flea market
n. A market, usually held outdoors, where antiques,
used household goods, and curios are sold. [Translation of French
marché aux puces.]
ser·en·dip·i·ty
n. The faculty of making fortunate discoveries
by accident. [From the characters in the Persian fairy tale The Three
Princes of Serendip, who made such discoveries] (from the American Heritage
Dictionary)
A safe but sometimes chilly way of recalling the
past is to force open a crammed drawer. If you are searching for anything
in particular you don't find it, but something falls out at the back that
is often more interesting.
J. M. Barrie (1860-1937), British playwright.
Wrote the play Peter Pan in 1904.
  ove it or loathe it, Penang's
flea market at Lorong Kulit has gained quite a reputation among Malaysians
and tourists alike. Whether or not the Penang flea market is similar to (or
different from) other flea markets around the world is a matter of personal
opinion but it definitely fits in with the description above, which was taken
from the American Heritage Dictionary.
Penangites will tell you that shopping at the flea
market cannot compare with shopping in a megamall or modern shopping complex.
Although both are in their own way interesting and colourful, shopping in
a modern complex somehow lacks the excitement of uncovering hidden surprises
- like discovering a long lost and forgotten treasure under a pile of
throw-aways. 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's 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, the 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 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 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 and
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
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.
 ooking for an old copy of
Female Annual from the 70s or the Straits Times Annual from
1963? Old copies of the Straits Echo? Here's where you might find
one, if you are lucky, for as little as RM2 or thereabouts. Prices vary.
Some sellers who think they know all there is to know about antiques demand
ridiculously high prices for their wares, which includes photos of Chinese
film stars and divas from a bygone era. Rusty and faded sign boards with
drawings of Chinese damsels in cheongsams advertising cigarettes and soft
drinks stare out forlornly at passers-by. I once overheard a seller offering
for sale a rusty and tatty looking keris for RM1,500, which I thought
was ridiculous. On your lucky day, another seller who might not know the
value of his merchandise may part with something valuable for a song. It
all boils down to how much you are willing to pay for something, regardless
of its market value – or as some would say "being at the right place
at the right time". When something catches your fancy, there really is no
time to think about the actual value of an object, unless you are an expert.
On the verge of indecision, you do what every self-respecting Penangite does
best – you bargain and you wheel and deal until some deal is struck
and a satisfactory price arrived at!
 Medicine men peddle everything from creams to get
rid of fungal infections to live eels, dhabs (a large lizard found
in Saudi Arabia) and oils and potions that just might remove flagging spirits
and grant men the opportunity to rise to the occasion. Forget Viagra. A talkative
and loud personality with a microphone and cheap PA system and rapid-fire
lecture on the importance of libido, peppered with double entendres,
and a stash of naughty photos, definitely draws a male-only crowd like nothing
else can.
Some 80 per cent of sellers and stalls in the flea
market are permanent fixtures, the rest operate on an ad-hoc basis -- here
today, gone tomorrow, back again a few days later. Regular vendors sell things
like handphones and related peripherals, gemstones, fake watches, spectacles
and inexpensive electronic accessories (I actually found a new remote control
to replace the one that broke for my 12 year old Sony TV, for RM12!). Cheap
and awful sounding "hi-fi" components blast away the latest and most popular
nondescript dance music with incomprehensible foreign lyrics.
A common sight in the flea market two years ago
were the pirated VCD and music CD stalls. Since the government's efforts
to wipe music and movie piracy off the face of Malaysia, nearly all the VCD
stalls have ceased operations and former VCD sellers are now selling handphones,
aquarium fish and bric-a-brac! Used VCDs are quite easily available still
and one or two pirated VCD and music CD sellers are making a modest comeback.
 Bargain price fruit stalls attract the most customers
who go there in droves to buy apples, oranges, plums and other local fruits
by the cartload.
Suffice it to say that whether you are looking for
new and used clothes and shoes, an old gramophone or a charcoal iron, porcelain
lamp shades, used and new counterfeit VCDs, official papers issued by Penang's
pre-Merdeka government, pungent attars, sex toys, decorative bottles,
comics old and new, furry and scaly pets, plants and short of nearly everything
under the sun, you'd be hard pressed to find another place in Penang that
will have it all. It just takes a certain amount of perseverance, patience,
leg work and sweat!
 A haughty visitor from Kuala Lumpur, having heard
quite a bit about the flea market at Lorong Kulit, decided to pay the place
a visit to shop for books. He wasn't at all happy with the place, the crowd
and the wares. He compared Lorong Kulit to some of the flea markets in England
(where he had obviously spent some time) and scoffed that those places sold
real treasures all organised in a neat and proper manner.
It may be that the flea markets in Europe are far
more attractive than Lorong Kulit, or for that matter, other flea markets
in Malaysia. True, you're bound to find something that is of value and
aesthetically beautiful, like a gown made of old Victorian lace or an early
edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in pristine condition.
You'll meet people who would never, under any circumstances, sell you something
defective or heaven forbid, stolen. All well and good, you might say.
And yet, there is a certain je ne sais quoi
charm that imbues Penang's one and only flea market. A feeling of kinship
with the, dare I say it, heart and soul of every Penangite? The innate ability
to know a good thing when they see it? The love of bargaining? The joys of
indulging in inexpensive pleasures? The thrill of uncovering little gems?
Where else but the flea market in Lorong Kulit can
one indulge with abandon?
Note: Intrepid souls can check
out the flea market from 8am to 2pm every day except when it rains. It is
now located in Perak Road, behind the Penang stadium in Datuk Keramat Road,
next to a food court and fruit stalls. The spot where it used to operate,
in Lorong Kulit, next to the Tenaga Nasional Berhad office, is presently
used as a parking lot. The state government has promised to "relocate" the
flea market traders back from Perak Road to Lorong Kulit after completion
of the stadium's renovation. We don't know when that will happen, but I rather
like the present location of the flea market, which unlike the previous location,
is dotted with shady nooks here and there offering a respite from the heat
of the day for weary bargain hunters. Plus, the area is larger and there
are more traders.
The new location has also allowed
some opportunistic petty traders to set up shop in the quaint back lanes
and sidewalks. A few enterprising shophouse owners are also taking advantage
of the situation by opening their back doors (literally) and selling food
and used electrical goods right at their backyard! Talk about a yard sale!
Written by
Raja Abdul Razak &
William Chow |
