Watches from Petaling Street, KL Chinatown

Over the years, visiting colleagues from overseas have often requested for a visit to Petaling Street, i.e., KL Chinatown, to be included in their visit agenda. The main attraction there being football jerseys and watches - original duplicates, that is. These time-pieces, albeit not original, do make great take-home gifts for friends and family.

I remember one time, a colleague from the US bought more than ten watches. He even got them for such a good price - a number of the watches for as low as USD10 each! A point to note if you are shopping in Petaling Street is that you are allowed to bargain. Getting the price down to 60 or 70% of the asking price is a fair deal.

On the other hand, many visitors to this country do buy authentic watches from reputable watch shops. If you are from the West and the foreign exchange rate is to your advantage, you would be able to buy a Mens Diamond Watch, for instance, for less than what you would have to pay back home. Me thinks.

Chinatown can be a food haven

Today's torrential rain must have been one of the heaviest these past few weeks. It was so bad that many parts of the city have been flooded. Even our Stormwater management and road tunnel (SMART) had to be closed for the flood waters to be diverted.

Rain is not all bad though. At least you can go downtown especially the Chinatown area without worrying about having too much carbon residues on your face. A friend swears each time she makes a trip to Chinatown, she comes away with nose blackheads. I don't know about her but I know Chinatown has lots of good food that has no equal in taste elsewhere.

Petaling Street, KL Chinatown

It's been many years since my last visit to Chinatown, so a few of us decided to make a trip there. We parked along Jalan Sultan, just beside the Furama Hotel and walked to Petaling Street.

Along the way, we discovered two very interesting shops. They have things Chinese - paintings and antiques. There are lots of Chinese folklore figurines - big and small, vases, etc. One thing caught my eye - a Buddha's head. I've always wanted one of these but am worried that I might place it in a wrong place thus could be inadvertently showing disrespect. I guess I better live with not having one.

A visit to Chinatown is not complete if you don't go down the entire Petaling Street. This part of Chinatown is closed to auto-traffic from evening onwards. You can bargain on anything from bags to clothes, the famous fake watches, fake CDs, DVDs, fruits, pickles, phones, fashion accessories, toys, and lots more. If you love roast duck, it is believed that the best roast duck in KL is found here sold from a stall.

Anyone who has been to Petaling Street or Chinatown would have to put up with noise, traffic (human and auto type), dust and dirt. Thank goodness for skin care products.

I wish I had my camera with me though. Maybe next time.

Picture source: Wikipedia

Shopping for the Chinese New Year

Chinatown/Petaling Street - Photo source: Yahoo! Travel

The Lunar New Year or more commonly-known as the Chinese New Year here in Malaysia is just around the corner. To be exact, it falls on Feb 18. Being a country with a good portion of the people being Chinese, they are busy making preparations for this auspicious occasion. One of the key activities is shopping for new things both for the home and for oneself like clothes and other personal items.

Shopping places like the Suria KLCC (KL City Center), the Mid-valley Megamall and Chinatown town or the Petaling Street area are packed with shoppers day and night.