“Life is full of people that are fake,

So leave them behind and take a break.

In order to cure boredom or even a headache,

Make your way to the nearest lake.”

That is exactly what I did when I made my way to the KL Lake Gardens.

If my sub-par poetry skills frightened ya lot at the beginning, Imma now make up for it by showing you a romantic, peaceful, therapeutic, nature centric garden at the heart of the Malaysian capital.

Welcome to the end September episode of KL:Unplugged.

I just came up with that, hehe….

Let’s Lake it till we make it.

The Lake Garden of Kuala Lumpur is literally at the heart of KL. It is attached to the National Museum of Kuala Lumpur, a fact that I discovered by accident while exploring the museum so imagine the absolute shock I got when I found that a secret lane beside the museum leads to an enchanted garden. Here’s a picture of the Museum building from the secret lane leading to the gardens. When I took this picture, I thought I was the first person to have discovered this path cause I went at an empty hour but the crowd that took the same route in the evening brought my Dora the Explorer fantasy crumbling. Nevertheless, I feel it was an important discovery that spared me a lot of unnecessary cardio so I still consider it an achievement.

This is the Lake that gives the gardens its name. Honestly, when I saw this in front of me, I was just frozen to the spot. The lake just emanates peace and the greenery around it is so refreshing. Besides, I went at a time when there was no one around so the pin-drop silence was deafening and I felt as though the effects of noise pollution on my ears was just evaporating.

The Lake Garden was originally a stand-alone park. However, the Malaysian government expanded the park to form the National Botanical Gardens which now includes the Lake Garden, the Bird Park, a Butterfly Park and a Deer Park. I visited the Bird Park on the same day as the Lake Garden. You can find me raving about it here. The butterfly garden is something that I did want to see but there were a lot of other places on my itinerary so I will have to come back for the butterflies.

Hang in there, babies, I will be back soon.

This is the forest that grows on the opposite bank of the lake. I love the layered rain forest look of it. I also like the little flower shrubs in between the trees, they are so cute. This place gives me major Pride and Prejudice vibes and I can feel the romance radiating. The Lake Garden is a fantastic place for a date. You could go paddling on the lake or you could go for a nice jog or you could simply geek out about botany or you could just sit and take in the silence and the birdsong. There’s nothing more handsome than a man talking gibberish about botany.

I’ve never met such a man.

Fountains on lakes are things that I find very aesthetic. The lake here has three fountains. One is a big one while this is a tiny baby one. There’s another medium sized fountain in between. I feel it would be fun to paddle through these fountains and get wet. Unless you are wearing thick eyeliner in which case, I suggest you keep dry.

You can guess which category I fall into.

I wear thick eyeliner and walk into fountains.

hehe….

Whenever I go to a garden for the purpose of blogging about it, I’m always on a tightrope of having to finish everything before a given time cause either the garden’s about to close or my mum needs to get home on time or it’s getting dark or there’s too many mosquitoes murdering me and instead of taking in the peace, I end up stressing more.

That was not the case when I visited the Lake Garden. I was early so I had the whole garden to myself. My mum had left me to get lost in the city and I had no curfew. Malaysia doesn’t get dark very soon and thankfully, I wasn’t a coveted bulls-eye for the mosquitoes because I had my mosquito repellent with me. Hence, I could peace out and go crazy so I did just that and sat on a bench, simply taking in the garden and all its contents.

That’s when I came across this stand. This is a free reading stand filled with books. You can drop your used books here and it can be used for free by people sitting in the garden and craving a good read. I absolutely loved the concept. Reading in a garden is one of the most aesthetic things that I can think of and this reading stand was right up my alley. It’s also a great use for second hand books and is brilliant for spreading the love of reading. There were books of all kind. I saw a couple Harry Potters, there was one Black Beauty, a number of books in Malay, cookbooks, poetry books, autobiographies and the list went on. I also love the coloured blocks beside it. It’s like elementary school all over again 🙂

The Lake Garden has many small gardens scattered in its huge area. This is a woody trees garden that has a very peculiar arrangement. That dome shaped arrangement reminds me of a Dalek from Dr Who. Imagine if it suddenly sprouted a laser gun and began to scream ‘EXTERMINATE!’

I spent a lot of time deciphering this garden because there was something very alien about it. I don’t know what it was, but the vibe was peculiar. Here’s another arrangement from the garden.

This looks like a Witch’s Grave. The trees are probably a coven keeping vigil.

Or they are humans who have been turned into trees.

Or they are just trees surrounding a bed of flowers. I’ll let you choose.

This is a herb garden called the ‘Sunken Garden’. It’s a little on the interiors but it’s nice to find it while exploring, it’s like finding Atlantis on land. It’s quite a popular garden for professional photoshoots but when I went there, entry to this garden was closed. Personally, I feel I was lucky cause I got a nice shot of it without people thronging it but I would like a nice aesthetic photograph standing here, it would be very cottage core.

This is the trendy, metropolitan side of the garden. The Canopy gives me major Avatar vibes. This circle is a place for performances such as street dancing, singing, cyclists doing cool tricks and a lot more. I saw a few people preparing for something that looked like an aerobics performance but they weren’t there for long. Maybe it’s more lively on weekends and in the evenings. However, I got the very contrast that makes KL what it is. There’s the forest as well as a sneek-peek of the city’s tall buildings and the canopy adds. dash of colour.

I love how the people have maintained the garden. The streets are so clean that you can lie down on them, no problem. I don’t however recommend you doing that, unless you want to get run over by a bike but if it’s empty, go ahead.

Here’s the full canopy. The large mosaic looks so aesthetic!

This is a man-made waterfall that marks the entrance to an Oasis garden. I love the rustic, cottage core look of this. It’s impressive how the makers of this garden have managed to create a desert landscape that looks so Jules Verne, I mean this is exactly how I picture the Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

It is a famous spot for wedding photographs and I even saw a couple getting ready for their photoshoot. The Lake Garden is a nice destination for a fairytale wedding.

Here’s a peek into the interiors of the Oasis Garden.

When I saw this little water body in the midst of palms, I did wonder whether it was a mirage. It wasn’t one though but it is great fun to skip on the stepping stones. Be careful, though cause it is slippery and overenthusiastic skipping might lead to some watery disasters.

It was quite daunting to be alone here. It was like being transported into a Jules Verne book and I half expected a sea-monster to jump out at me. The feeling was very different to anything that I’ve felt before and the fact that I was discovering the garden as I walked made it more magical.

This is the Hibiscus and Orchid garden. I didn’t spend too much time here but the scattered red orchids were so cute. I didn’t see any Hibiscus but that was alright cause in India, I see plenty of Hibiscuses on a daily basis and it was nice to see some other flowers.

Not that I don’t like Hibiscuses. I do, but I keep a distance cause I’m allergic to pollen and that flower loves to sprinkle its pollen like confetti, hehe….

“I walk an empty street

On the boulevard of broken dreams.

Where the city sleeps,

And I’m the only one and I walk alone.”

hehe….

The Lake Garden was a serendipitous tour with me finding the place by accident and having all the time to explore it properly. I loved every minute of it and even though it didn’t have the liveliness and the chaotic energy of a metropolitan tour, the solitude was beautiful and it was a much needed relaxing break with a mild cardio walk to keep me prepped up and active.

I would definitely recommend this garden for people who are looking to tour KL. The route from the National Museum is the shortest and the most convenient one and it also kills two birds with one stone. I will talk about the Museum in one of my next blogs but I will say that it is worth a visit.

And that is a wrap,

Until Next Time,

Auf Wiedesrsehen.