November 29, 2009

Women Who Brighten Up the Pasar Tani

Have you noticed that women control most of the Pasar Tani((at Serbakas Commercial Centre) business in Miri?

Having a nice evening out in Pasar Tani every Friday evening is a nice past time for me . If you are not bothered by the smoke and the narrow spaces you can actually enjoy the weekend market. By spending some of your money there you are consciously supporting the actual food producers like the coconut garden owner from Bekenu and the fruit garden owners from Sibuti. To me most of the more senior vendors have been doing their small trade very independently for a long time and the fact that they have survived shows their determination. Thus we should all the more support these small businesses.

Sometimes my friends and I would meet up just to have teh tarik and enjoy the hustle and bustle of the evening market. We do pick up some vegetables and local fruits on a Friday evening so that we can free up our weekends for other activities.

What I like about Pasar Tani especially is the way many  lady hawkers  do enjoy explaining about their products when they have some breathing space to chat with their customers. They have a nice way to tell us about their vegetables or where they themselves have come from. I call this my own Travel and Living close encounters.

Today I pay tribute to these ladies who make a difference in my life!!


This lady sells bananas and other fruits. She also sells jaring and will advise you how to prepare jaring for dinner. I enjoy some small talk with her.


This lady sells fruits like jaring too which she collects from the secondary jungle of Bekenu besides other fruits and vegetables from her own garden. She is the first person to introduce me to the vegetable called "daun mandai".

This cheerful lady sells small bits of limes and yam or "whatever she can get hold of". She is chatty and cheerful. And a very good source of information if you have the right questions.




This is my Nasi Kerabu lady (the blue rice) and she is already training her daughter to help her in the business.

8 comments:

William said...

This one at Serbakas? I used to go there but realised that I shouldn't eat too much of those things. They are either too oily or too sweet or too salty.

Ensurai said...

Hi William
Yes this is the Pasar Tani at Serbakas.

I believe in women helping women so a nice way I can do it is buy organic vegeables and fruits from these ladies. On of the ladies sell Nasi Kerabu which I like very much. If I can Friday evening meal is nasi kerabu partly.

Yes I agree most of the cooked food is too oily and salty.

Thank you for visiting.

Anonymous said...

Hi Cikgu

Nice of you to feature these ladies. I too enjoy going there during the holidays.

The ladies are warm hearted and you don't get cheated when you buy from them. Also I like the unhurried ways they do things.

And they allow us to check the products too....in fact I like the way they even help us go through their vegetables for instance and they don't get hurt.

May be it is just our way of doing things...I remember your cross-cultural understanding lessons.

Thanks.

as always - K.

Ensurai said...

Good morning K...
It has been more than two weeks of rain for Miri-Subis locality. I think the weather forecast won't be too promising...My niece in law - Lucia is with the Meteorological Dept in KL. Bad weather in the offing. But at least we do not have yet landsides or bad floods. Thank God!!

I do look forward to my Pasar Tani day and it makes the monotony of retired life a little more exciting.

We still have a lot to learn in cross-cultural understanding.

Thanks for dropping by.

Bengbeng said...

u think jus like my mum, now departed. she went out of her way to support traders like the ones u posted

Ensurai said...

Hi Bengbeng
Thanks for your kind thoughts.

We must always support these local traders who are trying their best...

May your Mother's soul have peace.

Gallivanter said...

Speaking of Sarawak, I'm missing its Laksa already...nooooooooooooooooo!

Ensurai said...

Hi Gallivanter
Welcome to my blog!

Sarawak Laksa is really a fantastic Malaysian dish!! No one can complain of having more...
Cheers.

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