Brunei Traditional Market

dave-admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 05:22:05 +0000

Brunei Traditional Market

Brunei may be one of the world's richest per capita nations, but don't think for a minute that this means they've dumped everything traditional in favor of the modern life. One place you can see this right in the shadow of the capital city's business district. Just a few meters from the downtown high rise office buildings is traditional Kianggeh Market. It's the classic SE Asian open or wet market.

People come here either by boat--up a short canal that empties right into the Brunei River, or they walk across quaint arch bridges from downtown.

The most amazing thing about this market is the fruit. Now, as an "ol' Asia hand" I thought I'd seen just about every strange fruit that SE Asia has to offer. But I hadn't spent much time in Borneo--so I was in for a shock. Just a few steps into the market & you find yourself surrounded by trays of the most exotic-looking tropical fruits--stuff that you think must have got left behind by a flying saucer last night. Really, some of this stuff would have been perfect for that bar scene in the first Star Wars movie. Just downright bizzare food.

I'm strolling through the market & first stumbled on "kembayau". It looks like oversized black grapes on the end of sturdy twigs. The guy selling it was more hospitable to this ignorant pilgram than any southern belle could have been. He spent half an hour patiently explaining to me that locals use a pen knife to scrape the hard skin off in lateral lines, then they put it in a cup with freshly boiled water, throw in a spoonful of sugar & let it sit for a couple minutes. Then you drink the "tea". It's sort of like a plum flavored tea--quite tasty, but you'll never understand until you try it yourself.

The reason I'd never seen it before is that it only grows on Borneo. The same things true of "terap" (known by in the Philippines as "marang" & in English as Johey Oak. It's a true halfway house between jackfruit (one of my favorites) & stinky durian. In Latin it's called artocarpus odoratissimus.

Also in this market you'll find the man who sells amulets, secret potions, along with herbal cures & rare woods for anything that ails you. He's a amiable kind of guy who doesn't even betray the slightests concern that some people may doubt the efficacy of his products. And he's not pushy.

If a pushy salesman is what you want, walk down a bit further to the Indonesian guy who's selling rare gecko body parts off his cell phone--with world renowned potent healing powers. He's not just pushy; he won't be satisfied unless you become a local sales agent for him in your country of origin.

But most of the people here are just selling things that locals definitely need, or their kids helping their mom make ends meet, or someone just catching a tasty but cheap lunch.

Location:

Brunei Darussalam

Tags:

Brunei Darussalam

SE Asia

Borneo

Islam

Muslims

Malay

Tropical

Dave Ray Photo - Brunei Darussalam

Brunei Traditional Market

Brunei Traditional Market