And you just have to watch the official Ministry of Silly Walk Sketch
Still not a story about my virtual walk (I'm still in Missouri), but one will come soon. So stay tuned. For now, here is a true story of my Sunday Summit Loop Walk.
It was cloudy after church and perfect weather for a walk. I decided to head out to the jungle and walk up to the summit, what I call the Summit Loop walk.
I filled a couple of water bottles and clipped them to my waist pouch, threw my phone, a plastic bag, and some money into the pouch, clipped on my ipod for the road walking segment (I never listen to music in the jungle), pressed the start button on my polar heart rate monitor watch and headed out the front door.
I looped around the neighborhood to warm up, hit the main road, and started pounding the pavement to the beat of Journey and America. The sidewalk ended about a minute later and I had to shuffle to the side of the road and walk in the dust, sand, and broken concrete. The road is damaged because of the many construction projects in the area. Traffic was minimum because it was Sunday. On a regular workday, all of the roads I walk are usually busy with cars. Though traffic was light, most of those on the road thought they were in the F1 roaring past me, loud because of modified mufflers. The concrete mixers and big trucks are the worst, belching black exhaust and stirring up the dust.
It wasn’t long before I passed the mosque, took a left turn, and walked along the uphill road that encircled the mosque. Closely planted palm trees shielded me from the UV rays. I took another left and headed towards Mont Kiara. The Kuala Lumpur High Court was now on my right, the mosque still on my left.
The cloudy sky finally bore fruit and a light rain started drifting down. I wrapped my phone and ipod in my plastic bag and kept walking. The road I was on flowed over a series of small hills. I always imagined that I was walking on top of a rollercoaster. By the time I ‘finished my ride’ and made it to the end of the road, the light rain stopped.
I crossed over the newly opened bridge over the highway and entered the Mont Kiara area. This road was even dustier than the previous. Condominiums, under construction, popped up along this whole downhill stretch. The light rain dampened the dust so the air was relatively clean, though muggy. I walked out of the new part of Mont Kiara and into the older established area. My office complex was on the right and the Sunday ABC market was busy with activity (every Sunday there’s a flea market set up around the office). I hung a right past the office and continued my walk under the Penchala Link Highway.
Now I was entering the Desa Hartamas neighborhood. I walked through a police roadblock without incident; I wasn’t speeding. I made a brief stop at the party shop to ask about their closing time (my daughter’s birthday party is next weekend)… six o’clock (note to self, after walk come back and look for party pack fillers).
I crossed the small parking lot and headed into the Desa Hartamas residential neighborhood. The sun was trying to peak out but the clouds or haze kept it at bay. At the end of the street, I hopped on the sidewalk that parallels the Damansara Highway. After about 10 minutes along the highway I came to the trailhead, unplugged my ipod, and entered the jungle. This was 5 miles from my front door (5 miles the long way, but could be reached in about 2 miles using an alternative route).
The trailhead was the beginning of a short trail that led to the Mont Kiara reservoir water tank service road. It was a nice walk that snaked through the jungle, climbed uphill and terminated at the water tank. Just before the end of the road, I exited alongside a new housing development (last year this was a jungle) and headed up a steep incline toward the Boulder path.
I could now hear thunder and it appeared to be creeping closer. The sky was also getting darker. I continued on and would decide on a course of action when I arrived at the Arboretum (an area of jungle cleared a couple of years ago and planted with indigenous trees). At the Arboretum, which was also a crossroads of sorts with pathways leading in 3 directions, I decided that though the thunder still sounded like an approaching war, the sky was not threatening enough for me to abort my walk. I continued and took the short, steep route to the top of the summit.
This proved physically taxing. I had not been walking as regular as I used to and the steep climb to the top kept my heart rate in the red zone. I pressed on knowing that once I made it to the top I would be rewarded with a view of Kuala Lumpur and the knowledge that the walk back down the Twin Peaks trail would be a long, gentle and rejuvenating downhill walk. But the view from the top was not what I wanted to see. The sky over KL was black and the thunder was now getting louder.
