Donggongon Tamu

I just love tamu's'. When growing up, every Wednesday was eagerly awaited as that was (and still is) tamu day in Tamparuli. It was the best day of the week and it felt like a holiday whilst Tuesday, the eve.

On Tuesday evening, natives from the interior with loads of produce would start streaming in filling up the tamu ground. Mum would do most of the marketing on the eve as tamu day itself would mean a busy day for her too in our sundry shop.

Meals at home for the following two days take on a more exotic theme...fresh water fish, kampong chicken, pork and buffalo meat or sometimes, wild boar meat! I remember the local 'jagung pulut'- glutinous corn which the natives would cook in the tamu and sell them steaming hot three in a bundle....always loved those.

The best beef soup stall in the tamu would start serving on the eve's evening too.

As it is always near impossible to get to the Tamparuli tamu nowadays, I occasionally end up in this tamu nearer to home...
This is the weekly tamu in Donggongon. Although the Kota Belud tamu and the Gaya Street Sunday market are better known in Sabah, visitors to Sabah should not miss out on this Donggongon tamu which is just outside KK, only about 15 minutes drive from the city. It is held on every Thursdays and Fridays.
For most of the native folks this tamu is more than a weekly market; it is a social event that offers them the chance to meet, trade food, goods and news. This tamu actually starts on Wednesday evening when villagers from afar starts arriving with their produce. Most will camp in the tamu ground itself.

One can get almost anything in the tamu as you can see as we stroll through...

One of the many entrances to the tamu ground

Look at all these produce that were laid out on the floor as all the stalls were taken up.

trading in progress...

Dried seafood section
Dried squid, dried shrimp, dried fish, ikan bilis...

Anyone for fresh water eels?..These are very popular with the natives

and so are these...clams...

Brinjals the size of peas

These are very rarely found in Sabah, are mostly used for Thai curries.

Chopping boards, the biggest one on the left is about 2 1/2' in diameter!

For sale - orchid in full bloom

and all these too..

Traditional costume of the Kadazan

In the same stall, gongs, metal hip belts for the costume, beaded jewellery, bamboo wares...

rattan baskets, hats

In the midst of all these activities, this baby, oblivious to all the hustle and bustle of the tamu, slept soundly cradled in the most comfortable cot ever invented - the spring and the sarong.

The young father sells onions, garlic and potatoes by the side

A young mother changing her baby's diaper (a disposable!)....

...on top of the the stall she was manning

-- it had only 2 bottles of homemade chilli sauce, 2 packets of tuhau, chilli padi, and some medicinal leaves on display.

tuhau, shoots of a ginger family

pickle tuhau, an acquired taste

yeast for making lihing (rice wine)

A certified medicine man!

with his various remedies for any ailments you might have

Jo

Filipino Market in Kota Kinabalu

The Filipino market is situated right in front of the Le Meridien Hotel, Kota Kinabalu. It is a market-like shopping paradise with a maze of stalls within. Frequented by the locals and tourists alike for bargains in local goods and many other products from the neighbouring countries like the Philippines and Indonesia. It consists of three section:

1) Handicrafts and souvenirs...

These 'sleeping beauty' masks are almost half a meter in length each!! No idea where they came from but are quite finely crafted.

The 'sompoton'
A local instrument very popular among the Dusun/Kadazan

Below is a brief description of the instrument extracted from : An Introduction to The Traditional Musical Instruments of Sabah, Sabah State Muzium, Kota Kinabalu. 1992.

This mouth organ is the most fascinating of the Sabah native musical instruments. It is constructed from a dried gourd and eight bamboo pipes arranged in a doublelayered raft. One of the pipes has no sound, but merely balances the bundle. By blowing or sucking the gourd's mouth, the player can produced a soft sweet harmonious sound. A small lamella of polod palm (like tiny bungkau) is inserted in the side of each sounding pipe near its base. The pipes are fitted into a hole on one side of the gourd and sealed with bees wax. The lamellae lie inside the gourd and provide the sound of the completed instrument. The pipes are bound with thin strands of rattan.
While playing a sompoton, the player covers and uncovers the ends of three of the four shortest pipes with three fingers of his right hand and three small openings cut in the base of the front shortest pipe and front and back pipes of the longer raft with fingers of the left hand. The sompoton can be played as a solo instrument for personal entertainment or in groups to accompany dancing.
Sompoton - Audio (wav- 282kb)

An array of colorful baskets from the Philippines.

The young boy setting up his merchandise in one of the many stores.

Elaborately decorated chandeliers made entirely of sea shells!

2) Salted and dried seafood...

Pasar Ikan Masin - 'Salted Fish Market' ?

These foot-long delicacies are very popular among the local Chinese as well as those from Taiwan and China.

Very popular with the Indonesians are these paper-thin fish slices, cured and dried. They are usually deep fry and serve as a side dish with rice.

Dried abalone

Dried squid

Found these interesting pair of 'sea horses' in one stall. They are only about 6 cm in length but look at the price. Anyone has any idea what they are used for? Medicinal?

3) Fresh fruits and food...

Mangoes from the Philippines

Edible seaweed

Blocks of ready-grated tapioca, a stable for many of the immigrants

A breakfast stall

Freshly made 'belacan' - shrimp paste

In the evening, this place becomes a night market cum food bazaar buzzing with activities. BBQ stalls sprout up almost everywhere by 5 pm, all with wide selection of fresh seafood on display. Satay stalls, stalls selling pre-cooked dishes, fruit juice stalls and stalls offering all kinds of delicacies are available for anyone whose stomach is strong enough to withstand the onslaught. Warning: Only for die hard foodies with very high tolerance for E. coli...

Note: Beware of pickpockets and bag-snatchers when roaming around this area.

Jo.

To market to market

This market in the heart of Tanjung Aru town has got to be the smallest in town but it has much more to offer than what meets the eyes. I drop by here very often after sending Kesh to school. I get the best tofu from a Chinese lady in one of the three vegetable stalls and my local water buffalo meat from the one and only meat stall (a lady sometimes do sells chicken here too but not on a regular basis). It has three stalls offering local breakfast fares and....

Local lemons Rm2 for 8

The lady who owns a lemon tree

Isn't it nice to have a lemon tree at one's back yard? This Kadazan lady (Sabah's largest indigenous group) sells her produce in one of the three stalls. I get the lemons from her whenever they are available (not very regular though).

The vegetable stalls

Salted veg

Preserved the traditional way with only rice water and salt by the Chinese lady who also sells the softest and smoothest white tofu in town (no pic - sold out by the time I got there).

A coconut stall

Sells freshly squeezed coconut milk. Which makes cooking curry and other dishes that call for santan so convenient and easy. Always find it so messy and tedious extracting santan from grated coconut. This stall, to me, is a gem.

The operating hours and price for its 'santan segar'.

The three stalls that sell mainly sweet potatoes, bananas, papayas and seasonal home produce.

A very popular 'pisang goreng' - fried banana stall

Lovely crisps

Lovely lady

The mountain of crisps vanished in a matter of minutes - the few minutes I was there to snap the few pics. Noticed they were very generous with their portions too - Rm 2 for 15-20 pieces!

And here, she keeps churning out the popular snacks.

Jo