“Pasar Malam” was among the few Malay words I had encountered in my first three months of stay in Malaysia. “Pasar Malam” means Night Market. It is a time where people gathered together to sell and buy products basically on food, garments, and services as well.
As a foreigner under a spouse visa in this country, I need to adapt things that are essential for my longer stay here in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. I need to know and understand the basic events, public holidays, festivities, and other interesting facts of life in this place
About Pasar Malam:
I had to encounter this Pasar Malam outside part of KSL City Mall, Johor Bahru on my few months of stay in this place. I was told that this Pasar Malam was one of the longest night markets in the city compared to other Tamans in JB.
My wife and I had been in this place for quite a few times. Of course, the purpose was to buy food, fruits, and experience walking and looking at new things which are new to me. This exposure is also a good avenue for me in my adaptation of culture in this community- Malay (Bahasa Melayu) language and different Mandarin dialects like Cantonese, Hokkien, Tu-chu and others.
This Pasar Malam opens from 4 PM until 11 PM. Thus, an expectation of traffic connecting the road within Jalan Seladang at Taman Abad is already normal to the locales.
What about the food display:
Usually you can see different kinds of food like Malay food such of kuihs, nasi goreng (fried rice), fried chicken, ayam merah (basically spicy food); Chinese food like steamed paper chicken, char kway teow, carrot cake, Chinese rojak (mix fruits), siomai and different kind of pau; other foodstuffs like fried pork, squids, seafood (prawn, crabs, and lobster), cakes, bread, and other pastries. Different kind of beverages is also available like soya milk, sugar cane juice, flavoured juice, sea coconut, and others.
You can also buy and tastes some of theirs sample fruits like dragon fruit, pears, pineapple, guava, jack fruit, papaya, coconut, watermelon, jamboo, oranges, apples, longan and others. All are guaranteed fresh.
Actually, with most of my experiences in this night market, most of the food was cooked on the spot. Most of it were the carrot cake, fried chicken, fried noodles, fried squids, and pork. For the sugar cane, you can physically see how they extract the juice from the fruit itself. This makes people have a long queue to buy one.
Other things they sell:
Aside from food, this Pasar Malam also sells medicinal plants, herbs, ointment, kitchen utensils, household stuff, clothing, blankets, pillows, gadgets, and other services like massage and others.
People who patronize this Pasar Malam:
I may be wrong but in my observation, a lot of people from different races goes here to buy their food and other stuff. To name some, it is a mixture of local and international tourist, locales, and foreigner workers. To name some of the nationalities, they were composed of Bangladeshis, Indians, Chinese, Singaporeans, Thais, Vietnamese, Filipinos and other nationalities from Myanmar, Laos, and even from the European Countries.
How about a place to stay:
If you are a foreigner and don’t know where to stay. This would be a minor problem as JB has a lot of accommodation places. JB is situated with 1- star up to 5-star hotels, budget hotels, and even homestay places. Hotel accommodations would cost from a minimum RM250 and above while for budget hotels, it will only cost you a minimum of RM68 and above depends on the location of the hotel. Homestay would cost you a minimum of RM50 per night.
Transportation
It is easy, always make sure that your landmark is at the CIQ 1st link JB Sentral bus bay. To go to KSL City Mall, look for SL1 bus Service of Causeway Link and it will direct you exactly at KSL City Mall with a bus fare rate of RM1.50 only.
But if you are coming over from other places, you can use grab or uber. But be mindful that it is a bit pricey compared to the fare from public bus transport.
Note: This article was published by the writer on another site on February 23, 2017.
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