Pasar Karat KL

Karat literally translates to "rust" in English. We were not talking about diamonds here, but sure enough Pasar Karat is a flea market near Petaling Street in KL, and one could unearth some gems from time to time!

Some dubbed it "Market of Thieves" and certainly one can't help but wonder why such term was coined when you walk around the market. They were filled with antiques and certainly some stolen goods as well.

How to get there? It ran parallel to Petaling Street (KL Chinatown) in the middle of town, within walking distance from Central Market, and it formed part of the route for our #WWPW2015 - Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk - the other day. It opened every Saturday and Sunday as early as 6 am, and one had to get there early to get the best bargain.

We entered the market from the Jalan Sultan entrance, making our way into Petaling Street proper. When we arrived there at almost 9, the place was already packed. They were all makeshift stalls and tables, the wares being left displayed in the open for us to bargain on the price. The main stalls by the entrance were selling proper antiques. The deeper you go, the dodgier the business were until right at the back where you suspect that those were all stolen items.

But it was all in good spirit. The sellers were pretty approachable, but be sure to ask their permission before you take their photos. They can be a bit touchy. After all, it was their turf.

After walking for around 20 minutes, talking to some of the sellers, we sat by a coffee stall to have a drink. According to the owner, Pasar Karat had been around since the early 80s. It used to be exclusively Chinese but in the last 10 years, foreigners came into the picture, and with that some rougher characters. There were always some plain clothed policeman around patrolling the area and see if there are any disturbances. One had also had to be wary about your pockets, and make sure you keep your personal belongings to yourself. But generally speaking the place were quiet peaceful.

I didn't buy anything since I couldn't bother to carry them on the rest of my walk. Certainly not a place I would come alone. Safety in numbers, that was the key. The vendors could tell if it was your first time there, and how good could you bargain.

The items sold there were also rather dodgy especially the electronics. One could get an 32Gb SD card for around RM30, but one couldn't guarantee if you can safe more than 4Gb of data on the card if you know what I mean! Watch out for bargains that were too good to be true! And everything has a price!

As for photo-ops, certainly there were plenty to snaps. There were some nice looking murals on the walls and the patron there tended to be characters as well. But be sure to ask permission before you snap. More likely than not, they would say yes. And if they say no, move along. Just google "Pasar Karat KL" and you would sure to get the directions to the place. Happy hunting!

Latin American Festival

We just made a turn coming out of Low Yat, and the next thing we knew was there was a big crowd with loud music going on. A street party.

A closer look and it was a the 7th Latin American Festival, promoting tourism there. Hard to realise that they had been doing it for that many years. It came complete with party, bazaars, stalls as well as dancers. Pretty fun actually.

Unfortunately, we were not really able to sample the food since not all of them were Halal - one of the store from Cuba was, so we did grab a snack. The rest were alcohol-fuelled activities. Great fun, but we didn't linger around for too long.

I was sure the party would go on for a lot longer judging from the spirit of the South American crowd who turned up. They were dancing away as we left. Great stuff!

Definitely would be visiting again on the next issue.

The Monorel

As part of Anita's KL discovery program - after the LRT journey the other day - we went for a monorail - or the Monorel as we called it here in KL - ride today. We started just like the other day at Nu Sentral, although this time the monorail station was located on the opposite side of the mall to the LRT and KL Sentral main terminal.

It was still convenient. From the car park, we went up one floor from inside the Nu Sentral Mall and walked across straight into the monorail stop. Equipped with our Touch'n'Go cards, we were well on our way in no time.

Up the escalator at KL SentralNice artful detailing ...This time, it was four stops from Sentral to Berjaya Times Square. Took a bit longer than expected as we realised that the monorail actually travelled a lot slower than the LRT. Maybe for safety reasons. Not only that, it was only a couple of train cars long, half the length of the LRT. However, the chassis were wider with more room to stand.

You get to see a different view of KL from this vantage point ....Seems to be a city in perpetual developmentDon't jump across the platform ....The "non-security" ...Definitely convenient, helped by the smaller number of crowd on Sundays. Not sure it would be much fun when it was crowded!

Semua House

I was sure that I have written about this place before. It used to be the heartbeat of Masjid India and Jalan Bunus in the 80s. This, plus the Campbell Complex not far behind were the place to be, before walking further down towards Pertama Complex. Those were the time before SOGO and Maju Junction been built.

There were also only the locals and Indian Moslems running the business there. Nowadays, Semua House and the surrounding area were filled up by Indonesian, and I was sure that before long, maybe the Bangladeshis and Nepalis. They far outnumbered the locals nowadays. The business might be owned by the locals, but certainly the sales staff weren't from around here.

Not many shops were running at full speedLooking down towards the entrancePlenty of the lots left vacantA sad state

The main tenants there seemed to be specialty shops for Malay wedding. Plenty of tepak sirih, stuff for the pelamin as well as wardrobes were on the second floor. Other than that, there were nothing special. Plenty of shop lots were closed for rent, and there were not much activities going on in the inside. There were more things happening in the surrounding area.

I reckoned the business had been siphoned away to the nearby bigger malls - SOGO and Jakel Mall included. I think the days of Semua House were numbered.

Bazaar Masjid India

Anita was really excited when we arrived at the bazaar after the LRT trip. So much things to see and being early on Friday afternoon, the place was still relatively quiet. Try going there during weekends ...

Power long? Power short?The huge Jakel Mall close byRM10 for those are not cheap in my book ...

It's coming into Syaban soon, which meant that Ramadhan would be next before Syawal. So, the selection for Eid was already available at the bazaar as well as Wisma Yakin next door. Anita had yet to select the colour for this year's theme, so we decided to just have a browse around. Convincing our boys to come along to check for sizes would be a challenge.

After Anita bought a few items, we then walked along further towards Jalan Bunus and Semua House.

There are all manner of footwear here. And this one was certainly the biggest!For the ladies ...If it doesn't fit, this guy would fix it ...Just in case you're hungry ...Don't think this comes under "happy toys"That's colourful ...I will write more about Semua House later, but it seemed that the business had been usurped by the gigantic Jakel Mall only 100m away.

We turned back and stopped at the stalls for some snack before heading back towards the Masjid Jamek LRT station to return home. It was a couple of hours well spent.

More photos from the bazaar trip here.