Last weekend, the lovely and enthusiastic team from Klang Parade brought a bunch of us bloggers out for a day in the mall. Having not been in Klang Parade since my teens, memories of the mall are not that great – I remembered it being run down, with a troublesome coin-only parking system, outdated shopping outlet choices and nothing much to eat in there.

Coming back again after so long, I was surprised at the mall's transformation! It looks newer, shinier, has better crowds (back then it was filled with sleazy teenagers playing truant) and more outlet choices and more events going on.

They have also revamped the image of the mall, with a new logo and theme. The architect responsible for the new infrastructure is American, and he fused his architectural knowledge with Malaysia's national flower, the hibiscus, and used it as an identity for the mall. You can see the good usage of the hibiscus motif on the exterior and also in the interior of the mall – I personally like the ceiling 'flowers' with good use of down lights to emulate the hibiscus' stigma (that yellow, powdery stuff on the long tip), which is also why (I'm guessing) he used dots to form the flower motifs.





That aside, the day at the mall started with the convergence of bloggers on the ground floor, as we get introduced to one another and the organizers. I had a chat with organizers Christina and Han Sen (both who are super affable and fun!) and not long after, we started off with a walkthrough of the mall. Han Sen gave a little explaining of the mall's new outlets, the new decor and concept, and how the different floors are also segregated to cater a specific need; food & beverage, fashion, electronics, and another floor at the top (which is not ready yet), for the cinema. Every mall needs a cinema, and I'm glad this mall is adding one in. :)











Then we stopped by their little 'asian avenue' called the Hip Hop Arena. It looks small, but walking in, you can see the many other hidden shopping areas inside. It's a like a mini Thai Chatuchak market (in Bangkok) but with air conditioning. They cater to a lot of young and trendy fashion, mostly Korean , Japanese and Taiwanese influences, from what I observed.



This is also where we're having our first mall challenge. The challenge is to dress-up and emulate the fashion of the celebrities we get in our random-selection envelopes. I opened my envelope to find.. Chris Brown – in this ensemble. Haha! So all we got was 15 minutes to run to any shop within the Hip Hop Arena, and wear the items on (we are allowed to pick and borrow from any of the shops, as long as we flash our Participant cards) within the stipulated time.

I was running around in panic chanting "pink bowtie, white shirt, black vest.." It wasn't easy, as most shops cater to only female fashion, but I managed to find one which sells menswear. Phew!












Next we moved on to the ground floor, where all the food and beverage outlets are. They have since done better than just having Esquire Kitchen (do people still eat there?) or Kenny Roger's as the only feasible dining choice. There's even Suki-Ya, my favorite shabu-shabu place! I used to groan about going all the way to Pavilion to have it, then it was available in Paradigm Mall – and now in Klang Parade! Joy! They also have Texas Chicken (same as Church Chicken in Canada), and I so love their honey biscuits!

We ended our food tour at Don Kaiten. And out organizers happily announced – we are getting the chance to stuff our faces with sushi. At first I was like, yay food, but then – they said it was an eating competition, and the top 3 winners who eat the fastest will get a gift. We are to finish, a plate-full of 6 inari sushi, 6 maki sushi and a whole bowl of edamame! Plus, an entire bottle of water!







And you know what? Each sushi is laced with a dollop of wasabi, and the edamame is sprinkled with black pepper! Such evil! I nearly choked on the wasabi, cos I tried to be clever and stuff the entire inari into my mouth. Bad idea! I was choked up with tears and a nasty feeling in my throat for that. Of course I didn't win, I can't stand wasabi. I teared up a lot, and later on decided to just take my time to pick off the salmon sashimi off the inari to eat, while I watch the others eating their way to the top three spots. This is something that I just can't do.







After getting filled to the brim with sushi and wasabi, we took a stroll to the center court, where they are having a SpongeBob SquarePants event for the kids as it is the school holidays. There were some pop-up game booths with simple throw-the-ball-in or knock-it-down games set up in the area, and a few merchandise on sale as well. Part of the itinerary was to get a photo op with both SpongeBob & Patrick mascots onstage, but as there were too many families and kids, we had to make do with the cut-out cardboards instead.








We were then taken for a pampering session at BeautyLand. Finally, we get to sit and be taken care of! The brand carries a few cosmetic and beauty products from Korea and also Japan. Some are quite unique, like a lip masque, made of snail goo! The head beauty consultant Lindsey, introduced us to the brand and had us all sit on a chair to wipe off all our makeup – because we are getting a beauty mask put onto us by our partners (in my case, my boyfriend).










After we are refreshed by our little pampering session, we are taken to the one and only supermart in Klang Parade, Econsave. And surprise, surprise – our last challenge of the day awaits! We are each given a list of 10 items, which is quite specific (eg. Econsave Choice Flora All-Purpose Cleaner, Pink Floral, 1000ml) so we had to carefully choose the correct brand, scent and weight/volume. Not easy for those of us who never really shop for household groceries! (I shamefully admit that I only walk into supermarts to buy my favorite TC Boy cili tuna to snack on, or seaweed, sweets, chocolate and sometimes cheese or milk.)

But the catch is, we need to not only get all 10 items correctly, but to also add up the price, and put in an additional few items to make the price go as close to RM100 as possible. It can't go over the RM100 limit, but getting an added total of RM99.99 would be the best. Three teams with the closest totals will win prizes. At this point, I told myself I have to win the last challenge, because I have not won anything yet and my competitive streak can't take it.





It was such a rush of trolleys and hollering, I didn't have the time to take any photos. We grabbed all that we can and added up everything on a handy iPhone app before proceeding to counter 6. Though we did get 3 items wrong, and had to exchange the right ones in a minute, we totaled up to RM96.65.

By the end of the challenge, we won second place! That entitled us a RM150 voucher to spend in Econsave, which I promptly gave to my mom and told her to shop with, and to also buy me steak and some cans of cili tuna as my reward. I would say this is the challenge with the most fun and frustration involved – mainly because it involves teamwork with my boyfriend and we were both clueless about supermart brands. But, we won something, and that's all that matters. :)

We ended the day with some extra goodie bags from our kind organizers, and a big group photo session. What a day it was, and what fun we all had! :)





Thank you Klang Parade for such a fun day! For those who have not seen the new Klang Parade, head on there, now!


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