CITY Hall's free  guided tour of Brickfields on foot every Saturday  has helped tourists and  locals to discover the many charms of Little India, especially with the latter's historical landmarks built between the 1920s and '80s.
The guided walks, organised since Feb  18,  is about two and a half hours, and begins at 8.30am.

Vivekananda Ashram is the  starting point.

 After registration, tour guide Woo Yin Khee,  better known as Billy,  will brief groups about the tour before heading to Jalan Rozario at 9pm.

At Jalan Rozario, groups learn about the famous Hundred Quarters that were built in 1905 for civil servants, particularly clerks.

Then the groups  make their way to the Three Teachings Temple  (Sam Kow Temple)  in Jalan Thambypillai.

On the way to temple, they pass several shops. Woo will explain the history behind the name Brickfields, and the many types of businesses found here.

"They can read some of this information from the brochure given to them at the start of the tour,  but in a guided walk, they can ask questions to know more," said Woo.

The groups  are also taken  to other places of worship  such as St Mary's Orthodox Syrian Cathedral, Buddhist Maha Vihara, Sri Kandaswamy Temple, Sri Sakthi Karpaga Vinayagar Temple, Tamil Methodist Church, Sri Maha Muneeswarar and Arulmigu Sree Veera Hanuman Temple, as well as Madrasatul Gouthiyyah and Holy Rosary Church.

"As many  20 people can be in a group," he said, adding that he enjoyed  being a tour guide.

The groups then  visit the Malaysian Association for the Blind in Jalan Tebing. Brickfields has a large population of the visually impaired who live and work in the area as masseurs.

The groups also visit the many schools in Brickfields.

The guided walk ends at the rows of shops near the fountain.  

They then have the option to eat a banana leaf lunch.

A German tourist, who only wanted to be as Dieter, said he liked guided tours as he gets to visit an entire area.

"Usually tourists who are on their own tend to visit the  more popular spots. But  a guided tour  allows me to see  all places," said Dieter, who found out about the guided tour from the Internet.
The tours are suitable for tourists  travelling on a budget.  Woo, who has a Facebook page, KL Free Tours and Events, said other interesting places should also offer free guided walks.