The Annual Big Market in Kota Belud

In October there is a 'Tamu Besar' or big market in Kota Belud, just a 40-minute drive north of Kota Kinabalu. It runs over two days, instead of the regular half-day Sunday market, and provides a real spectacle, especially on the second day.

Of course, you can't settle down to anything before you've had a drink and a snack and everywhere you go in Sabah, you can find fried bananas and local cakes. Nothing goes so well with a cup of coffee (or a glass of coffee - depends where you get it!). The bananas we had were being fried as we waited and were absolutely delicious - crunchy on the outside and then with that flash of banana in the middle.

And Kota Belud is wonderfully picturesque because it's so traditional. Look at the woman selling tobacco (in the middle of the pictures above). The tobacco is interesting, for one thing, and then her hat is just lovely! There were a lot of women wearing a variety of different hats - but I'm going to save those pictures for another time! We went to the Tamu Besar on both Saturday and Sunday - but Sunday afternoon was the Real Thing. This was when the Bajau horsemen were on display. They are really incredible. A visual feast! There is something so exotic - and somehow mediaeval - about the silk, the colours, the decoration of the horses. Wonderful! This is an event for local people - it's not put on for tourists - and so there are things we still need to learn about it. For example, the 150 or so horsemen did a lot of manoeuvres - concentric rings and that sort of thing - that they had obviously practised. They were directed by two older men and worked around a man who sat on his horse in the middle of the field - perhaps the local chief - who was accompanied by two young boys on their horses - perhaps his sons. As we make friends with people in Kota Belud, we will be able to learn more about this fabulous event - and then let you know!

If you have any questions or comments, please get in touch with either of us: ron@astsabah.com and jude@astsabah.com. We'd love to hear from you!