Monday, August 25, 2008

Kota Kinabalu - Trip toThe Markets & Farewell

Okay, this is the continuation of the KK trip. Fatigued after the hike, the girls woke up quite late the following morning. Gone the thought of going to a nearby island. But I knew what I wanted to do. Shopping! ;-)

We had breakfast in the room. I was busy feeding Nadeen to monitor what the girls ordered with HB. Somebody had to order cornflakes cereal from room service? I wonder who that was...


HB found out about a Pasar Tamu somewhere near the hotel. He after all this time night stopping in KK had never once been to Pasar Tamu, decided to check it out with us. I suppose Pasar Tamu is meant for the Tamu - guests. That is why it is held only on weekends. Right? Wrong?


The girls at the lobby waiting for the walk (no more hike... pheww!) to Pasar Tamu


Even Nadeen was thrilled!

As we were approaching the market, I was amazed with the crowd right in front of my eyes. What more at 11am, under the hot sun...


I had nothing in particular to buy. Just some souvenirs. It was very interesting observing the items sold. You can find almost every souvenir you can think of from jeweleries to handcrafts & even plants.

I was most of the time shooting photos. Nadeen was in the stroller with HB pushing. The other girls were most of the time with me. You should be there to witness me stopping here & there focusing my lens. Whenever I stopped, Yasmin & Wardah were ready to take control of Balqis. They understood well of their mama's passion in photography. Thanks girls! Muuwwah..!Pardon me for some of the underexposed shots. HB disliked the idea of me carrying my big flash around & at the same time had to monitor the girls. He had a point there... So, I simply made do with the built-in flash. Enjoy the pictures.

Jeweleries


Orchids


Sea shells


A table lamp out of shells


More jeweleries


Air plants - no soil needed


Hens & chicks


Machetes (parang)



More parangs


Vases


Old coins


Reflexology



Vegetables



Weaved bags



More shells



I liked this in particular. A hat or a table lamp top? I forgot to ask.



Food. Not sure what they were called though. I was told they were made out of beans.



Gongs



Someone was even playing the Gamelan



Designer purses anyone? ;-)



Even puppies!

Girls will be girls. Look at HB entertaining his girls choosing pearl bracelets. Lucky him they did not really cost him a fortune ;-)



Yasmin was somehow attracted to these hats & HB was again doing the bargaining.



He wanted to buy this one for me. Good for gardening he said (his wife quit long ago after finding out her hands were no green..)



I was checking out the pearls but did not fall for any



We treated the girls for ice cream. All of them but Nadeen. I couldn't bear looking at her watching her sisters licking on their share. Wellllll.... I did give her to taste but she did not like it. Not used to the cold, I guess ;-)



An elderly local man passed by whilst the girls were busy with their treat. He fell for Nadeen & was trying to bargain with the girls to give their youngest sis away.


Obviously Yasmin & Wardah knew that man was only joking but look at Balqis. She could not keep her eyes off him. Her ice cream forgotten, melted in her hand... hehehe. She is very protective over Nadeen.



Who would resist this girl?


I wanted to go to the Philipines Market. Like it or not the whole troop had to follow the General's command ;-). This was the overhead bridge to Pasar Besar Kota Kinabalu. One thing I realised about KK, there were lots of not sure whether the locals or immigrants conducting their business along the corridor. Well, I guess better that than begging.


It sure was a long bridge



Pasar Besar Kota Kinabalu


What did I tell you...? Another corridor trading.



I of course did not miss a chance of good photos. These were amongst the items sold along the corridor of the market.


Dried & salted fish



Not sure about this one. Perhaps another type of salted fish.



A local delicacy



Corns



The market was huge. This is the place HB gets our dried anchovies & shrimps supply. Sometimes prawns too. They are fresh from the ocean & pretty cheap too. KK is like his second hometown. We however did not go to the wet market. He knew well how I didn't really like it ;-)


This was one of the stalls at the dry area



Avacadoes


HB at his regular stall. My mom-in-law loves to snack on this kuih cincin as she calls it. (check the arrow in the centre)



Next was the place that I had heard so much but had never been. The Philipines Market. I'd been wanting to shop for...



Yeah right... Not exactly. I was looking for these actually... ;-) Crystal accessories.



Seriously the authority needs to do something about the ventilation in this market. It was incredibly stuffy. I had to thank HB for babysitting the younger girls outside while I was in my shoppingland...hehehe. We then headed to a nearby food court for a drink & found coconuts! My girls' favourite.




Yasmin's conical-shaped hat, not only served to cover from the sunlight but also as a fan . Nadeen tasted her first drops of coconut drink. Frankly, this trip to KK, Nadeen's taste bud was slowly introduced to food beyond baby food ;-)


HB & I chose to drink in the plastic glass. The girls of course didn't know that ours tasted better with added sugar. Theirs were totally pure coconut drink... hehehe.


