PUCHONG: Everybody knows Puchong but not everybody wants to go there. Yes, if you are staying there, then you have no choice.
In recent years, Puchong has become a landmark for mushrooming housing estates.
At last count, there were 30 Puchong townships under the Subang Jaya Municipal Council and 16 more under the Sepang Municipal Council.
But we are not here to talk about the townships; the focus is on the Bandar Puteri wet market which has become a bit of an institution to the surrounding areas.
The market comes alive at 7am because that's when the early birds do their marketing.
According to these diligent individuals, that is the time when the best and freshest stuff are up for sale.
What makes this wet market special is that it also encompasses a food court that boasts of several dozen stalls that sell a wide range of local hawker food.
Don't ask what I was doing there at 9am several mornings in a row sometime ago. Suffice to say, I experienced a revelation that brought a big smile to my face.
Back about 20 years ago, a motorcyclist (me) riding through the so-called town only encountered kilometres and kilometres of half-completed residential estates and disused mining pools.
Reversed 40 years into the pages of local history, Puchong was once an unimpressive rubber estate and tin mining town. There was one two-lane road that didn't look like it welcomed strangers.
That was in the past.
The Bandar Puteri market is proof that Puchong is a fast-growing township in Selangor that has come of age.
I stand to be judged that this wet market is an example for other new townships to follow. At 9am, when other lazy bones have yet to wake up, the hawkers are preparing their stalls for the inflow of customers who normally eat before they do their morning rounds.
One stall that stands out like a beacon from the others is the one that sells fried beehoon, fried mee, fried rice and other vegetarian dishes.
For just about RM3, you can fill your plate with a variety of vegetarian dishes that go well with the beehoon.
If you are not a vegan, you are welcome to sample items from the other stalls that have outstanding names like Hopo Lui Cha, Sarawak Handmade Mee, Hakka Dai Bu Mee, Mini Wok, Fish Farm Thai Restaurant, Fried Prawn Wantan, Claypot Chicken Rice/Herbal Soup and Veko Specially Ca Kut. The last name stumped me.
But that only adds flavour to the entire building that houses stalls, restaurants and other make-shift hawker stalls.
There's even a sizeable pasar raya that calls itself Puchong Herbs & Food Trading. The shop faces the chicken, fish and vegetable stalls.
The name of the Bandar Puteri Market food square is called Nice To Eat Food Centre 928. The numerals are supposedly lucky numbers that will do any number-worshipper proud.
Frankly, this modern wet market is quite well organised. It is relatively clean. It doesn't smell that much and it has clusters of stalls hawking their wares in all the appropriate corners.
The butcher shops are housed in a secluded spot in the building as tangible proof that the architects of this structure have been sensitive to the feelings of all communities.
A short distance from the market is the low lying mountain that surrounds part of this residential estate. With a population in excess of 335,000 (2008 statistics), the Bandar Puteri wet market won't be short of customers anytime soon.
This is the first private wet market complex in Puchong. There are 240 parking bays around the entire building. A 24-hour security system makes sure that early morning and late night customers feel safe shopping in the RM6.5 million complex.
The market is open from 7am to 10.30pm. It was officially opened in August 2007. There are 49 stalls selling "wet" items, 22 selling dry produce and 24 shoplots.
Puchong's hungry residents will be glad to know that there are more than 50 stalls in the food court. Residents from Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur who frequent the wet market can easily return home via Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong which is just around the corner from the wet market complex.
Puchong's total area is about 51.7 sq km. In two years' time the Starline of the LRT will zip through the area, bringing all the townships closer to other areas in the Klang Valley.
http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/18puchong/Article/