“What is her problem!?” I asked Jeannie. The chee cheong fun was not fun at all. It was fiery-hairy scary! It was so spicy (I had to put this in to differentiate between taste and temperature) hot.

Jeannie tapau-ed (packed back [“take away” for some]) a packet of chee cheong fun for me from the food stall at the New Apollos restaurant nearby for my brunch. She said the lady was kind enough to give two packets of chili. Jeannie added both the packets of chili in the chee cheong fun. Well, the chili was extra spicy today…

Typing this on the LRT train as we (Jeannie and I) head down to locally known “Pasar Seni” or Central Market. Jeannie, The Batik Influencer; wanted to check our the batik scene there.

Crossing the busy traffic street (locally known as “road”) at the zebra crossing, was a bit of a harrowing experience. Vehicles going by had a statement, “every pedestrian or vehicle for his or herself”.

We managed to dash across the zebra crossing with the littlest chance we had, got on the other side, into the Central Market car park. There, gunning the gas pedal in a Saga, a Proton Saga, that is; was a sort of Latino lady, with her right elbow sticking out of the window; with an almost stub-style cigar in her mouth (no, not really); racing through the car lane, jamming on the brakes at the very last split second, and gunning on the gas pedal as she pulled out of the corner. She looked like one of those mean business, drift-car racers. You can see her in one of the pictures posted here, I will leave you to guess which one.

At the entrance of Central Market, we were greeted by a poster which highlighted the holiday period due to our (Malaysia”s) Independence Day. The design of the poster sort of created a feeling of nostalgia as this building was built 135 years ago, in the year 1888.

Initially, in its first 100 years or so; Central Market was a thriving, typical wet market for food produce. That could have been the reason why it was built along the Klang River – so that farmers could travel on the river to bring their produce here, to this market, which probably was the hive of business activity. The building façade as it is today, was preserved and converted as a tourist attraction.

So, yes; Central Market or Pasar Seni which means “Art Market” in Bahasa Malaysia, is well known as a centre of attraction for tourists. They are spoilt for choice as everything, well almost everything in terms of local art and handicraft, locally designed and made clothes and accessories, to food …this is the place that you can get almost anything local. That is why, I guess, it is famous and a favorite shopping destination for both foreign and local tourists alike.

There was a sort of bazaar happening over the weekend where budding entrepreneurs set up booths and sold their products. The booths were attractively decorated. The decoration theme followed through with the “Merdeka Kita Pasar Nostalgia” (“Our independence is a nostalgia market”, or, “We are free to market” google direct translation of Bahasa Malaysia to English, though not entirely correct. It should mean, “Remembering our market on Independence Day”).

The bazaar was thriving with activity and excitement. It definitely was not short of customers and visitors. The entrepreneurs and their booth assistants were literally kept on their toes.

One of the entrepreneurs, Jenni Tan; was promoting her “Sunbaked Daily” brand of cakes and pastries. A very pleasant and friendly person, who was always with a smile; told of why she got into baking cakes.

Jenni was a flight attendant with one of the world’s leading airlines. She was retrenched during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was then that she started baking cakes to sell.

She bakes a wide selection of cakes and pastries. She explained that she uses natural and organic ingredients for all her products. I told her that I would return to her booth later, to introduce Jeannie to her. I also wanted to visit the other booths and main shops, too.

Rental of these booths for the 3 day weekend was RM1,500 (US$322) or RM500 (US$107) per day – a premium to pay. The entrepreneurs would have done their math (I am sure they would have), and were confident that they would be profitable. It was a happy atmosphere, attracting large crowds to their booths.

As I walked around (yes, me alone. Jeannie disappeared towards all the batik material shops), I came across a store selling all kinds of ladies’ clothes and accessories. I was attracted to this store because I noticed that it had a crowd of ladies gathered there, with a fairly long line of them waiting for something. Being kay-po (1), I wanted to see what this was all about. There was a lady sitting at a small table in a corner, inside the shop; painting or drawing “Henna” (2) on the hands of these ladies, most of them were young ladies.

The live music performances are staged on the other side of Central Market (rear), in between it and a smaller building, which houses stores where you can buy mainly paintings.

Just before leaving Central Market, I took Jeannie to meet with Jenni and also, to buy a cake from her. All Jenni’s cakes and pastries looked simply delicious. I bought the coffee cake with cream. Jenni said the cream was made from coffee. I was eager to eat this cake as I am sure it would taste as good as it looked, or even better. You can check out Sunbaked Daily on Instagram and Facebook.

As we started to make our way back to Subang Jaya, we decided to exit the building from the area where all the art shops were and go around it on the right, to see the shoplots that were in that area. While walking past these shoplots, we came across “Nala”…

to be continued…

NOTES:
1. “Kay-po” is Hokkien (A Chinese dialect) for busy body.
2. What is henna?
noun

1. 1.a reddish-brown dye made from the powdered leaves of a tropical shrub, used to colour the hair and decorate the body.
2. 2.the Old World shrub which produces henna, with small pink, red, or white flowers.

verb

1. dye (hair) with henna. “Renee hennaed my hair the night before the interview”.
   Dictionary

Today, Henna is mainly used in celebration of special occasions such as weddings and birthdays in the joyous gathering of people. The Henna paste symbolizes good health and prosperity in marriage, and in some cultures, the darker the henna stain, the deeper the love between two individuals.
St. Thomas University, Ca
3. Cutlery or “Cutleries”. The noun cutlery can be countable or uncountable. In more general, commonly used, contexts, the plural form will also be cutlery. However, in more specific contexts, the plural form can also be cutleries e.g. in reference to various types of cutleries or a collection of cutleries.
wordhippo.com