By now, I'm an expert nursing my baby in public. Hahaha! Nobody even noticed. Of course I know. I have another set of eyes observing. HB's. He thought I didn't know but whenever Nadeen was thirsty, I could see him guiding the surrounding making sure I got nothing to expose... ;-) Whilst Nadeen was feeding, Balqis climbed onto the stroller & even buckled herself up! Check out the pictorial chronicle of Balqis & her coconut drink.




I told HB that I needed air-conditioned room so badly. I even stepped into a pharmacy with my troop pretending to get something. Just for the air-cond really... ;-) Again pretended that the thing I was looking for was not there & stepped out. Hahaha!

HB took us to Plaza Warisan instead. We tried Big Apple donuts (had to find a better excuse for free air-conditioner... ). It was our first time & none of us liked the donuts. HB always prefer DD & the girls & I are fans of JC.

HB & Yasmin choosing the donuts for us



I rested for like 5 minutes. Wardah volunteered to play with Nadeen.



The donuts.Can you see the resemblance to JC? You can read here.


Finally back to the hotel. We opted for a cab. Here are the girls cramping at the backseat. (pssst... Wardah, you got choc on your tooth!)


Later in the evening, before checking out , we had a quick tea. Thanks to the staff of the hotel for such hospitality.


All this while I never let my girls touch my dslr. But this trip Wardah braved herself. She was lucky as don't know why both HB & I were rather laid-back with the idea. Had been snapping pictures whenever she had the chance. In fact, she does have talent. Remember the Babysitting posting? That video, I later found out was her idea. These are the photos she took while HB was at the reception checking out & me holding my sleeping Nadeen.



We enjoyed this ad hoc vacation. I was kind of worried about HB though. It might be a vacation to us but he was really officially on duty. But knowing him, responsibility is his utmost priority. I could have shopped more that day but he cut it short for. He needed his nap. Perhaps it was his duty as a father to take his girls for a holiday but he owed the passengers whom flying with him, his rest. He did take a nap whilst I was on duty keeping the girls' volume low ;-)

This is the last shot of them for this trip at KK International Airport


The End.

22 comments:

Chahya said...

wah seronoknya holiday...teringat my trip there last year..dptlah merasa panjat Mt K sekerat jalan hehe..

Cute children.Nadeen semangatnya..thriving solely on mom's milk?

Waterlily said...

Hi Ja

You know what? Sabah tu kira sepelaung je dari Sarawak..but I've never been there yet. Not even when I was working, my meetings were always held in Miri and all those reps/heads from KK, Sandakan, Bintulu, Sibu, and even Kuching had to meet up in Miri. Should've held one in KK so that boleh naik gunung tu jugak..(eheheh..macam le larat..)

BTW, I am hunting for a camera. What camera are u using? Nampak cantik gambar2 tu. I baru nak berjinak ngan photohraphy ni..the one I have now is the common Sony digital camera.

Anonymous said...

mama,where is Mount Kinabalu pictures?

jabishah said...

Hi chahya,
Wah.. sekerat jln? Smpi mana tu? Obviously way up frm we did ;-)

Nadeen is solely on my milk only whenever Im around. Still her mama wants to socialize kan... Ditinggalkan di rumah & mama again malas nak perah, minum formula lah. Nasib, Nadeen sporting...

jabishah said...

Hello Waterlily,

Back in AUH? My girls have never been to Sarawak. Will make an appoint to go one of these days. Klu kat Sabah they know lagu "Jambatan Tamparuli". Ni sibuk nak pergi Santubung sbb lagu "Puteri Santubung" they learn in school. And dekat pun dgn Cultural Village kan?

I love photography too. My camera is Canon EOS 350d. DSLR canon paling murah. Shld hv gotten a Nikon sbb ramailah plak those around me pakai nikon dslr... boleh pinjam lens ;-) Razmyn for example.

If you plan to get EOS try the latest 450d. Besar skt the view screen. But some of the pics I shot using HB's Canon Ixus 80. Esp masa we all hiking kat KK tu. HB tak kasi I bwk my bagak cam during the climb. Gambar lain mostly my camera.

Advantage of a digital cam, boleh shoot video but not dslr tho.
Happy hunting..

jabishah said...

Hi wardah,
This entry is about all the markets we went to. If you want to view Mount Kinabalu, go to the previous post.
Love you!

Lizamurni Lokman said...

Ja,
bestnyer byk gambar.....u look really nice in that black & white tudung.....

Anonymous said...

Ja, I really enjoyed reading ur post. Wow, the avacadoes r really cheap. Here 1 fruit is abt RM4! It's my fav superfood (hint, hint).

The pasar is really a shopping heaven. Must go there & shall show the pics to my DH.

Lee said...

