Penang Flea Market -Lorong Kulit
Love it or loathe it, Penang flea market at Lorong Kulit has gained quite a reputation among Malaysians and tourists alike.
Penangites will tell you that shopping at the Penang flea market cannot compare with shopping in a megamall or modern shopping complex.
The saying that "East is east and west is west and never the two shall meet" holds true when you talk about flea markets and shopping complexes in the same breath. Interestingly, some shopping complexes in Malaysia have introduced the concept of the flea market into their premises, two examples being our very own Prangin Mall (every Sunday from 1 to 8pm) and Amcorp Mall in Kuala Lumpur. But I digress…
I'm not sure when Penang flea market started. As far as I can tell, the place started from humble
(and shady) beginnings at Rope Walk, off Prangin Road. Since then, Penang flea market has grown and
expanded into a semi-legitimate gathering of peddlers selling everything from discarded things to mundane household paraphernalia to genuine antiques and curios.
Why semi-legitimate you ask. Well, the Penang flea market (known to locals as Lorong Kulit, after the road where it is now situated) did have (and still has, I hasten to add) a reputation of being a thieves' market.
If that last bit conjures in your mind images of Scheherazade and a colorful Middle Eastern marketplace filled with scoundrels, thieves, magicians, pirates, princes and treasures, you've got another thing coming.
The only thing reminiscent of Ali Baba and the Thousand and One Nights in Lorong Kulit are old and tarnished brassware, the occasional snake in a basket, old coins and maybe a hookah.
For the record, there occassionally are stolen goods in Lorong Kulit, but they look no different from other used goods on sale. Case in point – a friend who once lost a pair of stilettos was told that she could probably get them back at the flea market!
So off she went with some mean looking relatives (for protection) and lo and behold, there were her
shoes, which were returned to her after some heated threats were exchanged!
Some of the things you get there look too good to be discards, although they are all lumped together. If you look carefully enough, there are bargains to be had -- for example, I once picked up a full 1 ounce bottle of L'air du temps perfume.
It would've cost a couple of hundred ringgit on the market, if you can find it, but I paid RM15 for it. And take it from someone who knows what the real thing smells (and looks) like, this was the real thing, right down to the gold painted doves on the flacon. At those prices, you don't really care to know where the seller got his stuff!
Then there was the time I picked up an old record for RM3. A few months later, it sold on ebay (an online auction site) to a buyer in the UK for US$115. I still have an Indian pressed 78rpm shellac of P. Ramlee and Saloma singing Gunung Payong (from the classic Malay movie Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup) on one side and on the other the more upbeat Chiki Chiki Boom, which I found several years ago at the Penang flea market. The reason why I haven't parted with it is because:
a) P. Ramlee is the most endearing personality in the entire history of Malay cinema.
b) There was a picture in The Star, not too long ago, of Dr. Mahathir dancing to the same record which was spinning on an old fashioned horn phonograph.
There's no telling what you will unearth at the Penang flea market. You may be looking for a particular thing, but come across something else that strikes your fancy, which you were not looking for in the first place. Isn't that the essence of serendipity?
Record collectors will squat patiently while flipping through a pile of dusty, moldy and scratchy records. Behind him, other collectors patiently await their turn. Better to wait than to come back later and find that the best have been taken by another sharp eyed collector.
Article courtesy of www.tourismpenang.com.my © All rights reserved
The only thing reminiscent of Ali Baba and the Thousand and One Nights in Lorong Kulit are old and tarnished brassware, the occasional snake in a basket, old coins and maybe a hookah.
For the record, there occassionally are stolen goods in Lorong Kulit, but they look no different from other used goods on sale. Case in point – a friend who once lost a pair of stilettos was told that she could probably get them back at the flea market!
So off she went with some mean looking relatives (for protection) and lo and behold, there were her
shoes, which were returned to her after some heated threats were exchanged!
Some of the things you get there look too good to be discards, although they are all lumped together. If you look carefully enough, there are bargains to be had -- for example, I once picked up a full 1 ounce bottle of L'air du temps perfume.
It would've cost a couple of hundred ringgit on the market, if you can find it, but I paid RM15 for it. And take it from someone who knows what the real thing smells (and looks) like, this was the real thing, right down to the gold painted doves on the flacon. At those prices, you don't really care to know where the seller got his stuff!
Then there was the time I picked up an old record for RM3. A few months later, it sold on ebay (an online auction site) to a buyer in the UK for US$115. I still have an Indian pressed 78rpm shellac of P. Ramlee and Saloma singing Gunung Payong (from the classic Malay movie Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup) on one side and on the other the more upbeat Chiki Chiki Boom, which I found several years ago at the Penang flea market. The reason why I haven't parted with it is because:
a) P. Ramlee is the most endearing personality in the entire history of Malay cinema.
b) There was a picture in The Star, not too long ago, of Dr. Mahathir dancing to the same record which was spinning on an old fashioned horn phonograph.
There's no telling what you will unearth at the Penang flea market. You may be looking for a particular thing, but come across something else that strikes your fancy, which you were not looking for in the first place. Isn't that the essence of serendipity?
Record collectors will squat patiently while flipping through a pile of dusty, moldy and scratchy records. Behind him, other collectors patiently await their turn. Better to wait than to come back later and find that the best have been taken by another sharp eyed collector.
Article courtesy of www.tourismpenang.com.my © All rights reserved
