Pasar malam is a Malay word that literally means night market, "Pasar" being related to "bazaar" in Persian. A pasar malam is a market in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia that opens in the evening, usually in housing areas. It brings together a collection of stalls that usually sell goods such as fruit, vegetables, snacks, toys, clothes, movie discs and ornaments at cheap, reasonable prices. Pasar malams often open only one to a few days of the week, as the traders rotate around different housing areas on different days of the week. Haggling over prices is a common practice at such markets.
There are a lot of sections in a pasar malam, its common understanding among the traders that they display their wares as per their sections. The pic below is the clothes section, all stalls selling shirts, pants, skirts, etc are located there.
The reason why so many throng Pasar Malam, the 'Ayam Percik'. Ayam percik a popular Malay dish is acually chicken marinated with spicy coconut gravy and cooked traditionally over a charcoal fire.
All kinds of keropok (prawn or fish crackers) being sold here. There are raw and fried keropok lekors being sold here. A popular and the most visible fried snack in Terengganu, the keropok is made of fish meat, ground to a paste, and mixed with sago. Coming in two main different forms, the long chewy ones are called 'lekor', while the thin, crispy ones are called 'keping'. Keropok is best eaten hot with its special chili dip.
oh yeah...Pesta's pasar malam is the best.....Mmmmm.....jagung manis, rojak petis, 'tauhu chui'. Speaking of tauhu chui, whenever we went to town (back in the 80s when we say town, it meant going along Jalan Kluang, down to Jalan Rahmat and ending up at the bus station near McDota, by the way is McDota still there?). We would stop for lunch at this place which served the best (in my opinion anyway) 'Kolo mee'. There will be a guy in front of the shop selling tauhu chui on the footpath. I believe there was a barber next to this shop?
Thanks for the posts tigersden. I love the fact that you often captured the common and ordinary things in BP that we all often overlook or take for granted.
I reckon the (day/ night) market scenes are probably the best place to experience the 'non-chalantness' of BP.
I remembered one morning recently, getting up at 7. The old pasar was already bustling with people and traffic. Everything felt very much the same, as how I remembered during the countless trips to the pasar when I was a kid with my grandpa, riding in a beca.
To me, the journey to the market is already an awakening experience itself (for the non-morning person).
Depending on your mode of transportation, you will either be driving rounds and rounds looking for a parking space (is this spot too far to carry my groceries back later?) or arriving comfortably in a beca (who really rides in them these days?).
Once I was out of the car, there is this peculiar atmosphere that hits me each time I was in this area. Maybe it's the sound of the swallows flying across the sky (mixing with the sound of traffic to symphonize the start of a day); or the ray of morning light that gives a tint of warm glow to the derelict clock tower; or maybe it's just the reluctant (morning lag) and dilemmatic (I should set-up my stalls/ do my groceries fast vs. it's morning and I'm going to take things slow) pace of the people that gives it such a sense of place.
I have to go through the 'road market' (what horrible canopy above, we need the sunlight to see things clearly!) with rows of stalls on both sides. While trying to make my way through, it's hard not to get distracted by the curiously interesting items on display - really cheap batteries pack (how realiable are they?), traditional Malay medicine (take a mental note of the magical qualities in case I need them one day), the caged rabbits on the floor beside a pile of potted plants (but no, they were not there anymore!), and the worrysome look on the Makcik with only a few bunch of veges displayed on the fluorescent plastic rug (as much as I wished to buy from you, the veges don't look really fresh to me, or is it because of the covered roof that makes the produce look dull?).
And for one moment while waiting to cross the road into the market, there is such a sense of livelihood and honesty in the scene.
The awaiting beca on the roadsides, with the beca pakciks chattering among themselves. The cars mingling with huge lorries mingling with humans mingling with bicycles mingling with motorcycles mingling with stray cats and dogs trying not to be a market roadkill.
From across the roads, you can already see the buzz that's going on in the market.
Thus I braced myself for the smell (the sea stench on the outside and the weird combination of spices, leaves, and the old roof on the inside), how I have to watch my steps across the puddles of water inside (damn it I am wearing a sandal), and of course the most dreadful feeling of all - having too many choices for breakfast after it all...
It is the common and ordinary things that make BP so special!!
I believe the kolo mee Liz mentioned is Ah See Wan Tan Mee lah. There is a barber shop next to it, and a soya bean drinks stall at the lorong next to the barber shop.
yeah and i miss the whiff of the kerosene burner of one coffee shop near the market close to Jalan Penggaram (I think) The stall sold laksa and it always had that smell. Not great though just nostalgic.