My PJ Old Town

Ever since I discovered one gem of a shop after another in this area, PJ Old Town has become a favourite for me. It's not a mall where you can hang out for hours. But it's great. Let me tell you why...

On Jalan1/14, there's a glass and framing shop where I just went yesterday to get my cross-stitch work framed.

Next door is a post office. A few doors away is a book & stationery shop.

At the corner of 1/14 and 1//19, just outside Watson's sits a cobbler who mends shoes at a dirt cheap price. Crocodile-mouth Timberland sandals get stitched back for merely RM7 per pair. You can also replace the rubber soles to your favourite shoes for about the same amount. He's usually sitting there until about 4pm.

On Jalan 1/19, there are two shops where I go to for all my craft-making accessories. Ribbons, tulle, baskets, elastics, thread etc etc etc.

In between those two shops are a chinese medicine shop and Cherry Cakehouse.

The chinese medicine shop is where I go to get the Lam Pak Hang (I know...it sounds like a bad word), kat peng and etc to boil for Joe's cough.

Cherry cakehouse is operated by a nice lady from PJ Trinity. It's halal and is very popular with the lunch crowd. The Nasi Lemak Rendang Ayam on Thursdays and Mee Jawa on Tuesdays are pretty good. Apart from that, I like the Fresh Durian Creme Puff (RM5.50 for a pack of 8 pieces), the Chocolate Banana Cake (RM5.30 per loaf) and the Kaya Puff (RM1.10). The mini chocolate muffins (RM1.00 for 4 pieces) are also pretty good and a very nice size - you just have to open your mouth one time to put the whole muffin in. **This applies to people like me with an average mouth size. People like my brother can probably fit at least 4 muffins in at one go :-)

Around the corner on Jalan 1/12 are two toy shops that sells all sorts of stuff. Hewson has more stuff (don't forget to go upstairs - the stairs are hidden by the side) but LianHin is more friendly. I find Hewson boss very cocky and bo chup. Last year I bought 100pieces of maracas from Lian Hin and last week I bought the lanterns from them too.

Next to Hewson is where I buy the rotans from. Only 50sen for the small ones. Bigger ones cost more.

Between the two toy shops, you will find a myriad of other very useful shops. I think there's a car repair shop, a hardware shop, some printing shop (also makes customized memorabilia), a clinic and a shop that does car cushion refurbishing.

Further down the road is the famous chee chap chuk. This opens at about 4pm till late.

There are a few banks in the vicinity (Public Bank, Maybank), several other bakeries (King's, Baker's Cottage), pharmacies (Guardian, Watson's) as well as Secret Recipe, Focus Optometry and OldTown White Coffee outlets. So this is a very busy place in the day.

Parking is not too bad since the turn-around is quite fast. I usually avoid the lunch crowd and go at about 2pm when everybody is going back to the office.

At night, there's the popular HengKee Bak Kut Teh and also the mamak (corner of Jalan Othman and Jalan 1/21) which makes good Milo Shake. We used to frequent this mamak when Daalin and I were pak-tho-ing. It's been a long time since we've been there because kids and late night mamak visits simply do not go together.