kuala lumpur central market

The Kuala Lumpur Central Market used to be the main wet market for the city. Its long history dated back to 1888 and the present building was constructed in 1930's. Rows after rows of hawkers selling fishes and vegetable used to fill up the building and the surrounding areas.

The building was almost demolished in 1970's if not for the strong oppositions by the Malaysian Heritage Society. It is now transformed to an interesting, straight-forward hub offering a variety of showcase for Malaysian culture.

Next to the building is a pedestrian walkway known as Lorong Kasturi, which will be converted into a covered mall called Kasturi Walk with about 55 retail and F&B kiosks alfresco style.

Traditional crafts: The Straits Chinese street where you can find shops selling a whole lot of Chinese items.

Hordes of people can be seen streaming into Central Market these days to eat, shop, or watch free cultural performances.

Kuala Lumpur Central Market assistant complex manager and senior advertising and promotion manager Mak Soon Peng said the kiosks and stalls have been upgraded and reorganised into different sections as part of a refurbishment programme.

“It’s really a different Central Market with a fresher and brighter feel, which translates into a more conducive shopping ambience for visitors as well as the traders,” Mak said to StarMetro during a recent tour of the place.

“About RM10mil was invested for the upgrading works. Our founder and group managing director Bernard Bong has this vision for Central Market, which is to make it a truly happening hub reflective of its significance as the national culture, arts and heritage centre.

Going al fresco: The Kasturi Walk project by Central Market.

“One of the most evident features you would notice are the different zones to categorise the different areas — for example, names like Lorong Melayu, Lorong Cina, Lorong India, Jonker Street and also Blue Mansion,” he said.

Lorong Melayu is to denote all things Malay sold along this lane, and so forth.

Proper signs have been put up at the start of each street with respective custom-made tiles to enhance the character of each.

Jonker Street, which is named after the famous street in Malacca, describes the Baba-Nyonya inspired architecture constructed for some of the shops selling handicrafts and souvenirs, while Blue Mansion which is named after the heritage building in Penang denotes the antique trove of treasures one could find among the shops here.

There is also a Batik Emporium with a variety of Malaysian batik prints sewn into apparel, shoes and bags available from the many shops.

Kuala Lumpur Central Market complex manager Cheong Wai Mun said about 70% of the mall’s tenants were made up of old ones with balance 30% new tenants who moved in after the revamp.

Mak said the management had also gotten some of the shops to renovate in line with the new image of Central Market.

Go coconut: The lane named Lorong Kelapa which features shops selling a variety of traditional Maly snacks and goodies made from coconut.

“We actually did the revamp gradually since 2004 in different phases,” he said.

On the same level as the Batik Emporium is where one could take their pick from the wide array of food options at the Mangrove food court.

This food court and other restaurants like Ginger Restaurant and Precious Old China are a hit with the crowd.

Central Market’s emphasis on arts is evident with the dedicated building called Central Market Annexe, located behind the main building and it houses a collection of eclectic art galleries, including the Annexe Gallery.

“In the past if you can remember, the artists used to squat around on the ground to do their painting, and it was narrow with little space for people to pass through. Which is why this proper Annexe space was created for them,” said Cheong.

The Annexe Gallery arts programme director Pang Khee Teik said the place has become somewhat popular with young people and was where one could see the ‘democratising’ of arts.

Poised at work: Portrait artists now get to showcase their talent at the Central Market Annexe.

“We hold experimental art exhibitions, theatres, forums and dance performances; we’re multi-disciplinary and flexible.

“As the arts community become more interested in social issues like orang asli and refugees, we have become a platform where marginalised groups feel empowered and offer people with different perspective of viewpoints. The place where people come to agree to disagree,” said Pang, adding the gallery opened in 2007.

Visitors Paradise

Both locals and visitors love to visit the Kuala Lumpur Central market. My cousin who was going to visit her friends in New Zealand, made sure that visit the market to buy all her gifts and presents. You will find many tourist looking for memories of Malaysia.

Source:

Wednesday February 2, 2011, Central Market’s revamped look draws the crowd
By LIM CHIA YING , chiaying@thestar.com.my

My Visit Deer Park in Kuala Lumpur

This is the story about my visit to Kuala Lumpur Deer Park at Lake Garden in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on 11 dec 2010.

