Miri Weekend Market

Pulut stall

I got up at 5:50 this morning. First, because breakfast was 6:15 as we had a 7am canopy walk booked. Second, to outsmart the geniuses who chose 6am as the power shut-off time when it isn't even light then. Packed everything up and headed in. At 6:30 Burong arrived, looking like an apologetic wreck. He'd been up all night (again) on standby duty at the forest and there was a big storm that caused trees to fall everywhere, one on the canopy walkway. Although it would be fixed this morning, it wouldn't be open in time for us to do it and catch our flight. But Burong (who wasn't being paid to be there) entertained us for 2 hours until we went to the airport. Got back to Miri feeling exhausted so I had an afternoon nap. Of course I woke up feeling like death! Not enough water.

Apam balek stall

I shuffled around the guesthouse for a while and then Mrs Lee said she was going out and would be happy to drop me at the weekend market that begins on Friday nights. I said yes please, and off we went. I got there and it was like food heaven. There were all manner of food stalls and I wanted to try everything. When I saw the prices I decided this was an entirely realistic option so I began to do just that. I started with a minuman pisang (banana soft drink) and some satay ayam (chicken satay). Moved on to some sort of donut, and then some keropok lakor (deep fried fishy beancurd things with sweet & sour sauce). After that it was pulut daging (beef and rice cooked in a banana leaf) and then apam balek (like a big pancake with nuts & butter in the middle). I was interested in the ikan bakar (whole fish cooked on a banana leaf on the BBQ) but I had absolutely no idea how I was going to eat that since they don't provide plates or cutlery. In fact I didn't see anyone else eating at all, so I felt a bit silly. They were all buying food, but I think they were taking it home. And they were choosing one or two things each, not everything like me! I decided to complete the tourist image (yep, I was wearing shorts too) and took photos of everything.