Shopping (or lack of) at the night market

Trip Start May 18, 2003

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Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of Malaysia Night Market, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tuesday, May 20, 2003

For those of you who have had the pleasure of visiting KL you will have certainly heard about, and probably taken advantage of the bargains to be had at the night market in and around Petaling Street. Well I was in for a shock this evening when I discovered that it is a mere shadow of it's former glory. One couple from Southampton I was chating to had been told that most of the importers come from countries on the SARS list, and with recent border controls in place the flow of cheap goods has dried up.

The most notable omission from the market line up were the once abundant copied CD peddlers. As a result the whole tone of the market has been effected, with less buyers and less sellers lining the main street. One other change is the construction in progress of a new roof for the market area. So only about half of the street is taken up with the stalls now.

Walking up and down the countless tables filled with 'genuine' fake watches, designer handbags and branded t-shirts there is definately less of a buzz about the place. I didn't see any of the animated haggling that was so typical here.

Tomorrow I plan to visit an area called The Golden Triangle where the more up market shopping malls are. There was one place in particular in one of the malls that used to stock masses of CDs, perhaps their supplies have dried up too.

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