I started down the Twin Peaks trail at a clip and continued past the bamboo grove, glanced at the small temple on my right, and shuffled around the hairpin turn. Gusts of cool wind kicked up and the trees started swaying, leaves blew across the path and the thunder continued. I made it to the Snakes and Ladders trail and continued at a fast walk (except when I took out my phone to make a small video of the trail). The Snakes and Ladder trail led back to the Arboretum and I continued on to the Boulders trail and headed back home.
Once I was out of the jungle and back along the Damansara Highway I decided that the sky didn’t really look too bad so was going to walk home the long way, the way I had come. Just then a loud crack of thunder shattered the noise of traffic and I looked back to see the sky slowly dimming to black. I made a quick turn-around, hopped across the pedestrian bridge that crossed the highway and headed home on the short route.
About a mile from home the thunder ceased and the sky fell. This was a tropical rainstorm, not a drizzle, but the kind of rain that forces motorists to pull over with their flashers flashing. White sheets battered down and I couldn’t’ have been any happier. What a way to end a beautiful walk! I walked on the edge of the road in water 2-3 inches deep streaming down the inclined road. My shoes were filled with water and did not empty. But with only a mile to go I didn’t need to worry about blisters. One car passed me slowly and stopped ahead. It was my neighbors (also walkers) asking me if I needed a ride. I smiled and told them that this was the best part of my walk and I’m almost home now. Plus I was already drenched.
As I entered my neighborhood the rainstorm turned into a thunderstorm. Lightening cracked the sky and I scurried on back to my house. Under my carport I removed my shoes and socks and shirt, sat on my bench and enjoyed the symphony of rain and thunder. That was a great walk with a perfect ending!
Here's a short video of my walk back along the Snakes and Ladders trail. My phone camera is not the best... obviously. It starts with me walking down a steep switch-back that leads to a small timber bridge (a ladder crossing).
Here's an article about the development of a new city park in the Mont Kiara area near where I live. Why am I putting this in my blog? Because the area concerned is the jungle I've written about in past blogs. It is this jungle where I spend many a Saturday walking the trails, watching the monkeys, side-stepping the snakes, and sometimes, getting lost. Here's a few links about my walks there: Weekend Jungle Walks, Jungle Walking in Mont Kiara, and Jungle Jumble
I'm going to miss that place. Hopefully the design and implementation of the park will enhance the area. I'll stay optimistic for now.
Huge Park at Bukit Kiara
Sprawling green lung to be the size of 300 football fields
By Ng Si Hooi (The Star, Friday 29 June 2007)
Kuala Lumpur: The 188.93ha (466.86 acres) public park, equivalent to the size of about 300 football fields, will be in Bukit Kiara here.
The biggest park in the country will be bounded by Taman Lembah Kiara in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, the KL Golf and Country Club and Sri Hartamas, said Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting yesterday.
“The park is our own version of London’s Hyde Park or New York’s Central Park. The park will reflect Malaysia’s identity.
“It will be a sprawling green lung recreational park for city folks to relax in and enjoy Mother Nature. The park will change the image of the city as a concrete jungle,” Ong said.
He said the theme for the park was “design with nature” and not only the natural habitat of the area would be preserved but more trees would be planted too.
“We want to make sure this park retains its identity by adding more greenery to make it more attractive and environment friendly,” he said., adding that the Government would decide on the name of the park later.
He said the park would have various facilities, including jogging and bicycle paths, and space for people to have picnics or camp and courts for various sports like basketball,” he said.
“The public can take part in various activities such as hill climbing and biking, science exploration on flora and fauna, and study tours to the arboretum and herbarium,” he said.
A portion of the park will be reserved for research and development projects.
Ong said the planning and designing of the park would be done by the National Landscape Department under his ministry together with other related agencies including Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia and the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute.
He said the Cabinet approved the proposal presented by his ministry together with the Federal Territories Ministry on Wednesday, and his ministry would build and mange the park.
“The Cabinet feels that it should turn Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding areas to be a place for healthy living and a better sustainable environment for the people. We should save the limited green areas now before it is too late,” he said.
He said the park was on land owned by the Government as 146.3ha was under the purview of DBKL while the remaining area belonged to the Information Ministry.
