Stesen Sentral of KL Sentral

Inside view of Stesen Sentral. LRT station right at the back

KL Sentral is an exclusive urban centre, a city within a city with office towers, business suites, 5-star hotels, luxury condominiums and a shopping mall.  It is built around Malaysia largest transit hub, the Stesen Sentral, Kuala Lumpur’s integrated rail transportation centre.  Travellers coming into Kuala Lumpur by train, they will definitely end at Stesen Sentral.  For air travellers, if they don’t have anyone to pick them up, buses and rail services from the LCCT and KLIA end at Stesen Sentral too.  Then on they can continue with their journey, take the LRT or taxis for trips within the city of Kuala Lumpur, to Putrajaya (the Federal Government Administrative Centre) or, continue their journey north or south of Kuala Lumpur to other town or other state of Malaysia by train.  Stesen Sentral is specifically a hub for train and air travellers for travels within, into or out of the country.

Train ticket counter

AirAsia office

Stesen Sentral has almost all the essentials that a traveller needs, cheap food, fast food, free wifi, convenience shops, ATMs, showers and lockers, or a place for left lugage.  Budget airline AirAsia has opened an office just recently.  One thing that is missing is cheap lodging to stay the night although for deep pocket travellers Hilton and Le Meridien hotels are just next to it.  All in all, Stesen Sentral is very convenient for travellers, be it local or foreign.  The one thing to note here is that the words Stesen Sentral that is within KL Sentral are totally been engulfed by the words KL Sentral.  If you want to go to Stesen Sentral, instead of saying Stesen Sentral just say KL Sentral.  You won’t go wrong because that is what the locals have been saying it all along even though you are being specific.

Buses to Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT)

Food Court and Pastries shop

Hilton & Le Meridien hotels just next to Stesen Sentral

Lockers from RM5 to RM20, token of RM5 each can be exchanged at the blue coloured box

Left bagage office opposite train ticket counters

Simple DIY Dehumidifier Dry Box

Bantimurung Waterfall

To those who live in areas where there are plenty of water, like those near the equator, humidity is very high.  Camera lenses, if are not kept carefully, in no time  mold will grow on the glass surface.  Even if you keep it in an airtight box/container together with desiccant.  The mold will still be present on the glass if you do not maintain the condition of the desiccant by reheating it every so often to remove the moisture.  I know, I have been there and done that.  If the mold is on the surface of the external lens, and after you clean the lens to remove it you will find that your lens coating is partly gone too.  The lens can still be used only that it does not look good anymore.  I have been using the method that I am about to explain for almost two years and not a single thread of mold on the lenses even though I have been out in a light rain and my lenses are not weather sealed.

What you need is a box/container that will take in all your gears, a 5 watt incandescent bulb, bulb holder, light dimmer, a length of electrical cord and a plug.  Install the bulb holder on the lower part of the box and connect it to the light dimmer and plug.  Leave some space for the bulb by putting something to act as raisers perhaps small block of woods on all four corners and cover it.  The cover should be something solid that will take the weight of whatever that will be on it.  Make sure there is space for the warm air to rise to the above compartment or drill some holes in the cover.  If you wish, you may drill a very small hole at the bottom of the box/container to let cold air out and as a precaution not to pressurised the box/container.

Note of caution: If you don’t know anything about electrical wiring, get someone who knows to do it for you.  Never attempt to do it if you have no clue about electrical wiring.  Electric shock can be fatal and electrical wiring short can cause fire.

That said, here’s how I did mine.  I have a commercial dehumidifier dry box that is not working anymore, even the gauge.  Looking at it, I have  a hard time figuring how the system work.  So I remove the whole dehumidifying system and in its place I install a 5 watt incandescent bulb and a light dimmer so that I can control the amount of heat generated.  Not too warm (detrimental effect for the electronics inside the lens and camera if exposed for a very long period) or warm but just a slight feeling of warmness in the air and since the bulb is working underrated, it last a very long while.

The 5 watt incandescent bulb and the light dimmer on the left plus silica gel for extra measure