Back home now but our rugsacks were not with us on the plane. Will be delivered to my address soon. Singapore Airlines sent us to KL first, then to Singapore, from there the long flight to Europe. The connection KL-SIN was super tight they failed to transfer our bags on the next flight. Had to fill out a form after landing and a customs clearance form online yesterday. Felt very strange to walk out of the airport without our rucksacs.
This is the second time it has happened to me. First time was from Santiago to Chiloe island, Chile in 2011. My small 5kg bag was delivered to my guest house the following day. Other people's carry-on bags are usually twice as big. Anyway, just happy to be getting my bag back soon.
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The Sunday market in Kota Belud is the region's biggest. People from all over the surrounding areas come here to sell fruits and produce from own gardens or (someone else's bigger garden), stuff foraged in the woods and fields. (Dried) seafood, cooked food, snacks, household goods and probably everything under the sun. There's a separate livestock section but we didn't go. During high season (July-August), coaches drop off tourists from the capital and take them back after a few hours or so. The guest house is only a few minutes on foot from the market so we took our time to browse.
Most vendors sat on the ground. Check out the big leaves.
These wild mangoes are still unripe. The skin is hard. Flesh is starch white and very sour. At this stage they can only be eaten as pickles.
(Sticky) rice in (yam?) leaves
These are popular all over Sabah, I saw maybe half a dozen stalls at this market. Did try a bite of this snack when visiting the cultural village a few days earlier. It's spongy inside.
How the batter is measured
A hole is made using a long bamboo stick. Then the disc is lifted with the stick still in it and hung on the rim of the wok to drain.
Betel nuts
Interesting vegetables
Tiny aubergines
Tiny harvest from own garden. The smallest tomatoes I've seen, the size of marbles.
One of the most popular mango varieties grown in peninsular Malaysia, and Sabah also grows its own. You know it's not imported from Thailand/Philippines/Vietnam etc when the fruit is not uniform, often bruised, and definitely not pretty looking.
Blacktip shark. Commonly found in tropical waters, but their status is apparently "vulnerable".
Yes, the market is big and sprawling. We inspected every row and every stall.
There are food stalls inside this big Sunday market. They have a building to house all the food stalls in a specific area (where we ate breakfast). Soups were from different stalls.
Sticky rice with sambal ikan billis (anchovies chilli paste). Wrapped in banana leaf and warmed over charcoal.
A simple nasi lemak wrapped in banana leaf.
Moved on to 2 stalls away where I spotted this chocolate steamed bun.
It was good. We got another one and 2 more coffee. Never saw another chocolate steamed bun like this again the whole trip.
Got my last coconut at the central market and said goodbye to the 2 stallholders with whom I spoke with every day. Mother of the lovely young woman who was on duty at the stall. She insisted we took a selfie together (we did and I am not a phone user, a hater of selfie/non user of social media platform). The moment she looked at me and said let's make a photo of us 3 together.
Bought a cheap knife to eat the mangoes. Then later I watched someone eat a mango without any knife like a boss.
Last chance to eat local noodle soup in Kota Belud. This was lunch some time later.
This "dry" noodle dish is also popular in Kota Belud.
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Now back at the riverside village deep in rural northern Sabah for another river cruise, but with a different tour op. They always give you this kind of fried snacks when you arrive. I gave my plate to the partner, again.
Dinner after to river tour. I barely touched mine, ate mostly fruit.
It rained again during the cruise. When I saw the jetty I thought oh no, the cruise was about to end. But then it suddenly stopped raining and my boat slowed down then got a bit closer to the trees.
The tour guide tried to point at the direction where we could see proboscis monkeys. We looked and finally spotted them. A bunch of them in the trees busy eating. These leaves are their favourite food. The more I looked the more monkeys I saw. These monkeys are sociable and live in groups. They eat early in the morning and during golden hour. The reason river cruises only go at these times of day.
It was quite some distance away but I did manage to make some usable shots of these peculiar monkeys. They are in the top 5 wildlife attractions in Malaysian Borneo. Proboscis monkeys are endemic to Borneo and mostly found in mangrove forests. That's why river tours are so popular in Sabah. This is a female. Males have huge noses. Huge.
This was our first taste of Sabah's wildlife. It got better after this tour, because we had more tours to come.
So, I saw this earlier in a shop. Haha, the world couldn't be more wrong about us. No desire to dignify absurd assumptions with a reaction. (Source: I'm 200% introverted)
