At Parit Raja, near the traffic light at Jalan Besar, you will see a building. (Sorry I can’t find the photo of the building, must have misplaced it). Inside this building you can find lots of stalls selling all kinds of Kerepek and tidbits.

Some of them are as colourful as this one!

It used to be in big big bags, and they scoop it for you. But nowadays, it is all packed into 500gm or 1Kg packs like the ones below. Yes, you can try them too if you want.

These stuff are all made in Parit Raja itself. So they are fresh. You know tidbits taste horrible if they have been left for some time. I have not made a trip to the ‘kilang-kilang’. Maybe one day.

Our family, we always tend to buy from this stall. I don’t know why, but the first time we bought things here long long ago was from this stall, and we stuck to it.

We always buy the cili kerepek, my colleagues loves them.
If you are wondering, yes, Parit Raja is part of Batu Pahat, but the postcode is not 83000.

Here are two photos of it.

Anyone can translate the Jawi on the top right? Does it translate to Hiap Seng Market or is it something else? Anyone has some history of this market? Let us know.

Maybe the next time, I shall go ask the vendors inside. It would be interesting to find out.

I asked a PakCik who operates a stall nearby and he said, a few weeks before Raya, it was repainted. It now looks so clean and presentable. The fence is also clean now.

Buildings nowdays do not use this kind of bricks anymore ya?

Let me zoom in the sign board. Wonder if anyone who goes there all the time realise that it is there!

I wonder if the old clock will be back there. I guess not anytime. There was talk about this market being moved away to somewhere over the Peserai Bridge. Wonder if that is still true. Hmm a digital thermometer that tells the time would not be too bad an idea right?

This is the scene of the stalls outside the main market building. I think some of these things are really cheap. Selonggok RM1.

Going in the main entrance, you see this:

These pictures were taken during Chinese New Year. Crowds everywhere.

No Starbucks here, but there is authentic Batu Pahat coffee! Rengit Coffee.

If you are thinking, hmm shopping mall, is there a new food court? Yes! Food Junction, the Singapore chain of food court is here.

Someone asked before, what’s Pacific Department Stall? It’s part of “The Store” group which has hypermarts called Pacific and Department stores called “The Store” and “Fajar”.

This is the lower ground hypermarket entrance. Lots of people. Madness.

The upper floors are the Pacific Dept Store. Not suppose to take pictures inside, but outside can right?

Looks like any other modern department stores with all the branded stuff inside.

Shopping anyone?

Other shops are like GNC, Popular Bookshop, etc.

These few pictures were taken during a rainy day (in a moving car too). That’s why you can even see raindrops on it that looks like scratches.

Have some more collection of the photos, but will post it another day. Very sleep deprived.

If you want to read about the controversy, just either do a yahoo or google “Orang Orang Mall”, you can find lots of blogs, etc talking about it.

If you are lucky, you can also download the Parliament session discussions about it! (and be shocked at the corruption they discussed not only about this mall, and the other two malls before this post too! eg: Did you know that the carpark at Carrefour is suppose to be a water retention area? Also, how a big mall can be built just few metres away from Jalan Kluang the main road to BP)

Curious people, this is how it looks like. Simple structure, wonder what will happen to it? To be torn down soon?

To BP folks who have left BP long ago, this is where the Coronation School was. Behind Shell and Caltex Jalan Rahmat.
They pull down the historic school in Batu Pahat, and build this?!?! Maybe this should be pulled down and the old school rebuilt to what it was originally and used a tourist office instead.

Well, many big brands will be coming in to Batu Pahat. Maybe someone in BP now can update us

The location: Jalan Kluang, 83000 Batu Pahat.

Here’s some pictures of it. It was taken few weeks ago, as you have read from the news, it’s been pouring non stop, the skies have been dark like this.

Well one thing good about Carrefour is the ample parking space.

Their website: http://www.carrefour.com.my/bp/
The location: 1B, Jalan Persiaran Flora Utama, Taman Flora Utama, 83000 Batu Pahat.

Then Summit Parade came along, which subsequently changed its name to The Summit.

This 6 storey mall is where you get The Store as the anchor tenant. It also has many other little shops. There are more than 300 specialty shops as well. (That’s according to their website at : http://www.thesummit.com.my/bp/ )

It’s also where BP’s first Cineplex is. Also the first air conditioned food court too. Well, if you want fast food in BP, you can get McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC here. (who needs them when people go back to BP to have real food. right?)

The location: 88 Jalan Bakau Condong, 83000 Batu Pahat.