Friday, July 9, 2010

the filipino market in kota kinabalu



this building houses the filipino market. it used to be known as the kota kinabalu handicraft centre. most of the stalls are managed by filipino immigrants. also called the pasar filipino, it is located along tun fuad stephen road. besides local souvenirs and handicrafts, you can also find handicrafts from other south-east asian countries.





just behind the complex, facing the waterfront, is the open-air market. it reminds me of the santok weekend market in kuching. it may seem like a maze but there is actually some organisation in this mess. the bbq seafood and chicken wings stalls are not dificult to locate. just look for the smoke and let your nose lead you to where the tantalising smell is coming from.



away from the seafront, you find stalls selling fresh produce as well as dried food. you can get 5 large buah kedongdong for rm$1.00. mangoes are in season and every fruit stall has lots for sale. there are also durians but they are not plentiful and the fruit that i tried tasted rather bland.





most visitors seemed to go for the bbq seafood and chicken wings. the seafood included whole fish, prawns, king-sized tiger prawns, squids, flower crabs and even lobsters. the well-marinated chicken wings cost rm$1.20 a piece. a medium-sized yellow tail cost around rm$13.

2 comments:

PChew said...

Filipino Market there is sustainable because of the large Filipino population. In Garden Growth and Anaheim California there are many Filipinos but no Filipino Market. So, they have to do their marketting at Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese or the 'ang moh' market. Their numbers are not enough to justify a Filipino Market.

yg said...

philip, i think many of the filipinos are illegal immigrants.
but they are a peace-loving community.