I love wandering around the “kaki lima” or five-foot-ways of old Kuala Lumpur. Full of life and character, they remind me of the lively and colourful five-foot-ways of the Singapore of my younger days.
The corridors are found along the Malaysian capital’s many old shophouses. Seen also in most towns and cities across Malaysia and also in Singapore, the five-foot-ways (not necessary five feet wide) trace their existence to the Jackson (Singapore) Town Plan of 1822. The plan, which Raffles had a hand in, required that “all houses constructed of brick or tile should have a uniform type of front, each having a verandah of a certain depth, open at all times as a continuous and covered passage on each side of the street”.
More on five-foot-ways:
A five-foot-way along Jalan Sultan.
One along Jalan Hang Lekiu.
One along Jalan Tun Perak.
One along Jalan Tun H. S. Lee.
One along Jalan Petaling, with pavement fortune teller.
The Long and Winding Road 
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