Zulhasnan: It will be a landmark
Kuala Lumpur: Federal Territories Minister Datuk Zulhasnan Rafique said the proposed public park is a joint effort between his ministry and the Housing and Local Government Ministry and will be another important landmark and attraction similar to London’s Hyde Park for both locals and tourists.
“It’ll be a place where KL-ites can have recreational activities in a relaxing atmosphere that is environmentally friendly.
“It will also be a significant effort towards environment conservation, which is one of the cores of the ministry’s strategic plan.
“We will always give special importance towards environment conservation efforts and I hope that the KL park will be another activity-based centre which is aligned with the gree cause.
“I believe that the park will put Kuala Lumpur on the map as one of the top tourist spots in the world for parks just like in many developed countries.”
“We will slowly be seeing the expansion and redevelopment of many existing parks in Kuala Lumpur so that the public will be able to enjoy the facilities with their families,” he said.
Friends of Bukit Kiara, a group that has long supported the idea of keeping the area green, are not jumping for joy until more details are available.
It’s chairman Liew Khooi Cheng, 68, said as long as there are no buildings in the park then he was all for it.
Though old and a little crusty, like some of its pizza, Italy is still a pretty cool country. I was there back in 1994 driving around free and easy with my wife as we toured Europe by car for 2 months. This time we visited Italy with my parents and our daughter. It was a whirlwind trip that proved once and for all that vacations could be as tedious and stressful as work, if not more!
We started by leaving Kuala Lumpur on the ‘red-eye’ flight arriving in Rome in the early morning of some day, I think Monday. This was a group-packaged tour. There were 44 of us in the group and we collected our luggage and started dragging them to the coach. Our tour of Rome was to begin without even a decent cup of coffee. Forget about sleep or shower after the long flight. Our tour leader said that we had an itinerary that we HAD to follow.
We drove straight to Vatican City where we met up with a local tour leader who filled us in on some of the details of the Vatican. I can’t remember a word she said other than the Pope lived there, but then I already knew that. We had a total of 30 minutes to walk around and look at the Vatican… 30 minutes!!! Took me nearly that long to get to the men’s room, which incidentally is not used by the Pope… I think he uses the woods, at least that’s what I hear.
We then piled on the bus and took off for the Coliseum. We parked and walked to the old arena and were given another 30 minutes to take in one of the greatest architectural features of Rome. We didn’t even have enough time to go inside. Walking around the Coliseum is kind of pointless since it’s circular and looks the same from every angle.
Then it started to rain as we made our way to our first meal in Rome. The tour leader kept saying, “when in Rome do as the Romans do”. Then why, oh why, did we have a Chinese lunch? Here we are in Rome, Italy and we’re eating Chinese food?
The rain didn’t let up during our lunch of roast duck, pig’s feet, old fish, some kind of vegetable and lumpy rice. We walked through the rain to get back to our bus. On the bus, wet and sticky, our guide said that we had 2 more places we had to see because it was on our itinerary. That tad-burned itinerary!
We drove to the Spanish Steps and then got dumped out of the bus and were told we had 2 hours to walk around… in the rain. Well, it did finally quit raining and I was able to dry off by standing in front of some musky warm air coming out of an old building’s air vent along the street. During the rain we sat in a McDonald’s drinking coffee. I have to say that the McDonalds in Italy serve up some real good coffee.
After a couple of hours we were bussed to The Trevi Fountain and spent another hour milling about looking at a bunch of people throwing coins in the pool. We were told that we needed to get dinner around there because the hotel had no food and the tour did not include dinner for the first night. So we bought a bunch of pizza and piled on the bus for our trip to the hotel. It was now about 7:00pm and the hotel was on the outskirts of Rome.
Incidentally, tour group hotels are all out on the fringes of the city and are like prison camps for tourists. Once at the hotel there is absolutely nothing to do except stay in your room.
We had a wakeup call at 6:00am the next morning, filed down to the hotel’s mess hall for the included continental breakfast and then hauled our luggage back to the bus for our trip north.
Our first stop of the day, other than highway pit stops where we ate a lot of our lunches, was Pisa to view the famous leaning tower. We had about an hour to walk around and look at the crooked building. On our first trip to Italy we by-passed this place. It really is an awesome sight and I wish we had passed through here on our first visit when we had more time. I would have liked to go inside to see how a slanted floor felt.
