small budget I would say it is a good buy and if you would like to know why you should buy a nikon d40, go to this website. http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/lineup/digitalcamera/slr/d40x/sp/index.htm

Lets say if I had the extra cash would I choose a better camera like the d60 or the alpha models for just a little more? My choice would be the same. I would still get the D40. Anything better or slightly better models or features or better mega pixels will cost an additional RM 400+ more and I wasn’t willing to part with that amount of money just to see if photography was in me. So overall for the newbie who wishes to venture into DSLR and not sure if lugging around a huge camera is for you but would like to try out, then go for the D40. It is rather a safe bet.

Yesterday’s Amazing Race Asia was pretty exciting. Having started where they left off in Pune, India - they finished in Oman. Oman looks like a beautiful place to visit.

Damn proud of the Malaysian team Ida and Tania. They kick ass in almost every event and I happy that they are in the final 3. It was sad to see the Singaporean team go but their time was up anyway. Hong Kong boys were almost almost eliminated as they took the 4 hour time penalty but are in the final 3 as well.

From the next week’s episode preview, it seems that the filipinos were leading the race and looking at it filipinos will be the favourites to win this race. However, the race would probably end in Thailand and if there was more operating hours type of challenges, the hong kong boys may catch up even if they were 4 hours behind.

Who will be the 3rd champion in this amazing race asia 3? Well irregardless of who wins, I am already damn proud of the Malaysian team for making it so far. Two women against one man and a woman (filipino team), and two men (hong kong boys). However, I also salute the singaporeans for making it so far. Can’t wait for next week.