Kampung Baru

Kampung Baru was set aside as a Malay agricultural settlement around 1900 and has kept that character in the middle of a city that grew around it, so that timber houses on stilts stand within sight of the tallest towers in the country. For most visitors the draw is the food, which is Malay rather than the Chinese-dominated hawker fare of the centre: nasi lemak wrapped in banana leaf, grilled fish with sambal, beef rendang, coconut and pandan sweets, and the sugarcane and cendol stalls along the main road. Stalls open in the evening and a large weekly market fills the streets on Saturday night. Walking the back lanes shows old kampung houses in varying states of repair.

History

Kampung Baru was established in 1899 by a grant from Sultan Alaeddin Suleiman Shah of Selangor so that Malays could keep their village way of life within the city, and it was formally gazetted as the Malay Agricultural Settlement in 1950 (Wikipedia, Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur).

The main sights

• The timber kampung houses - stilted wooden homes with carved fascias among the towers.
• The evening food stalls - nasi lemak, grilled fish, rendang and coconut sweets.
• The Saturday night market - the weekly street market filling the main roads.
• The skyline contrast - glass towers seen directly over village rooftops.

When to go

Evenings, when the stalls open and the heat drops; the Saturday night market is the busiest and best time to come. During Ramadan the afternoon bazaar here is one of the largest in the city and worth the crowds. Mornings are quiet and better for walking the lanes and photographing the houses without people in the way.

What to expect

The quarter is scruffy, with drainage, traffic and parking problems, and it is not preserved in any formal sense; houses are being lost steadily to redevelopment. Stalls are basic, seating is shared plastic, and English is limited. Evening traffic through the lanes is heavy and parking is close to impossible. The famous skyline photograph is taken from a busy road with poles and cables in the frame.

Nearby

Chow Kit market, the city centre towers and Jalan Alor are all within a short ride.