Things to Do in Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Petaling Street)

Chinatowns have always fascinated me. It started when I went on a trip to Hong Kong a few years back (my 1st trip abroad) and an unplanned visit to their Chinatown sparked my interest that eventually led me to visit each Chinatown community in all countries that I traveled thereafter.

Not only it is a melting pot of the predominantly Chinese culture mixed with other cultures, Chinatown is also a good place to trace back the country’s history and to understand how the different cultures continue to thrive together all these years — not to mention it has become the modern-day shoppers’ paradise (more of that below).

In Kuala Lumpur, their Chinatown is located in Jalan Petaling (Chee Cheong Kai in Cantonese) but the market originally centered along Jalan Tun HS Lee due to its high elevation. Its history dates back in the 1800s when the tin industry was started by the Hakka and Cantonese. Year passed, civil war broke out and the mines eventually closed down due to the floods; however, the workers were persuaded to stay.

Today, it had become one of the bustling shopping meccas of Kuala Lumpur with thousands of people wandering about each day and below are some of the things I recommend you can do while you’re in Chinatown.

1. Shop.  
Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown offers a wide range of products from street food to batiks to souvenir items like shirts and key chains that are reasonably cheap. Counterfeit items like designer bags and watches are also quite common in the market (in fact, in all Chinatowns I’ve been in to) so if you’re planning to buy anything, be sure to triple check the quality of the item.

The basic rule of thumb is to visit as many stalls as possible to look for the lowest price of the item that you want. While I was looking for shirts for pasalubong, I found one stall that sold shirts for RM10 (PHP130+) but I found another stall that sold shirts twice the price but with better quality. Sometimes it pays to be a little patient.

You can even bargain for a cheaper price if you know how. Try to haggle down to 50% and work your way up. Shops open as early as lunch time till midnight.