Budget Travel @ Sabah 04 ~ Walking around the Philippine market area

If the weather is nice, put on your walking shoes and go snoop around the Philippine market area where you can find all sorts of local products ranging from dried seafood, local food and crafts.

Be adventurous and sample local food like bakso for breakfast at the top floor of the local market. Quench your thirst with cooling coconut drink at the ground floor. Of course, a word of caution here, hygiene can be questionable.

 Step into the stuffy and claustrophobic craft market and look around at local crafts, the usual being hand – woven clothes, wood crafts, bags, fridge magnets and musical instruments among them. I suggest that you get your souvenirs here; it is as cheap as you can get compared to buying at the shopping complex.

 Some may say that on visiting Kota Kinabalu, getting the “pearls” and “crystals” are a must but this is rather exaggerated. The ladies there will coax you into buying the “pearls” and “crystals” brooches and handmade jewelleries, price range varies little between the stalls as everyone is trying to make a decent living here.

 Next to the craft shop is the market area. Here you can find all sorts of dried seafood products like salted fish, abalone, seahorse, seaweed, squids, and prawns… legal stuffs mostly.

 Try some local made munchies, I would recommend amplang as a safe choice. It’s some sort of prawn crackers, usually produced by locals from Kota Belud area. At left upper corner is kuih cincin for those with sweet tooth.

Don’t stop and stare or go through the stuffs if you don’t plan to buy any. The locals may not show it, but it’s rather awkward. Rule of a thumb for bargaining, ask for the selling price and start at 2/3 of the price. It’s an unwritten knowledge that there is 3 price ranges at this kind of market; local, West Malaysia tourist, foreign tourist. No price for guessing who gets the highest price range. Hint: smile and try speaking in the local dialect (they love it when outsiders speak like them. Mine passed just fine) or get someone who can to help you bargain down the price in local dialect. The storekeepers are very accommodating to pack your stuffs nicely in boxes.

From time to time you’ll see peculiar stuffs being sold, for example are the sticks used for chasing / killing pesky snakes. You get that a lot in the rural areas I guess.