Petaling Street

Petaling Street is located in the middle of Kuala Lumpur. It is where Chinese immigrants first set up communities in KL. The whole of Petaling Street would start at 7.00 and go until about 12.00. At that time, they had a lights on strings for the whole length of the street from maybe one or 2 sources. This was a novelty at the time.

There was Chinese and Nepalese stalls. The Chinese sold material, big bolts of cloth. You would choose what materials you wanted, haggled over the price and bought it and then made the clothing. The Nepalese sold ornaments, trinkets, good luck charms and aphrodisiacs. It was alledged the Nepalese came via trading route from Nepal (through Burma, Siam and Malaya) by foot. How far that is true, I don't know.

The buildings were usually 2-storey, with the bottom part devoted to shops selling wares, coffee shops and restaraunts. For Chinese funerals, there were shops that sold items like fake cars and money for the pyre. The Chinese believed that the more things they burnt at the funeral, the better they would be in the afterlife.