Growing up, my weekend trips with my mother to Chinatown (Jalan Petaling and Jalan Sultan in particular) were something to look forward to as she would visit her cobbler, cloth shop, florist (she loves orchids), grilled meat shop and after an hour or two, we would sit back for a cup of tea and charcoal grilled bread at the famous coffee shop (now long gone) where the staff were all old men who wore singlets (nowadays where got?), then wander off again for our soya bean curd or longan drink. Oh those were the good old days when Petaling Street was my happy place.
Nowadays I hardly go to Chinatown as parking is a deterrent. After the ELC sale, I went to Jalan Petaling for the Project Kwai Chai Hong (open air parking is RM5 and even then so hard to find a parking space on a rocky and sandy spot!), a rejuvenation project featuring six interactive murals carefully curated to memorialise the history of Kwai Chai Hong.
The Kwai Chai Hong Project murals were pained by five talented artists, namely Khek Shin Nam, Chan Kok Sing, Chok Fook Yong, Chew Weng Yeow, Wong Leck Min. It features iconic characters from the past as well as locations that are rich with heritage and culture. With five different artists comes five different styles of painting. If you go close enough, you would identify the differences in brush strokes. This masterpiece took two months to complete with the artists working late at night till sun dawn. To make these murals immersive and interactive, they each have a unique QR code that will enhance the story telling experience to visitors.
