Page 130 - The Guide To Sarawak

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PLACES OF SPECIAL INTEREST
MAIN BAZAAR – KUCHING’S OLDEST STREET
Kuching North City Hall
Bukit Siol, Jalan Semariang
Petra Jaya 93050 Kuching
T (082)446688
F (082)446414
E prd.dbku.com.my
w www.dbku.sarawak.gov.my
IN BRIEF
Main Bazaar, dating from the 1840’s, is the city’s oldest street as well as the living heart of old Kuching.
MAIN FEATURES
Main Bazaar has some superb examples
of 19th Century Chinese shophouse architecture, many occupied by the same family for generations. These families still pursue trades such as tin-smithing, carpentry and petty trading. Sarawak’s highest concentration of antique and handicraft shops is found here, and shoppers can rest between bargaining sessions in old-style
LOCATION / ROUTE
Kuching City Centre, facing Kuching Waterfront
Short walk from city centre hotels. 35 minutes from Kuching International Airport
HOW TO GET THERE
Taxis are available.
Main Bazaar: this one-sided street of ancient Chinese shophouses is an antique-lover’s paradise.
coffee shops with panelled walls and marble-topped tables. Some of these are nowadays giving way to new guest houses and boutique hotels, whose owners are doing a good job of retaining the area’s unique character.
Main Bazaar’s shophouses were originally built from wood, but were partially razed in
the Great Fire of 1884. Local legend describes how the area was saved from total disaster by the child-god Kong Teck
Choon Ong, who bestrode the rooftops waving a black flag to extinguish the flames. A Taoist temple was built in his honour in 1895, in nearby Jalan (street) Carpenter.
Main Bazaar offers a unique shopping experience. The antique shops would not look out of place in Dickens’ Old Curiosity Shop; dark, cluttered spaces covered with tribal masks and antique wall hangings, malevolent looking statues of guardian
Sarawak Tourism Federation
BGS Foodcourt
Grand Margherita Hotel
Family of Cats Statue
SARAWAK RIVER
Tua Pek Kong
Temple
Riverbank Suites
Riverside Majestic Hotel
Sarawak Plaza Shopping Complex
Wisma Ting Pek Khing
TopSpot Foodcourt
Main Bazaar
Jalan Wayang
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Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman
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Jalan Abell
Jalan Padungan
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Jalan Green Hill
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