KL’s Chinatown always has plenty of foot traffic until late, it is safe to walk and enjoy the view. However it is advisable to walk in groups, especially in the evening or night. You can wait around Masjid Jamek, and join some travelers who have the same of walking tours in Chinatown.
South of Masjid Jamek are the teeming streets of KL’s Chinatown. This crowded, colourful area is the usual mélange of Chinese signs and shops, activity and noise, and is bounded by Jalan Cheng Lock, Jalan Hang Kasturi and by Jalan Sultan. The central section of Jalan Petaling is closed to traffic and is a frantically busy market, at its most vivid at night when brightly lit.
All the activity may distract you from the area’s historic Chinese shophouses. Local conservation groups are making efforts to protect this buildings from city development and to restore them to the former glory.
Starting from Masjid Jamek, cross over to the northern side of Jalan Tun Perak and walk one block east to Lebuh Ampang. A short detour up this narrow street reveals a South-Indian Chettiar community, full of money changers and street vendors selling Indian sweets and flower garlands. Note the striking old shophouses no. 16 to 18 and no. 24 to 30 and the ceramic peacock-tiles on the Chettiar house at no. 85.
Backstract across Jalan Tun Perak and follow the path along Jalan Benteng the street splits at the clock tower. This is Medan Pasar, the site of city’s original market and gambling sheds set up for early tin miners. On your right is a row of painted shophouses at no, 2 to 8, all designed by the same Chinese architect in 1906.
Head to south to where Medan Pasar meets Lebuh Pasar Besar. On the south-eastern corner is the OCBC building an imposing Art Deco structure built in 1939 for the Overseas Chinese Banking Company.
Turn east along this street, passing the whimsical, white Federal Store, dating from 1905 and taking up an entire side of the block on your left. Opposite is the rose-pink and white MS Ally Company, one of KL’s longest-running and most venerable pharmacies.
Turn south at the next block onto Jalan Tun HS Lee. A few hundred meter down on your right is the yellow-green Bank Simpanan Building, constructed during WWII in grand Palladian style. It was originally a printing press and KL’s first Chinese newspaper was produced here.
At the end of this block, cross Lebuh Pudu and after 100 meter duct right into the Alley way with dragon design panted on the ground. It leads to the small Taoist Sze Yah Temple, which is set at an angel to Jalan Tun HS Lee and Lebuh Pudu in harmony with feng shui principles. “Kapitan China” Yap Ah Loy himself organized its construction in 1864, and there is a photograph of him on an altar at the back. The hall on the left is dedicated to the god of wealth, Choi Sen, and the one on the right to Kuan Yin, goddess of mercy.
Exiting the western side of the temple, cross the street and walk through the alley opposite the enormous Central Market. Previously the city’s product market, this Art Deco building was saved by preservationists and refurbished as a center for handycraft, antique and art sales. It is surrounded by pedestrian areas, providing a welcome break from Chinatown’s chocking traffic. Rotating art exhibitions and cultural shows are regularly held here, and you can get your palm read for fortune, fame, and happiness, by Master Chin upstairs.
At the southern end of the market, turn left onto Jalan Cheng Lock, then right onto Jalan Tun HS Lee and head south, passing the Hotel Malaya and the bright-red Chinese Temple with curved and painted animal figures on the rooftop. Farther down, also on your left, is a covered alley way of noodle shops.
Cross over to the eastern-side of the street to no. 163, the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, a large and ornate South-Indian Hindu Temple dating from 1873. Still looking fresh and colorful, it houses a large silver charlot that is taken out and paraded to the Batu Caves during the Thaipusam festival, in January or February each year.
Walk to the end of the block and turn left onto Jalan Sultan. You can detour to the Chinese tea shops on the southern side of the street leading back along Jalan Penggong and Jalan Balai Polis. Then continue east and look for an alley way on your left that;s filled with hawker stalls. At the end of the alley, hidden away on your right, is perhaps the last original gas lamp from KL’s early days. It’s now fronted by the family-run Restoran Hoi Nam Choi, a food stall selling, inexpensive fried noodle and excellent place to rest your feed and refuel.
Later you can finish by walking south to the end of Jalan Petaling, where you will find two late-19th-century Chinese Temple, ornate Chan See Shu Yuen Temple, one of KL’s largest, and across Jalan Stadium, the Hokkien-Chinese Khoon Yam Temple which also houses a local Chinese clan-association.
