Walking Walking Kuala Lumpur – The Beginning – Jalan Mesjid India

The tittle is literally translated from Bahasa Melayu, the official languange and mostly spoken in Malaysia, Jalan Jalan Kuala Lumpur. I am making this tittle as a series of blog post to enter the Blog4FT blog writing contest.

Kuala Lumpur has lots of thing to be presented to to locals and visitors alike and by being a guest to Kuala Lumpur means one can taste the Truly Malaysia experience because all is there in Kuala Lumpur.

Today I start my walk and my plan is to write about the birth of Kuala Lumpur. The journey begin and I left house at 2.30 after the zohor prayer. As usual I will take the LRT since it is the best option to travel into Kuala Lumpur from my place instead of driving and I can disembark at the Mesjid Jamek station. It is the nearest station to where Kuala Lumpur was born in 1857. The confluence of Sungai Gombak and Sungai Kelang. A LRT ride from Bukit Jalil station is RM1.90 for a single journey. Taking the LRT is a sure way to reach your destination on time irrespective of the traffic condition on the roads of Kuala Lumpur. From Bukit Jalil to Mesjid Jamek takes about 25-30 minutes.

As soon as leaving the station walk towards Jalan Mesjid India or popularly known as Little India. This is a place where KLites use to congregate especially during the month of Ramadhan to buy textiles for their baju kurungs. There are concentrations of shops selling varieties of baju kurung cloth and shoppers are usually lost of choice. At Mesjid India too there are shops belonging mostly Malays at the bazar where they sell Baju Melayu, the Malay traditional dress. I think I am not exagerating if I were to compare this area as the textile district in Los Angeles city, USA. This is because for Malays specifically, it is here to go and shop for clothes. Jalan Mesjid India is a more specific place to shop for Malays and Indians preparing for their religuous festivals. The existence of Indian shops within the vicinity is what attracts Indian shoppers to this area. The same goes for Malays with the present of shops selling textiles for tratitional baju kurungs.

Went to Affin Bank to withdraw some some money to pay my credit card and some money to spend while going on my journey. As I walk along Jalan Mesjid India took some photos. This area will be crowded with shoppers during festive shopping especially during the holy month of Ramadhan and before Deepavali.

Running parallel to Jalan Mesjid India is the famous Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. It was one of the oldest main road in Kuala Lumpur city and was and still a popular shopping destination. Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman witness the growth of Kuala Lumpur with large individually owned shops some in pre-war era buildings such as the Kowloon Hotel and among the names popular are Globe Silk Store, Kamdar, GS Gill, Tang Ling etc. Stores along Jalan tunku Abdul Rahman still attract consumers because of the reasonable price offered and can be considered a budget concious shoppers paradise as compared to higher ends shopping complexes. More reference to Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman.

One of the pre-war building that remains in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman is the Colesium Theatre. It has been preserved and still screen mostly Indian movies.

Next to the building is the Tunku Abdul Rahman Square that house the KL Information Centre and what else…………………………….to satisfy the call of nature.

TO Be Continued…………… Coming Next Dataran Merdeka