abckualalumpur.com
Visitors Guide to Kuala Lumpur
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abckualalumpur.com Visitors Guide to Kuala Lumpur
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Chinatown / Petaling Street - Places to
Visit in Kuala Lumpur Chinatown / Petaling Street Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Petaling Street, is endowed with a distinct character of its own, this colourful street of shops, restaurants, and hawker stalls bustles with vitality.
A vibrant marketplace for Chinese-centric goods
such as medicines and herbs to more contemporary items like fashion accessories
and electronic products. Affectionately called ‘Chee Chong Kai’, which means
‘Starch Factory Street’, Petaling Street was once a tapioca mill for Chinese
labourers. Slowly, it became the large, noisy and popular market it is today as
business associations, temples and societies rose up.
It
is famously known for its hawker stalls for Chinese food to streets full of
goodies. The street is long and situated in one of the busiest area in KL. So,
you not only can get cheap goods, you can also get some great food. From early afternoon till late at night, the entire street is cluttered with stalls peddling all manner of goods from under the sun. From Holland grapes to Taiwanese batteries and cigarette lighters to souvenir shirts, Petaling Street is a hive of commercial activity. Perhaps most famous among its goods are pirated products, ranging from the latest movies on DVD to China-made ‘Rolex’ watches and ‘Versace’ jeans to imitation Ray-bans. Don’t forget to haggle! No price is set in stone. The prices are raised extremely high but you can bargain them all the way down, sometimes to more than half the price.
Suggest you master the "art of haggling" when visiting to Chinatown since a lot of vendors tend to double even triple their price so beware. Be cautious with your belongings too since the street tends to get crowded and snatchers might just be around.
Petaling Street is a vibrant mix of Chinese, Nepalese and Burmese traders who all vie for attention selling jewellery, herbal medicines, dried food, designer T-shirts, handbags and wallets. Knock-offs and fakes abound. Striking a bargain is not always easy. The trick is to throw in a few local terms like “Murah sikit?” (A little cheaper?) or “Mahal sangat!” (Too expensive!) and pretend to leave in a huff. Sure enough, a voice will call out behind you. “Okay lah, Okay lah! Ow-mach-you-wan?” A nice long modern canopy roofing has been added over the street, so you can walk and browse rain or shine.
Enjoying the night market is really a matter of
just wandering about and enjoying its sights, sounds, and energy. Chinese
tea-houses are also nice to rest in.
Note -
Other must see sights while you are here is the
Mahamariamman Hindu Temple just around the area and the Kwong Siew Chinese
Temple.
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A must for any tourist and a bargain hunter's paradise and one of the premier
shopping areas in the city with its distinctly oriental atmosphere. Petaling
Street maintains much of its traditional atmosphere, particularly at night when
vendors spread their wares out on the street. 