We climbed back on the bus and headed to Florence. There we saw Piazza Signoria and Piazza Santa Croce. We then drove up to the hilltop Piazza Michelangelo to see the big replica of the statue of David and to get an overview of the city. Then it was off to our first Italian dinner. After dinner we headed out to our tourist hotel somewhere off the highway on the outskirts of some city for a short night’s sleep.
The next morning, bright and early, we boarded the bus and headed to Venice. After parking, we boarded a ferryboat and headed to St. Mark’s Square. We dilly-dallied in the square for a while feeding pigeons and oohing and ahhing over the square, the architecture, and the number of tourists. We then went to see a glass blowing factory and after given the opportunity to buy glass stuff we were turned loose for about 3 hours.
We were told repeatedly by our tour leader not to venture away from the square or waterfront; not to penetrate into the small twisting streets that make up Venice. So, the first thing we did was turn our backs to the waterfront and entered the small winding streets. We had spent a few days in Venice back in ’94 and we had to show my parents what it was like ‘inside’ the city. We found a small café and had coffee and pastries and strolled along the narrow streets, crossing bridges and watching the gondolas. At the right time and distance (our memory could only remember so many right and left turns), we turned around and headed back, carefully remembering the number of turns and the direction of each junction we passed through earlier. My daughter sprinkled sugar along the way and it helped to find our way back.
We got back on the ferryboat, back on the bus, and headed back to another tourist prison hotel for the night.
The next day we woke up early and though most everyone just wanted to go to Milan (there were a lot of big spenders in our group) we did have an itinerary to follow. So we quickly made our way to Verona, parked, quickly shuffled past the Arena and went to view Juliet’s balcony. We then spent a little time in the street market, had lunch, and headed back to the bus and on to Milan.
In Milan, the tour guide brought us to look at the Duomo, one of the largest cathedrals in the world, the La Scala Opera House, and the glass-domed Victor Emmanuelle II Galleria. We were then given a couple of hours to shop or browse around. We had coffee at McDonalds because it was raining outside and Gucci, Versace, Fratelli Rossetti, Prada, Cartier etc. never really did anything for me. I’m a Levi kind of guy.
The next day was a free day in Milan so we walked around the city window browsing, eating, and drinking coffee.
The next morning, Saturday I think, the bus was boarded and we headed to the airport. Our group was flying back to Kuala Lumpur, but we were renting a car and heading up to Lake Maggiore to stay for a few days in Verbano, near the Swiss border.
Now the next few days were bliss. We stayed in a real hotel right on the lake in the center of town. This was no tourist prison. This was a nice hotel with friendly staff, nice breakfasts, and views of the lake from the window. We drove up to look at the Cascata del Toce, a 143-meter high waterfall in the Formazza Valley. We crossed into Switzerland and spent time in the town of Locarno. We visited castles. We ate chocolate. I was able to walk along the lakefront, through the old towns, and along a river that sported several nice waterfalls. And, we had authentic Italian food, not Chinese (all of the meals provided on the tour, with the exception of one dinner, was Chinese food). In fact, we ate a lot of authentic Italian food; too much! Our daily dose of ice cream didn’t help either.
We drove back to the airport after our stay at the lake and flew back to Kuala Lumpur with a better appreciation for the free and easy style of traveling and with a few added pounds around the waistline.
Now my tone of writing may seem to indicate that I did not enjoy this trip very much. Well, to the contrary, it was truly a wonderful vacation because of the shared company of my wife and daughter and my mom and dad. Though grueling at times due to the darned ‘itinerary’, the time spent together with my family will never be forgotten. And… I wouldn’t have changed one thing about this trip, even the Chinese dinners!
“Many a trip continues long after movement in time and space have ceased.”
John Steinbeck
A while back I shared my walking music playlists. Well here's a sample of some of the hard-hitting music I use to boost my speed and keep me moving. Just click on the play button, turn up your sound and hold on to your seat. Better yet, get the music and head outside to pound the pavement...
You can create your own player by going to Project Playlist.