It was a period of a long school vacation in Malaysia. One of the task a parent had to do was to fill up the time of the school going children. It is an easy task, as the parents have to cater for the other routines and the working life.

The 11 dec was a sunday. We drove in our old Malaysia Proton, to visit the Tun Abdul Razak Memorial and the Kuala Lumpur Deer Park. The memorial was the first destination, as it serve as a lesson in Malaysian history for my Form 2 daughter.

We drove towards the Masjid Negara, near the old railway station. Then took the left turn into the shady Lake Garden. Lake Garden is the original botanical garden in Kuala Lumpur. It had a number of tourist attractions within its complex, one of which is the Kuala Lumpur Deer Park.

We park the car at the Tun Razak Memorial, and spent about an hour inside the memorial. Then took the side path to the park. We were not very sure whether it was onpened or not. So we ttok a peep from the memorial car park and managed to see a large number of deers roaming the park.

The park is at the slope of the hill. We passed through the welcome sign. It says the park is open between 1000 am to 6 pam with lunch break. We walked down the path.

We wished the park to be better kept. The hand rails were felling down and the wood bridge had some broken floor. It can be dangerous. It guess it may be under funded as the entry is free. It must cost alot to maintain about 100 deers in captivity. May be they can sell the deer and get some income from it.

At the bottom of the hill, we came across a number of small huts. They were not for people, rather they were housing the mouse deers. There were about 2 or 3 or them in each hut. We can see that they were served with fresh vegetable in a green plate. The mouse deer is the favorite animal in the Malay traditional stories. They were suppose to be the example of smart and good hearted.

Towards the end of the the path is the the original Lake of the Lake Garden. It became smaller now, with the latest upgrade and effort to beautify the garden, the originality had lost its touch.
you can see the Lake Garden Behind
The return path to the Memorial was through a long and tall steps. My grandson refused to talk. I guessed, his little feet were getting too tired. So I had to carry
him up. It was a good exercise for me.

We decided to say good bye to the Kuala Lumpur Deer Park. May be we will go again.

petaling street

Petaling Street is one of the famous tourist spot in Kuala Lumpur. Is is also known as China Town or as Jalan Petaling. This is where both the local and the visitors go to buy cheap imitation products. There was several raids by the authorities, however, it does not stop the selling of these products.

As you approach the street, you can see the big welcome sign to the street. The whole street was change to a walking mall with small stalls and shops on each side. Most of the shops are selling clothing, shoes, handbags and accessories. You can see that the whole are is covered with green awning, making shopping more convenient.

walking tour in petaling street
A walking tour in petaling street will bring back the memory of the past, the days when groups of immigrants from china came to this distant land. The difficult life in their home country plus the hardships faced on the journey, kept as a constant reminder of the needs to work hard.

Some time you can come across a lonely monk walking in the street. For the belief that he has, it is better to be a beggar and learn the meaning of modesty.



A spectrum of color in one of the shop in Petaling Street with single custom.


Near the Chinese New Year, the celebration include lion and dragon dances. Sometime you can witness a competition. You may notice that the dancers need not be a Chinese, an indication of the inter-mixes of the culture in Malaysia.

memorial tun razak

Last weekend I make my first trip to memorial tun razak. It is located near the kuala lumpur lake garden.

There are many tourist attraction adjacent to the memorial. These are some of the tourist attractions with a walking distant:

1. National mosque.
2. Planetarium.
3. Islamic Museum
4. National Museum,
5. Polis Museum
6. Butterfly park
7. Birds Park
8. Lake Garden of Kuala Lumpur.
9. War Memorial

Location.

View Larger Map

Access
1. by taxi - you may hail the city taxi from any location and get him to send you the the memorial.

2. You may walk from Sentral - it take about 20 minutes. The path will take you to the national museum, then the planetarium and then the tun razak memorial.

About the memorial

The memorial was the official resident of Tun Razak, the second Prime Minister of Malaysia. You can see the humble living of the great man, who had put in so much efforts in developing the country. The next Prime Minister after him was also stayed at the same house.

However the subsequent Prime Minister built a grand Palace in Putra Jaya, a vast different from the house of Tun Razak.

