Pasar Malam video walk-thru

Hope you'll enjoy this video I took at our local pasar malam (night market) in Bukit Sekilau, Kuantan. These markets are very popular in Malaysia and are alive with colour, sounds and smells:

Fidelia's Friday - Life in Kuantan

Life in Kuantan wasn't so exciting for me at first. It was back in June 2004. I spent most of my time in my university campus and went to town once in a while. I felt it was a small and boring place with only one big shopping mall! It is so different from my home town Kuching. 

I only started to enjoy staying in Kuantan when Duncan and I moved to our apartment in Bukit Sekilau. I lived off campus and drove to university every weekday for my classes and sometimes on Saturdays. It was a 45-minute drive for me. I have my friend, Thinesh to thank because he helped me to find a place to live. 

Our apartment is situated in a very strategic place. We are near a private hospital, a government clinic, a pharmacy, a supermarket, a night market, a petrol station (or a gas station) and right now the most happening shopping mall in Kuantan called East Coast Mall! Also we are near the only 5 star hotel in Kuantan, the Zenith Hotel! One more thing that would make this place complete is a bus stop! I barely see a public bus around Bukit Sekilau. 

The food in Kuantan is also so different from my home town but it is nice and delicious. I miss my kolo mee (a famous noodle in Sarawak) and my dad's bamboo chicken once in a while and I miss my sago worms now and again! The Bak Kut Teh in Kuching is more delicious than Kuantan. So, in terms of food I prefer Kuching food! 

We make more friends as time passes by. Most of them came from being Duncan's students' parents. We love our friends here in Kuantan. They will help us whenever they can if we ask them. So, that's good! During festive season, they will kindly invite us to their houses and we really appreciate that. We love food! Free food! Who doesn't?!

Right now, I enjoy my life in Kuantan. I don't enjoy all the firecrackers being set up at night during festive season but I enjoy the fireworks they put on show during Chinese New Year just outside our apartment on the field! Beautiful! Although my Lauren is scared of the loud noise, she also enjoys the beauty of it!

So, are you enjoying your life in a place where you are currently living now? Because I am definitely loving my life here in Kuantan!

Day 3 with my parents in Kuantan

Yesterday we went out to East Coast Mall. My mum bought a new purse from Parkson. Whilst waiting Lauren chatted with her grandad for a while:

Grandad had his spectacles tightened so they don't fall off the bridge of his nose every time he looks down. He can actually see through them now! Lauren entertained her grandma this time:

On the way up to Carrefour to buy some food:

We also searched for some sarongs (kain batik) around Malay Town. My mum wants to buy some so she can make cushions out of them. We found a nice purple one and the girls working at the shop couldn't stop telling Lauren how cute she was! Here's a picture of them all:

Later in the evening we took my parents to the night market (pasar malam) just down the road. We bought a load of sugar cane (air tebu), my favourite! And I do like to play with the remaining ice:

We also bought a kilo of rambutan for RM6 (just over one pound sterling). They are funny little hairy balls with a sweet fruit under the skin:

Apologies for the poor quality of this picture!

After dinner of mashed potato with sweet potato (yam) I took a few portrait pictures of us. I used the "soft skin" mode on my Panasonic Lumix DMC-F2 but I'm not sure if it makes any difference to the skin tone in these pictures:

Pasar Malam (night market) in Bukit Sekilau, Kuantan

"Pasar Malam" is the Malay words which mean 'night market' in English. Every Thursday evening there is a pasar malam in Bukit Sekilau, just a short walk from my house. It involves a number of stalls stretching for 150 metres on a village road in Bukit Sekilau. As you'll see from the pictures, a variety of foods and other things are sold at this weekly pasar malam.

I ordered my favourite, nasi dagang, which is rice with a piece of fish and curry. The rice is wrapped in the green banana leaves, the fish curry tied with rubber bands in small plastic bags.It costs just RM2.

This portable restaurant on wheels sells steamboat food, in particular fish...

My wife's favourite here. This Chinese food is called 'Pau' and is like a white bread which may contain a variety of different fillings...

Foods waiting to be fried and sold...

My wife loves this little pink dessert...

Can any Malaysians help me to identify this little treat?

A variety of fruits are sold at this stall. The big green one is soursop, and makes for a delicious drink. At far left is a fruit named 'jambu air' or water apple. The fruit 'longan' can be seen at far right, but I'm not sure what the small orange-coloured fruits are?

Our favourite drink, 'air tebu' or sugar cane! Every time we go to the pasar malam we will buy this gorgeous drink.

This is the sugar cane juice extractor machine. The man simply pushes in sticks of sugar cane at the top of the machine. The dried stalks come out and fall on the floor at the bottom; the juice is caught behind in a container...

Here's one of a handful of clothes stalls...

We also bought some 'satay' - flame-grilled chicken or beef on a stick with peanut sauce...

Finally, here are some paper cars, which the Chinese use to burn as an offering for the dead...

KUANTAN BLOG TOUR: Now let's go visit one of the older parts of Kuantan

Rushing for time? Return to My Journey to Kuantan - Part 5 by clicking here

Night Market in Bukit Sekilau, Kuantan

Everybody in Malaysia loves a night market. And everybody in Malaysia loves food. Every time a Malaysian greets another face-to-face or on the phone, or even on the internet, within the first few lines of conversation pops up the question "Sudah makan?" (Have you eaten?) Such is their love for food that night markets, lines of stalls occupying various roads around the country, come alive at dusk. Here in Kuantan, in Bukit Sekilau, a night market appears every Thursday evening, selling all sorts of food, fruits, vegetables, cakes, clothes and toys you could wish for. Most Thursday's we go there to buy our favourite items - nasi dagang for me, chicken rice for my wife, and sugar cane drink for us both. We took my brother there and he disliked how tight and cramped the space is to walk down the aisle between lines of stalls. However, he, like us, loved the sugar cane!

Dried up sticks of sugar cane after the juice has been extracted and prepared for selling

My wife waits for our order to be processed; not sure what her face was about though!

Gaz cracked a smile despite feeling like a sardine in the narrow pass!

We decided to buy some delicious-looking satay...

...and roti murtabak for RM3 a piece

My wife is always happy after a trip to the night market!