Chinatown at Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (https://g.page/petaling-street-market?share) is one of the many must-visit tourist attractions as well as a great place for locals to visit for shopping and food in town. There is always a hive of activity surrounding the area, from early in the morning where flower vendors and morning market opens, till the afternoon where many visit here for lunch, and towards the evening where all the make-shift night market stalls open for business.
A few weeks ago, a group of us Local Guides from Malaysia went to visit Chinatown to check out the situation of accessibility in the area, to update accessibility information and to take photos of what is wheelchair friendly or not. Truth being told, at the moment, many popular places may not have considered wheelchair accessibility as an important feature or service to provide, so, us doing this exercise, can help provide more visibility into this important area.
Our meetup RSVP page: https://maps.google.com/localguides/meetup/accessible-chinatown-meetup
[Photo above] This is the main entrance into Petaling Street Chinatown. The entrance at the main gate is super wide, and there is enough of space for at least 2 cars to stop by to drop passengers. So, at least for the main entrance, we would consider it wheelchair accessible. 
[Photo above] Viewing the main entrance from the outside looking into Petaling Street, we can easily see that at least in the entrance, vendors arrange their stalls at the side of the walking street, and there is more than sufficient space for wheelchairs to move through.
[Photo above] As we walk pass the mid section of Chinatown towards the more inner sections, the walking path now tapers into very tight paths, where at most 1 person can walk through at any one time. And the path is now overlaid with fairly rough cobble stones. Even if a wheelchair can try to go through here, there is not enough space to maneuver to turn around. And we don’t advise anyone to try to venture here on wheelchair. So, we consider the second inner section of Chinatown as non-wheelchair friendly. 
[Photo above] In almost all sections from the walk path, to get through to the shops off the walk path is definitely not wheelchair accessible. This is almost throughout the whole Chinatown. So visitors on wheelchair can only access part of the walking path, not the shops by the side of the path.
[Photo above] There are areas by the steps where some stalls have set up ramps, but clearly the ramps are for moving goods and not moving people. No wheelchair access here.
[Photo above] Along the main road outside Chinatown, there is always a buzz of activity with street food stalls. Roads are narrow and we really don’t advise wheelchair users to come through here as there are risks with moving cars. And most of the food stalls aren’t very wheelchair friendly as well, with tight seating places. So, for the food stalls around Chinatown, not wheelchair friendly
Around Chinatown, there are plenty of other attractions that visitors may frequent. Below are the 3 main ones, and we managed to also visit to check for accessibility there.
[Photo above] The Chinatown QuanDi Temple (https://goo.gl/maps/qhCWqhdQqEaqcbBd6 ) has wide open gates, but no ramps to go into the temple at all, so, a visitor on a wheelchair can only explore the entrance courtyard of the temple.
[Photo above] Central Market Kuala Lumpur (https://goo.gl/maps/wmYo8nNFfLsZ1Jum7) , no ramp into the Central Market building itself. And within the building, it’s not very easy for wheelchair users to move around.
[Photo above] The Sri Maha Mariamman Temple (https://goo.gl/maps/3pm9P1gkWz7EqZoo9 ) have steps without ramps, so, it’s not easy for wheelchair users to get in either. There is sufficient space inside for wheelchairs to move around though. Just this initial step needs to be crossed. 
We must have spent like a good 2 hours exploring a big portion of the area. There is so much room for improvement for accessibility around the area. We hope that with more visibility into social needs like these, the city hall can possibly do more for wheelchair users.
For us Local Guides, we continue to work towards better accessibility visibility through Google Maps.
accessibility #oneaccessibility #malaysia #letsguide
