Kuala Lumpur's night markets (Pasar Malam)

I usually plan ahead for all the pieces I'm about to write or at least make a list of all the places I need to write about. But today’s entry is as spontaneous as it gets, I never thought I’d be running into a Pasar Malam on my way back home.

Well for the past few days I've been staying in Bangsar, which is another area of the Kuala Lumpur, a little uptown one might say. It is not near the city center, like Ampang. Anyways so I'm not really familiar with the area and thought I’d be a good idea to explore this part of the city. On Monday, while I was more than exhausted, I got off the LRT (Light Rapid Transit, kind of bullet train) and was about to walk all the way home, till I saw this colorful and vibrant bazaar. I knew what these bazaars were, I was more than intrigued to go and get that sense of nostalgia again.

(The colorful booths and tents)

A little back story, the word “Pasar Malam” is a malay word and it directly translates to “Night market”. These night markets are rather famous all across Kuala Lumpur. Most of them open at 6-7 till 10-11. They all have fixed locations and fixed days; everyone knows when to go to the Pasar Malam. There are really big ones that stretch for hundreds of meters and there are rather smaller ones, like the one I ran into. All of them have the same style and beauty though; they are so captivating that you always feel like going back for more. Now let me tell you how to get to this little one by the LRT.

How to get there:

This pasar malam, has a great localization. It is super accessible by public transport. You just need to get on the LRT, Kelana Jaya line going towards Putra heights; then you just get off at “universiti” station and get out of the LRT station. As you walk towards the side walk you can see the entrance of the bazaar, with colorful tents and the smell of food wafting through the air.

Description and experience:

The place screams in colors, that’s what attracted my attention. I knew those colors and the mixture of smells. Some pleasing, some not so pleasing; they have the pasar malam every Monday and Friday in the same exact location every week, told me the nice lady that sold drinks. She was so friendly and spoke English perfectly. We chatted about a minute or two, till she prepared my “ice milo”, costing only a ringgit and 20 cents as opposed to other places where I pay at least three ringgits for each of those.

(The drink section, the variety was good, from left to right, there are three different kinds of coconut waters, one is blended, the other is a coconut shake and the other one is coconut water with big pieces)

(Prices were 1. 20 ringgits for a smaller one and 2. 00 ringgits for a bigger drink)

I started browsing through each of the booths; the variety was confusing but exciting at the same time. There were so many different kinds of food, so many. And they were all so cheap, they cost from 2 ringgits to 8 ringgits max. Yes you could buy proper food with just 2 ringgits.

(Those salted and dried out fishes are really popular in Malaysia, I hate them)

(Let's call these food on a stick, rather unhealthy, but they have any sort of Malaysian sausage and nuggets here and they are super cheap)

(Satay, I absolutely love satay, you usually dip it in peanut butter sauce and it tastes great. It also costs so little, 10 sticks for 5 ringgits, I mean come on)

(These are something like Malaysian waffles, kind of nice, the plain ones are for three ringgits and the chocolate one is 3. 50 ringgits, and there is one like crispy rice, I don't really like it)

I wasn’t really hungry though, so I didn’t buy any food. Instead I bought lots of fruits, I literally stocked up for the whole week. It was so much cheaper than super markets there so I bought as much as I could carry. Turns out I couldn’t carry much and I ended up hurting my back so don’t be like me.

(Fruits and vegetable section)

Below are a few reasons as to why I think you should visit them:

1) Pasar malams are cheap

I mean they are really cheap, these people don’t have to pay lots of tax, rent or basically all those extra costs. So basically their products are more affordable. They are much more affordable than big stores like Tesco and AEON.

2) Fresh

Everything there was prepared for that specific day, and so it's super fresh. I mean half the food is cooked or made right in front of you. The other products like the fruits and the vegetables were just brought in that day for the Pasar Malam, you don’t need to worry if what you are buying is fresh or not. You are sure it's fresh, specially meat and chicken.

(Fresh and cheap fruits)

(Local vegetables I don't know about)

3) Variety

The variety is great honestly, there are so many different types of local foods, if it's possible I think you can try out half of Malaysia’s cuisines right there and plus with the cheapest price ever; and if that’s not enough, it's cooked right in front of you, so you can see what you are about to eat. Back to variety, I will post some of my suggestions on the foods there.

4) Cultural experience

It's a great cultural experience. You get to see how locals feel like, how the lifestyle in Kuala Lumpur is. How simple people live and how nice the vendors in Pasar malams are. This experience is a must for every tourist in Malaysia. You get to see the everyday life of people and that is most definitely irreplaceable. The local Malaysian life is a whole other experience on it's own, one that not many tourists get to experience.

You can either visit this Pasar malam or any other one in Kuala Lumpur's famous pasar malams. Just make sure you do. Hope this spontanous piece was interesting.

Cheers

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