When he passed away the house was change to become a museum or memorial.

Link about the memorial

Video

There are some errors in the comments:
1. He was born in Kampong Keladi in Pekan Pahang, not Raub
2. His school was at Kampong Benta Langgar, not Batu Langgar.

( I know because I am local the village is familiar to me)

The memorial tun Razak stands proud as a reminder of the great Prime Minister.

malaysian Nationa Mosque

The tour of Malaysia is not complete without visiting the national mosque.

Situated in the heart of Kuala Lumpur city, the mosque has become one of the top tourist spot. Everyday, you will see buses of tourist will walking around the mosque, taking pictures.

The dome is specially designed with 18 sides representing the 13 states in Malaysia and the 5 commandments of the Muslims. From far the dome appears like an umbrella, signifying that the religion will be the like of the umbrella for the nation.

At the time the national mosque was built, it was the biggest modern mosque in Asia. The design is unique with a touch of Muslim tradition and complete with the khat, i.e the art of quranic writing. The mosque is representing the unique blending of tradition and modern designs.

The national mosque is situated near the old railway station. The area is full with many tourist attractions. A few miles away is the national monuments remembering the thousands that loss their lives fighting the communists terrorists. On the road, within walking distant is the Islamic Museum, the birds park and also the butterfly park.

Tips
1. Visitor are requested to remove their shoes hen entering the mosque.

2. Proper dress is expected. You may rent a robe to cover yourself. Robes for rental is available at the mosque.

Transport.
The mosques is accessible on foot, or taxi.

Note:

The national mosque also houses the graves for the national figures like the Prime Ministers of Malaysia. You also can visit the mosque library for view of some of the Islamic documents and books.

kl tower - the jumping ritual

KL tower stands 421 meter high and the 18th tallest building in the world. It is located in Kuala Lumpur the capital city of Malaysia.

Since its completion in 1995, the tower had hosted a number of competition, ranging from the stairs competition to the base jumping.

The latest event was the 10th KL Tower International Jumping on 10 Oct 2010. 122 extreme sport lovers were lined up to take part in event. They came from 20 different countries, Malaysia, UK, USA, Russia are some of countries taking part in the events.

Fazleena Aziz did a good job on her article in The Star.

.................................................................

Saturday October 9, 2010

122 extreme sport lovers take turns to jump from KL Tower

By FAZLEENA AZIZ
fazleena@thestar.com.my Photos by P. NATHAN

IT’S a bird, no, it’s a plane — no it’s base jumpers flying from the Kuala Lumpur Tower.

A total of 122 jumpers from 20 countries are here to take part in the 10th Kuala Lumpur Tower International Jump Malaysia. They are from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Switzerland, Finland, the United States, Russia, Ukraine, Sweden, Chile, United Kingdom, Norway, France, Poland, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Japan as well as 25 Malaysians jumpers.

The extreme sport filled with adrenaline rush gathered many enthusiastic and curious visitors.

Free fall: Two jumpers taking off from the KL Tower during the International Base Jump Malaysia 2010.

Some took the opportunity to get a bird’s eye view while some took photos of the jumpers leaping from the Kuala Lumpur Tower and landing safely.

Arnel Sanchez, 37, from the United States said he has been taking part in the sport for two years after being influenced by his friends who were into sky diving and base jumping.

“The feeling of jumping from such a height is very hard to describe but you feel like all the problems you had for the day are gone.

“You also get to meet so many people from all over the world who are also into the sport,” he said.

Safe landing: This is the 10th year the KL Tower International Jump Malaysia 2010 is being held.

For Scott Hiscoe, 25 from Australia, this was his first time participating overseas.

“The feeling is unbelievable and scary at the same time, which is good.

“I love everything about this sport,” he said, adding that he took up the sport because it was fun.

KL Tower chief executive officer Zuraidah Mohd Said said the height of the tower was the main aspect for the extreme sport lovers.

She said many activities were being lined up for everyone as part of thejump.

The event is held until Sunday and visitors are invited to watch the event which starts at 10am.

Exclusive tickets to the Open Deck will be offered at special premier rates of RM100 each during the day and RM150 each for the night view.

The night jumps will be held today only if the weather permits