Jukebox's mini-adventure - part 2 - The Gardens

(continued from part 1...)
[I've posted part 2 first so that it appears right below part 1..haha]

12.38p.m.
Arrived at Mid Valley station. Took a while to reach the mall entrance due to lunch crowd. Checked for signboards to The Gardens. Seems that access is available via Centre Court. Decided to rest a bit first before proceeding.

The Gardens @ Mid Valley

12.55p.m.
Entered the Gardens. First impression: nice relaxed feel. Mall layout something like Mid Valley Megamall (MVM). Satelite shaped walkways with two short ends and two long ends. The building itself is shaped like an aerofoil.

The 3rd floor

I took the path on the left (one of the long ends). In the middle of wide walkways were some trees and many sofas, where fatigued shoppers were resting on. They also have many benches on the upper floors for the same purpose, something that the Pavilion lacked.

Sofas for tired shoppers

This mall seems more crowded than the Pavilion (probably because of the hour of the day and the vicinity to MVM, plus the smaller area creating the impression). Proceeded to the nearest mall directory to get a brochure. Like the Pavilion, there was still a lot of renovation going on. Workers were moving wires about, some were applying finishing touches to the floors.

The most impressive part of the mall is the mall directory, which I will mention later.

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Here's some basic info of the mall:

Generally The Gardens is divided into sections by floors (according to the brochure):
Lower Ground - Market Hall
Ground & Level 1 - Fashion Gallery
Level 2 - Fashion, Homes & Living
Level 3 - Sports, Leisure & Dining
Level 4 & 5 - Wellness, Arts & Theatre

They have a number of special sections:
Cocoon (relaxation),
Gurney Drive (Penang hawker food),
2201 Fashion Avenue (fashion and cafes),
The Box (event space)
However, all those are still under renovation.

Criss crossing walkways

The other "special" sections (which are partially open) are Asian Melting Pot and Gourmet Hall, both consists of food outlets and are located @ Market Hall.

The major stores are:

• Anchor Tenants: Isetan (4 floors) , Robinsons (3 floors) , Marketplace by Cold Storage (at lower ground)

Isetan and Robinsons

Other shops that I remember coming across:

• Restaurants: Ding Tai Fung, Cinnamon, Sushi Zen (surprisingly they also have Yo! Sushi and Tony Romas, but both are "opening soon")
• Cafés: Starbucks
• Fashion: Marks and Spencer, Banana Republic

And now, on to the comments:

• Design: Simple design. Nice. 8/10
• Size: Standing in the centre, can see both ends (or all four, in fact). 7/10
• Number of outlets: Limited variety. I think it's meant to complement MVM. 7/10

• Food outlets: Not many food outlets, and not a single fast food restaurant. Well, MVM is just next door, so, no problem. The main food section is also below road level, a fairly small area only accesible via one escalator. Fancy sipping coffee at an underground Coffee Bean? 7/10

• Cinema: Named GSC Signature, GSC's first premier boutique cinema. Located on the highest floor, not viewable from other parts of the mall. Opening soon. Looking forward to it! ?/10

• Mall/Shopping directory: Extremely impressive. Interactive touch-screen, incredible. You can actually select a particular store and the directory shows you where is it located. 10/10

• Crowd density: Fair amount. Not too few as to give an empty feel. But not too many also, therefore the relaxed feeling is maintained. (sounds so philosophical..) But not sure how the situation would be if it was a weekend. For now, I'll say 9/10.

• Many parts of the mall's walkways has natural sunlight. Garden concept I suppose.

• There are a number of funny fan-shaped blocks near the ceiling where images can be projected onto it. Not sure what's it's for.

• Passed by a nice cafe located at the left atrium. Can't remember the name. Was fenced due to a private function at that time.

The round cafe













and lastly...

• Restrooms: Awesome. Sensor-activated taps are not unusual, but sensor-activated soap dispensers? Confusing entrance though. One may be too distracted by the "unique" design that they accidentally enter the wrong restroom (haha..). No photos to show unfortunately. Limited restrooms as some were still under construction/renovation. For the auto soap-dispensors, I'll give it 9/10.

I completed the self-tour at 1.45p.m. . Decided to just lunch at KFC in MVM. Hung around at the McDs outside the GSC for a while to wait fro the lunch-hour crowd to recede. Bought McD's milkshake to pass time.

3.15p.m.
Left MVM. Exhaustion in feet creeping in (delayed effect).

3.50p.m.
Reached BJ. Still had time, so went to mamak shop for tea break.

And that's the end of the "adventure". More boring information to follow...

Citation: Photos of The Gardens obtained from the blogs of [shoppingNsales] and [SC Times]


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Overall, I think the malls are not bad. The Pavilion hasn't lived up to the hype (yet) though. The Gardens, I did not have any expectations, but it was quite impressive. Give them a few more months, and they should be interesting hang-out spots.

In my opinion, comparing the two, Pavilion KL should be the better mall in the future (3 months time at least) when more shops are open. As for now, I'll give The Gardens the vote. Time for a little budget analysis:

• Total transport (trains) cost was only RM7.30 (6 trips), equivalent to about 42km of petrol (17.5cents per km) - slightly less than a return trip from my house to 1-Utama.
• Other costs - less than RM20 (lunch was almost 10 bucks, others spent on snacks and parking)

Thanks for reading (if you have read the entire essay). I think can submit for assignment liao. more than 2000 words (total from both posts). haha..


To cap it off, here's an interesting "poem" from The Gardens (displayed on the mall's walls):

THERE'S NO RULE THAT SAYS YOU CAN'T
Dream with your eyes open,
See with your eyes closed.
Feed your imagination,
Feed your soul.
Catch up with your friends,
Catch up with yourself.
Have a good laugh,
Have a good cry.
Remember who you are,
Forget who they want you to be.
Care about the little things,
Care about nothing.
THE GARDENS AT MID VALLEY
...it's about you