Hi Jabishah, wow, I love your pantun reply, ha ha. Well done. I used to have a lot old days, I copied down from my pakcik friends as, ahemmm, when dating Malay girls, I had to have an extra bit to compete with all the Bujang Lapoks and P. Ramlees, ha ha.

Gosh, I love all your very well taken photos and Jabishah, I like the one of you stengah body with Nadeen, you wearing that CD designer sunglasses.
Holy Smoke, macham Bintang Malaysia or Indonesia...
baik pun you da kawin, saya da pension dan jurassic...jalan kena pakai tongkat, ha ha.

Otherwise itu Captain MAS ada jangut tentu ada stiff competition, macham Olympics, arhaaa ha ha. Saya lepas handbrake, ha ha.
Just joking, ya..Captain.

Your photos brings back memories of old days I was in Sarawak. Somehow Sabah, Sarawak seems different to West Malaysia. More easy going, I guess.
Have a BIL and family in KK.

Jabishah, your girls are really beautiful...semua ikut mak, ada juga Captain punya features...ha ha.
Which one of your girls nak jadi pilot when she grows up? Ha ha.
Jabishish, you keep well, best regards to Captain dan anak anak kapal, ha ha, and big hug to Nadeen. She is soooooo cute! Lee.

Ezza Aziz said...

Salam Jabishah,amboi comel nya nadeem,rasa nak picit picit jer pipi dia...akak ni dah lama tak da anak kecik (dah tutup kedai kata abang) ,geram jer tgk anak kamu ni...kakak dia pun comel...Gambar2 you kat kk ni pun buat akak geram sangatttt. Memang ada plan nak gi sana, tapi tak tau lagi bila nak sampai...ok ,akak nak tengok balik posting you ni...salam perkenalan dari akak ezza.

p/s. anak akak lapan lapan menyusu badan..dah nak lembik dah niiii

Fadhil said...

Waduh Ja.... seronoknya kamu bershopping ye! :-)

Really interesting post this... plenty of pics and a very good narrative. Completes the whole story of your KK trip. Now, you've really, really made me want to go to KK very soon.

Seems that young Wardah is picking up her mom's shutterbugging skills. Good to encourage her interest from young. Tapi kira berani jugak la you bagi dia handle DSLR tu... tak seghiau ke? Heheheh...

You guys take care now. I'm hopping over to your masak-masak blog pulak.

jabishah said...

Hi dikny,
Best... pergilah KK. Cuti-cuti Malaysia! ;-)
Hehehe.. tx for the compliment. Kembang sekejap.Hahaha! I like your hubby FB profile pic. So hapy together.
Happy Merdeka.

MrsNordin said...

your children are so adorable! just like the mummy (and the daddy, too, of course!)

Anonymous said...

Amboi, you guys really had fun holidaying in KK ya? Bestnye. No matter how many times I’ve been there, I always enjoy KK. Yup, pasar tamu offers lots of stuff. And a good place to shoot photos of locals. BTW, good shots you have there. Seems you have improved a lot. Well done! Cam ni, tak yah join Zain's photography class hahaha.

N’way, miss talking to you and seeing the girls. My rgds to Mir ya.

Anonymous said...

Auntie Ja...ini Fatin dari Abu Dhabi....how was your holiday ? well...i went to Hong Kong Disneyland..it was great day every I seen !! than other holidays.....so....DON'T BE JEALOUS !! I think my dad is rich to buy Disneyland ticket and ticket to Hong Kong..he he he

jabishah said...

Hi a&a's mom,
Tx. Glad that you like them. The avacadoes were cheap yes but I didn't get any. Will get some for you next time tho ;-)

jabishah said...

Hi Uncle,
Hehehe.. tx for the compliment. Glad that you enjoyed the pantun. It was a spontaneous reply.
Next time jual more pantun, I try to jawap ;-)
Have a great wkend.

jabishah said...

Hi Kak Ezza,
Selamat Datang ke blog saya & thank you. So, betul lah anak kakak 8. Best nye... But don't worry. I don't plan pun nak challenge akak. Hehehe.
Take care.

jabishah said...

Hello oldstock,
Seghiau? Hmmm... not really. Dia bila pakai mesti gantung tali kat leher. OKlah. Yes, I can see that she inherits my passion. Klu my hp, tak payah ckp lah. Mmg penuh pics & video. But somehow they don't touch their dad's hp...
Have a good wkend.

jabishah said...

Mrs. N,
Tx. They are, aren't they?
Happy Merdeka!

jabishah said...

Hi Leen,
Mana hilang? Rindu tau...
Tx for the compliment. But am still not satisfied with the pics & a lot to learn. Bila yek zain nak bagi kelas?
Selamat Merdeka!

jabishah said...

Hi Fatin,
Are you back in Abu Dhabi? I'm missing you already. Hmmm... am so jealous about your Hong Kong trip. Can you tell baba to adopt me?? Pleeeaasseee...
Hugs to Nurin & Adam