The Carpenter Street

Carpenter Street or Jalan Carpenter is an old street in Kuching. It runs from Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg, where the General Post Office is located, to Jalan Ewe Hai to the east, immediately behind the Main Bazaar. Due to its location, it is considered the backstreet to Main Bazaar, which acted as the main thoroughfare fronting the river. In the old days, Carpenter Street was called "attap street" because of the thatch houses on both sides. This was where carpenters set up their workshop, earning the street its name. 

A facelift took place in 1884, by courtesy of a big fire that razed all the wooden houses along the street. Charles Brooke, the then White Rajah of Sarawak, issued a decree that henceforth the houses to be rebuilt with non inflammable material. This necessitated the construction of the more permanent brick shophouses along Carpenter Street, a few of them surviving till today. During those days, Carpenter Street was a lower working class neighbourhood filled with opium dens, gambling joints, brothels and other clandestine activities. These were eventually cleaned up by the British. 

Today Carpenter Street marks the entrance to the Kuching Chinatown. There is a big Chinese archway here, and the shops stock the daily necessities of the local Chinese in Kuching. Carpenter Street nowadays is famous with its food heaven. There are many food courts and cafeteria open the whole row of shops in Carpenter Streets. The food are delicious and tasty. I bet tourists will love the food there as it is the taste of Sarawak. Other than that, crafts are also can be buy here. Tourists can get them easily for some souvenir. 

Adjacent the Waterfront, the Main Bazaar is the oldest street in the city and the heart of old Kuching. It has some superb examples of Chinese shophouse architecture, many of which have been occupied by the same family for generations.

These families still pursue traditional occupations such as tin-smithing,carpentry and petty trading. Kuching's highest concentration of antique and handicraft shops are to be found here, and shoppers can rest between bargaining sessions in a number of old-fashioned coffee shops with panelled walls and marble-topped tables. Jalan Carpenter, which is parallel to Main Bazaar, has a similar selection of small traders and coffee shops, as well as food stalls and two small Chinese temples.

The whole area oozes charm and character. For aficionados of heritage buildings, there is a row of perfectly preserved 19th century Chinese houses at the nearby Upper China Street (off Leboh China).

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