Market…

I mentioned in an earlier post that the hotel where I was staying provides free shuttle service to places of interest and on our second day in Miri, we arranged for the van to send us to the ethnic market, the tamu (market) that comprises three sections, the Tamu Muhibbah, Tamu Khas and Tamu Kedayan.

Actually, my sole intention in going there was to buy the pulut hitam (black glutinous rice)…

…from the Bario Highlands and I could not resist buying a 2-kilo pack of the hill rice as well. The girl at the stall where I was buying the rice asked me to buy another type of pulut hitam but it was red. I don’t think I’ve tried that before so I just went ahead and bought a pack.

After I had got what I wanted, I walked around the place just to look around. There were a lot of stalls selling native handicrafts…

…including these…

…and these baskets…

…that seem to be mighty popular these days.

There is a section selling plants…

…and succulents…

…but of course, I could not buy any of those as we would be flying home. If I had driven all the way to Miri, I probably would consider carting some back.

There were people selling the local delights such as the kuih cincin, kuih jala and all the rest…

…and I was drawn to the ikan terubok masin…

…because they looked really big and fresh but no, I did not buy any for fear that my clothes in my suitcase would end up stinking of salted fish.

There were so many things at the market – I only snapped a few photographs including this one of the pineapples…

…and this one of the midin (wild jungle fern)…

This leafy variety is not held in such high regard and is supposed to be cheaper. In the restaurants, they will serve only the much coveted crunchy young curls, no leaves.

I spotted these tapioca tubers…

…and the old Malay lady was boiling some. Of course, I wanted to buy to eat so I waited for it to be cooked…

It seemed that they would toss the cooked tapioca with grated coconut and sugar to eat but no, I did not want that. I was fine eating it as it was, RM2.00 for a bagful!

While I was standing there waiting, I noticed the other people from the other stalls coming with a cup to buy the water in which the tapioca was boiled. According to them, drinking that would help prevent cancer. Gee!!! I never heard of that! Usually we would just drain it and pour all that water away.

We asked for the free hotel shuttle to come an hour later and it came on the dot! Upon our request, it took us to another mall in the city centre and we arranged for it to come later in the afternoon at 4.00 p.m. to pick us up and take us back to the hotel.

The TAMU in Miri (4.388697, 113.987091) is located at Jalan Padang.