Part 8 Masjid India

By the time we left Capital Cafe, it was already well past noon. Masjid India was already crowded by then, and as customary on every Saturday afternoon from 3 pm, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman would be closed for the night market.

We could hardly go anywhere without bumping into people, and the big dSLR which some of us carried looked awkward in this crowd.

Still in the spirit of MerdekaBlind street musician. Had been a feature here since the 80s.Sweet stuffNot your typical "Gadis dan Bunga"A couple of things I noticed about the place. Firstly, the crowds were mainly local, which was a change from Chow Kit. And secondly, there were too much bling here. There were goldsmiths everywhere, and the place must have the highest concentration of money changer in town. It seemed that on one of the rows, every other shops were money changers. I wonder what was the crime rate like at this area?

"Reserved"Lost count of how many jewellers and money changers around hereMore money changers and jewellersThe sun was bright. And we just had lunch. Not really in the mood to venture too far from the route. We ended up entering one of the Indian cafe and again, talked to one of the owners. This particular shop sell ladoo to the airlines and made them fresh everyday at the shop by hand. Some of them were sold at the shop next door, while some of them were transferred to a small warehouse in Sepang to be sent to the airport.

The gentleman I spoke to was there to help out his family after he retired, and he spoke in perfect English. We asked what did he retired from, and it didn't come as a surprise when he used to work as a journalist. He certainly got plenty of story to tell.

The place was also full of Indian candies - ladooRead the signs - Palaykat!Stopped by a ladoo shop, where they actually prepared the candies on siteWe even interviewed the ownerTime to move onAfter lingering on for another half an hour, it was time to meet up at the last destination sadly. We gathered at a cafe next to Masjid Jamek for one last meal ……

Links to the write-ups here.

Part 6 Kudu bin Abdul

Restoran Kudu bin Abdul. This was my Dad's favourite nasi kandar shop in KL. We as a family had been coming here since the early 80s, and we visited the shop on the day that the original owner died after a fall at the shop in the 90s. It had since been run by his children, and since then the food had never tasted the same.

We still come here if not for the food, for the atmosphere. There restaurant had a storied past. The great Tan Sri P Ramlee was a regular here when he was still filming right before his death. It was a taste of Penang, outside Penang. The curry was so spicy that if you enjoy the food with your fingers, you could still smell the spices on your hands a couple of days after! It was that tasty.

The last time I visited the shop was a couple of years back with my Mum and Dad. We stopped here when we were walking by towards Maju Junction - the shop was located on the last row before the intersection of Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Jalan Sultan Ismail. It was still early for lunch then, but still the crowd was already building up. SInce I just had my late breakfast not so long before, I had to give the place a miss.

Maybe I'll visit the place again in the next couple of weeks with my Dad. It had been a while since we both came …..

The walk was blogged here.

Part 5 Choi Hoong

I didn't know about this shop but one of my fellow photographer did. it was a simple shoe shop but a shop like no other. They made bespoke orthopaedic shoes made to order. And it was about the only one in the country and the shoes here cost a lot less than the alternatives which were usually imported.

On that particular morning, the sifu was away from the shop, so we did not manage to photograph him doing his trade. Instead, we were allowed in to have a look at his tools and talk to his assistant. Everything here was hand made.

The conspicuous front boardThe apprentice would have a hard time following this upLike the old days, things were more straight forwardThese were from taken directly from the customer's feetCut by handFor the orders, the intended user had to be present so that the exact shape and measurements of their foot could be taken. A mould would then be created and the sifu would then go about making the shoes to fit snugly and comfortably on the user later.

People came from all over the country to have their shoes made here, mainly for those with special needs. There were plenty of examples to be seen at the shop, but it would have been nicer if the sifu was in. It would have been quite a photo session if he was ……

More on the Choi Hoong Shoe Enterprise on here. The blog entries were compiled here.

Part 4 On to Jalan TAR

The next part of the route took us along the famed Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Not the usual shop lots with big retails and bazaar. This was almost the forgotten part of the stretch of Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Right between Chow Kit and Maju Junction.

There were plenty of old shops here, mainly workshops and hardware stores. When you think about it, it was a rather odd place to have those kinds of shops. Parking would have been a killer and hardly a place for people passing by window shopping. The punters must have known about those shops to find these, and some these shops were gems.

The familiar Twin Towers from Jalan TAR across Kampung Baru...... and the KL TowerThe Monorel tract ran straight through Jalan TAR heading towards Chow KitAnd one such gems was the Choi Hoong Shoe shop, but I would blog more about that on a later entry as it deserved an entry on its own.

An intimidating nameNeed directions?Here's my number, so call me maybe ....Surprising how many workshops were located along this stretchPatriotic ......We hung around an a rattan shop, talking to the owners and one particular uncle who had been plying his trade there for close to 20 years. He basically made rattan furnitures and toys by hand, an intricate skill to have. They mainly made the product here and sell them elsewhere via a middleman.

One of the photographer in our group was from Russia and he found the whole thing fascinating and couldn't stop snapping away while we chatted away.

Next, we stumbled across this rattan workshopThe produced stuffs big and small .....Plotting our next spot ...It was just after 11.30 when we reached Maju Junction and a restaurant just before the junction to Medan Tuanku. The famous Kudu bin Abdul. And more about that later …..

The entries were collated here.

Part 3 Let's Get Wet

On we marched. And soon we were onto series of corridors away from the rows of shophouses. The Chow Kit wet market was actually smaller than I thought. It used to be bigger, but the back half - towards Menara Safuan had been cordoned off for development. A new market was recently opened in half of the space and these certainly looked more organised. It looked like the old market would be slowly phased out in the future, a sort of upgrading.

These are certainly fresh. Not the likes that you find at the supermarkets.Look at these maize. I could sink my teeth into them ....Going bananas!My fellow photographers getting stuck in as well ....Not sure how they taste like, but they sure smelt nice!You might wonder if the place had lost it charm with the relocation. Personally I felt that the charm had left the place some years back. There were a couple of reasons for this, first the generational change of the vendors, and secondly the people that made up the vendors now.

In the wet market, the majority of the stall owners were still locals, but they were of the newer breed. They do not run their own business anymore but rather letting the place out. As a result, the people manning the shops were no longer locals. They were Indonesian mainly, and as a result, the produce and the people actually coming to buy the produce were not locals anymore.

Let's be honest, I couldn't tell if they were bargains to be had here ....I was told that the fresher the fish, the clearer the eyes looked. These were certainly clear ....Hoofs anyone?Super fresh coconut milk!I remember that the meat and fishmongers were mainly Malays and the Chinese mainly sell fruits and vegetables. The Indian would mainly occupy the dry part - in shop rows - selling spices and the likes. Chow Kit used to be a one-stop centre where everything went and you could find anything there. Obviously time has changed. And I was left to reflect at the cafe at the exit of the market when I sat down to enjoy my breakfast with the other photographers. How time has changed …..

The entries were compiled here.