Kuala Lumpur’s hidden treasures come alive

How many hidden treasures are there in the place you live? Even tiny places have treasures to discover and Kuala Lumpur is no different. The earliest settlement was established at the spot where the Gombak River joins the Klang river, in those days a rather swampy place, giving the town its name, which means a ‘muddy confluence’. Today pride of place at the spot is given to the Masjid Jamek and the area is called ‘River of Life’. It’s a lovely place to enjoy a stroll, especially in the evening. Read more in our story about KL Parks.

Finding the Hidden Treasures

We checked out four of the city’s well known areas and attractions to find the treasures within. See them on the map below marked in green. Open the map on a new page by clicking on the [ ] on the top right.

All four locations are very close to the location of the earliest settlement, especially the first up, Pasar Seni, originally the Central Market. Then  it’s round the corner to REXKL. Also nearby is Kwai Chai Hong and just over the road is UR_MU, an urban museum, for a change of pace. You can jump straight to each one, or step through all in turn.

Pasar Seni pivots to Art & Culture

If you’re looking for souvenirs and gifts at Pasar Seni, you’ll have a wide choice of local products to choose from, although you can also find beautiful copper items and Turkish lamps. Look for t-shirts with a Malaysian flavour, Malaysian pewter and pearls, beautiful handmade ceramics and local batik clothing and fabric. You can admire the framed Malaysian butterflies on sale, but many countries, including Australia won’t allow you to take them home due to quarantine rules.

Our treasure? On a previous visit we had Chinese seals carved as we waited. The carver used to be near the main entrance, but wasn’t there on this visit, although he’s still featured in their website.

Getting there:

• From the Pasar Seni LRT station it’s in front of you as you exit, or from Dayabumi, across the river on the bridge.
• From Dataran Merdeka, via Lebuh Pasar Besar –  walk along the river on Jln Benteng, bringing you to the back entrance.
• Jln Kasturi at the other side of the market can be accessed directly from Lebuh Pudu or Jln Tun Sambanthan.

REXKL an old cinema transformed

Jln Sultan,
50000 Kuala Lumpur

Rex cinema has been burnt out two or three times, depending who you ask, since it first opened in 1947. The Art Déco building sat abandoned and unloved for years after the last fire, until it was rescued in 2018 by a group of self described creative entrepreneurs, who’ve refurbished the existing structure, which was still sound, to the immersive art and culture centre we can enjoy today. This page shares the history of the site, through cinema history and confirms that it survived three fires.

The building retains the general structure of the old cinema, including remnants of cinema on the stairs up to the stalls and reserved seats,  One of our favourite spots is bookstore BookXcess, built around the upper level of the building, making great use of the terraced levels used for the stalls seating.

Buy a book or a game in BookXcess, or just read the graffiti in the cool toilets. See whether you prefer the bars, the delicious food, a cup of coffee or perhaps a cinematic experience in their Twilight theatre. You may find your hidden treasure in the bookshop, with its nooks and crannies filling the space of the original cinema stalls, in one of the food outlets, or get it inked on your skin to keep forever.

Kwai Chai Hong cleaned up its act!

Kwai Chai Hong,
Lorong Panggung,
City Centre,
50000 Kuala Lumpur

Open daily, 9am – 12am and entry is free.

Email: [email protected]

Check out their website, or follow them on Facebook and Instagram. They share their current theme, which varies throughout the year.

This little closed laneway off Lorong Panggung in Chinatown is known as Kwai Chai Hong, which means ‘Ghost Lane’ because it used to be the haunt of dubious characters, gangsters and ladies of the night rather than actual ghosts, well hidden from outside eyes.

Now privately managed, the lane has been cleaned up, with interactive wall murals describing the characters who used to live here. Read their stories to find the secrets of this lane and interact with them. Play marbles with the boys, skip upstairs with the girls or get your hair cut sitting in the old barber’s chair.

Zeen Chang, the founder of the project, tells us about the current theme, in place until 22nd September 2024.

…. What I hope to do at the end of the day, is I want everybody to learn the culture of Malaysia, how diverse we are and we are all one. We are all one……. Chinese culture theme this year is Chinese Opera.

Although the laneway is free to enter, they do control the numbers if need be, to make sure everyone enjoys their visit. We visited in the lead up to the mid Autumn festival and enjoyed playing ‘dress-ups’ as Chinese opera actors, chatting with the erhu musician, getting our fortunes told and having a haircut.

UR-MU Urban Museum @ Toffee

Urban Museum @Toffee,
2,Jln Raja Chulan,
City Centre,
50100 Kuala Lumpur

Open 10am – 8.30pm, last entry 7.30pm
Tuesday – Sunday
closed Monday & some Public Holidays

Phone: +603-2110 3004
E-mail: [email protected]

Check out their website, follow them on Instagram and Facebook.

A short walk away from Chinatown, is the Urban Museum and Toffee, UR-MU, in Jln Raja Chulan. It’s a very busy and often traffic congested part of town, so public transport is your best bet for getting there. Find the routes at the bottom of this page.

We headed straight to the 6th Floor, where you pay your RM10 entry to enjoy what is just part of the extensive but quite different, collections of Malaysian art, by two Malaysian art lovers, over two floors of the building.

The pieces represent a wide variety of media and styles, but don’t forget to notice the reminders of earlier residents and fittings of the building. You can see the original mail chute nicely maintained, at the side of the lifts and items left behind by a long gone Insurance company.

If you have knowledge of, or interest in Malaysian history and happenings in the past seventy or eighty years, you’ll see many familiar scenes in the digitally represented photographs of Ahmad Fuad Osman’s Photographic representations of Long Lost Memories of actual historical events. As you look at each photograph, you’ll start to realise that there’s something odd happening. Here’s a clue. Look who’s sitting in Tunku’s ’empty’ seat as he’s proclaiming ‘Merdeka!’. Very cheeky.

We very much enjoyed our wander, looking closely at the collages, digital representations, installations, paintings and other media for their messages and found many that ‘spoke’ to us. Some have the artist’s statements to help you understand the meaning and intent, others leave the interpretation to you.

images©ET