The trend of street art and murals that began in George Town, Penang has now reached the south of the peninsula!
Taking the cue from the success of George Town and Ipoh, the municipal council of the town of Kluang has also spruced up one of the back lanes in-between two rows of shop-houses with street art in order to attract tourists to the town. Called Laman Kreatif Kluang, this backlane is sandwiched at the rear of two rows of shop-houses and runs parallel to both Jalan Dato' Kaptain Ahmad and Jalan Dato' Teow Siew Khor.
After cleaning up the backlane and upgrading the infrastructure, volunteers and artists were given free rein to decorate the rear walls of the shop houses with fun art. While probably not to the level of acclaim given to some of the street murals in George Town, it is still an interesting walk along the lane to look at the creativity of some of the art.
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| Laman Kreatif Kluang. |
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| One of the murals, highlighting the multi-racial character of Kluang. |
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| This boy squats precariously on the water pipes. |
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| Black and white murals. |
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| Chinese village house scene. |
The town of Kluang is of course named after the flying foxes or bats that were previously common in the surrounding area. Some of the murals give homage to the town name with illustrations of bats.
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| Batman climbing up a downpipe. Why bats? Kluang means bat in malay. |
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| A big truck in Johor colours cleverly painted around the corner edge of a shophouse. |
As you walk along the lane, you will notice pigeons congregating on the rooftops. They will swoop down and feed when some of the shop owners put out food for them to eat.
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| Pigeons in flight. |
Kluang is also famous for its Kluang Coffee, and one of the 3-D art painted on the road is a painting of a cup of the brew. People will of course take the obligatory photo of standing or sitting in the coffee cup.
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| Kluang coffee. |
Kluang is of course a rail town as well. It is believed there has been a malay village here since 1910 and the British in 1915 set it up to act as an administration centre for Central Johor. The Kluang train station is located right in the town, and an important stop of the West Coast Railway back in the day.
This rail heritage is celebrated with a 3-D image of a KTM train emerging from a tunnel, painted onto the road.
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| The iconic 3-D art of a KTM train emerging from a tunnel. |
Unlike in say Ipoh's Concubine Lane, a lot of the shop-owners have possibly not realised the potential of utilising their rear doors to capitalise on the tourists walking along the backlane.
However one chinese kopitiam called Tan Li Sheng has put out tables and chairs on the lane early in the morning to serve breakfast. A great idea, it feels authentic to eat a breakfast of soft-boiled eggs, toast with coconut jam (kaya) and kluang coffee sitting under the open sky in the morning hours.
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| Breakfast in the back lane. |
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| Malaysian breakfast of soft-boiled eggs and coffee. |
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| Location of Laman Kreatif Kluang, marked in red. |
Laman Kreatif Kluang is a good attempt by a small town to encourage tourism to its vicinity and also create an interest in art among its population. If you are in the area, why not drop in and take a stroll?
