Main Street Desa Setapak Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

December 2019 · 3 min read

My main street in Kuala Lumpur is like no other main street I have ever had. It is somewhat like that in a small town, something like a festival, and something like a big city.

The LRT Station is at the bottom, and gets to center city in less than 30 minutes for cheap. You can see the elevated track in this shot at the bottom of the street.

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Add changing surface levels at almost every step and every kind of store you could want. And as this is Southeast Asia, I have no idea what I am looking at a lot of the time. After 1.5 years in this spot, I have only scratched the surface of what is really there.

My street is the main road for a place called Desa Setapak. "Desa" means "Rustic" or "Countryside" and Setapak means "100 steps." According to wiki this means it is a town not far from the big city. Long ago it was not part of Kuala Lumpur but now we are enclosed by this giant place. We are one of few old streets like this. Most others have been built out and modernized.

The street itself is called Jalan1/27b. It is a divided street with a median and about 350 meters long. The top of the street is much higher in elevation than the bottom.

Both sides of the street are lined with shops, services, and restaurants. These are Malay, Chinese, Indian, local and/or larger chains.

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Some of the restaurants are "hawker stalls." This means it is something like a food court, with many small carts selling their individual wares. There will be tables inside and on the street. Usually there are shared people delivering the food to you no matter which stall you got it from.

Temporary stalls and trucks change by the hour on the street, and provide all kinds of things. Two I can think of right now are a truck that sells mattresses and another that gives haircuts.

Covered walkways keep you out of sun or rain. With each arch, the shop and level changes, I usually walk in the street to avoid the steps up and down. It's a workout no matter what.

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Parking is a nightmare and the street is busy most of the time. I'm always glad I'm walking.

A few places are open 24 hours, but mostly it's open from about 7 am to 11 pm.

I love this place and I am so glad I landed here.

I used my HMNOTE 1LTE mobile phone for these photos.

My post today is for the #freewrite daily challenge by @mariannewest with the prompt words of "main street". Here is Marianne’s freewrite prompt post for today. Give it a try and surprise yourself.