Corridors of trade: Klang

Like many of Malaysia’s shophouse dominated urban spaces, the cluttered and colourful kaki-kaki-lima (five-foot-ways) of old Klang are a joy to wander through.  Intended as a sheltered walkway, the five-foot-way is thought to owe their existence to Singapore’s Town Plan of 1822, in which it was stipulated 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”. This led to a degree of uniformity in the shophouse lined pre-war urban centres in both Malaya and Singapore.

More on the five-foot-ways of Malaysia and Singapore:

https://thelongnwindingroad.wordpress.com/tag/five-foot-way/

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Revisiting the five-foot-ways of old KL

Reminiscent of the five-foot-ways of old Singapore, the cluttered, coloured, and characterful, kaki-kaki lima of old Kuala Lumpur (KL) are a joy to photograph. The sheltered walkways owe their existence to Stamford Raffles’ influence on Lt. Jackson’s Singapore Town Plan of 1822. The stipulation 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” saw to a certain degree of uniformity in the shophouse dominated pre-war urban centres of Malaya and Singapore. Where Singapore’s shophouses have to a large extent been spruced-up and modernised and have spaces taken up by new-age businesses, many of those found in the towns and cities of what is now Malaysia are still utilised in a manner that tends to be more organic manner (although that seems to be fast changing).

  

Footway to enlightenment – a five-foot-way along Jalan Tun H S Lee.

 

Five-foot-way along Jalan Petaling.

 

Five-foot-way along Jalan Petaling.

 

Misaligned five-foot-ways along Jalan Ampang.

 

Five-foot-way along Jalan Melayu.

 

Another five-foot-way along Jalan Melayu.

 

Another five-foot-way along Jalan Melayu.

 

Five-foot-way along Jalan Petaling.

 

Five-foot-way along Jalan Petaling.

 

Five-foot-way along Jalan Petaling.

 

Five-foot-way along Jalan Petaling.

 

Five-foot-way along Jalan Petaling.

 

Five-foot-way along Jalan Petaling.

 

Revisiting KL’s kaki lima

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:

• Kaki lima
• Coloured corridors
• Corridors of Trade

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.

Seeking the familiar in the unfamiliar

I love a wander around the streets of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. KL, as the city is fondly referred to, not unlike Singapore, has seen an incredible transformation over the last three decades. But unlike Singapore, which has discarded much of what that made it what it was, KL has retained pockets of of the old world; a world that gives me that sense of familiarity that is missing from the streets of the city I spent most of my life in.

One area I am particularly fond of taking a stroll through is in the part of KL around Petaling Street. Much about it has changed – and is still changing, in its back lanes and kaki-kaki-lima (five-foot-ways) I am able to find enough familiar to me from my excursions to it of two and a half decades past. Still around are the busy places of worship and the old but now shrinking back lane wet market and familiar food-stalls at Madras Lane. The old shophouses along Jalan Sultan are also still there, although some of the trades found in them – such as an old denture workshop, seemed in the two years since I last visited the street, to have closed for good.

A peek into the late 19th century Kuan Ti temple at Jalan Tun H S Lee.

A five-foot-way along Jalan Tun H S Lee.

The front of an old pet bird shop along Jalan Sultan.

Kneading dough at a back lane pau stall.

A back lane kopitiam (coffee shop) at a back lane flea market, Pasar Karat.

The back lane wet market at Madras Lane.

The well-known Four-Eyed (bespectacled) One – Sze Ngan Chye roast duck cart along Petaling Street.

Slaughtered birds at a live chicken stall at the wet market.

KL favourites in a back lane – the Madras Lane Yong Tau Foo and Laska stalls.

Coloured corridors

Conceived by the founder of modern Singapore Sir Stamford Raffles, the five-foot-way was a feature that was stipulated in the Jackson Town Plan of 1822 and is seen today in the shophouses which once dominated the urban landscape of Malaya and Singapore. In Singapore today, over 6000 of these shophouses have been conserved and their five-foot-ways remain colourful spaces through which I often enjoy a walk through. The photographs that follow, are ones from some of the more colourful areas of Singapore in which clusters of shophouses with five-foot-ways, old and new, can be found. More on the five-foot-way and the idea behind them can be found in two of my previous posts, the links to which are at the end of this post.

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Other five-foot-way adventures:

• Corridors of Trade
• Kaki Lima

Kaki lima

The kaki lima or the five-foot-way, is a feature of the shophouse, which was once dominant in the urban landscapes across much of British influenced South-East Asia. Sheltered from the blazing tropical sun and the frequent torrential downpours, they made an ideal communal space, as well as one in which many trades thrived.

A five-foot-way along Jalan Tun H S Lee.

The five-foot-ways I encountered in my childhood, full of bustle, colour and texture, were ones I found to be thoroughly fascinating. I never did have a dull moment walking along one, even in the evenings – the corridors, even those emptied of life and traders, found other uses. It was common to see bicycles and tricycles parked as well as other clutter. A common sight that we don’t see today is that of the jaga, more often than not an elderly turbaned Sikh man, seated on a charpoy – a wooden framed rope bed, outside the business premises he was to guard. It would also have been, especially in the smaller towns across the Causeway, common to hear a noisy chorus of swallows who built their nests overhead in the corners of the ceiling.

A five-foot-way along Jalan Sultan with a hole-in-the-wall shop still commonly found along many such corridors.

The kaki lima of today, particlarly those we find in Singapore, are much less lively versions of those of yesterday. They are still however wonderful places to explore and can often offer as enjoyable an experience as they might have in the days of my youth, throwing up a surprise every now and again. One area where I did find myself wandering through the kaki lima recently, was around the Jalan Sultan and Jalan Petaling area, in the heart of old Kuala Lumpur, where the set of photographs in this post were taken.

A five-foot-way along Jalan Tun H S Lee north of Jalan Pudu just outside a now quiet textile shop which must have once done a roaring trade.

The shophouses in this part of the Malaysian capital once contained many traditional businesses. With many abandoned by the organic businesses which had brought much life to them and their sheltered corridors, the rows of shophouses seem to be in the throes of a slow death. It is a sense of sadness that I am filled with finding little reminders of what did once used to be as well as businesses still there for which time has obviously passed.

A five-foot-way along Jalan Petaling. A sign for a tailor shop which has closed reminds us of a time forgotten.

In Singapore, with over 6000 shophouses conserved, the more colourful shophouse five-foot-ways are still easy to find even as vast areas of its urban landscape are now populated with modern buildings. The ones around several conservation areas including in Little India, Kampong Glam, Geylang and Chinatown, are still rather interesting. These five-foot-ways were the subject of a contribution of photographs I made to a recently concluded three-month long exhibition on vanishing trades held at the National Museum of Singapore which looks at how spaces some of the early traders were commonly found it have evolved.

Another five-foot-way along Jalan Petaling where the remnants of an “old trade” was spotted.

The idea of the five-foot-way as an architectural feature was to provide a continuous sheltered walkway and as a space where trades could operate and has been attributed to Sir Stamford Raffles. He had it stipulated in the 1822 Jackson Town Plan that he oversaw, requiring 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”. It is thought that Raffles’ got this idea from buildings in Dutch administered Batavia he had observed during his time as the Governor of Java, influenced it is suggested by verandahs found around squares in southern Europe. From Singapore, the five-foot-way spread to other parts of South-East Asia.

Watching time slowly pass on a five-foot-way along Jalan Sultan.

A five-foot-way along Jalan Panggong.