Girls day out, before the Merdeka crowd eats us all up.
Being Malaysians, we're used to chilling at the most convenient malls or places near our homes. Even on our days off, we go for a quick lunch out or grocery run, and that's it. However, we've never quite wondered what else lies beyond our comfort zone - if we venture beyond the malls, what else would we find?
One day, do as I did - hope on the LRT Kelana Jaya line (or MRT first, then switch as I did at KL Sentral or Pasar Seni), exit at LRT Masjid Jamek. Open up Google Maps, and there you'll find your way to Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad (BSAS), which is just a 5-8 minute brisk walk from the station.
On the way to the main building, you'll walk along the Colonial Walk which overheads the tranquil River of Life. There, you'll see your first magnificent view of BSAS.
There are a lot of things to see around BSAS, and not too long ago they've revamped the place to be more trendy, so that tourists and citizens alike would choose to visit and learn more about Malaysia's history while hanging out at OOTD-worthy spots. The entire building is filled with magnificent walkways that makes you feel like you're in the pre-Merdeka, late 1950s era.
We reached around 12PM and were STARVING, so after wow-ing at the architecture, we quickly made our way to Kaw Kaw Malaya, which I'll briefly describe as an enhanced Bungkus kaw Kaw that serves an extensive menu of Malaysian favourites such as nasi lemak, otak-otak, mee siam, and more.
Honestly, the food was GREAT - either because genuinely the ayam goreng berempah was quite good, or because we were genuinely hungry. Either way, the food was much better than I expected which was a great surprise. Price was a bit on the higher end, but very fulfilling nonetheless.
After a heavy lunch, we moved on to properly exploring the place - first at the gift shop near the entrance. We lost ourselves in there, as there were truly a lot of unique local souvenirs that I hadn't seen before elsewhere. My friends purchased two cute pins, and promptly made our way around the rest of the building.
(Also to mention, there's a Boh Tea Cafe that sits in the same area as the gift shop. Of course, they served our famous teas from Cameron Highlands, but we also saw a cute roughly 6-inch Durian cake that caught the attention of a few tourists. Though we didn't try it, definitely looked interesting!
Once we were done exploring the first building, we took a quick pit stop at the famous photo spot which is located on the road directly between BSAS and Dataran Merdeka. Not sure if this is usually the case, but the road was closed which allowed visitors to freely roam around to take photos, accompanied by a pretty view of BSAS in the background.
There's so much to explore at BSAS, because we can now finally move on to the next building, where Niko Neko Matcha sits. My friends and I placed our orders and chit-chatted here for almost 2 hours - the seating area had a dimly lit atmosphere that made it very comfortable to chill out while escaping from the hot sun.
Connected to Niko Neko Matcha is A Piece of Malaysia, which showcases more modern local souvenirs, most of which come with a comedic spin on Malaysian tradition and culture. Definitely a memorable piece of Malaysia for tourists to return home with.
While that marks the end of our girls day out at BSAS, the landmark not only boasts as an extensive collection of Malaysian history, but also a place rich with food choices and entertainment that suits all types of visitors. Beyond the places I've visited, in BSAS, you'll also find local favourites like Oriental Kopi, Gula Camca, Bakehouse by KLCG and various ventures by Royal Selangor.
So if you've got a day off with nothing to do - I highly recommend a visit to the revamped Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad, in the heart of KL!
Share your Anak Malaysia stories and stand a chance to win prizes worth up to RM2,880! Find out how to join here. T&Cs apply.
C Chai (crystal.chaijeecheng@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.
