Sundays are special to me - I’ll usually follow my parents for their weekly ritual of visiting the pasar malam (which means night market in Bahasa Malaysia) unless I have nothing better to do but stare lifelessly at the computer screen 
We’ll set off early at about 2pm in the afternoon to avoid the evening rush hour where a tsunami of people will start pouring into the narrow street where the market is. And gosh, I hate it when I’m voluntarily roasting myself under the brutal afternoon heat.
Pasar malam is an essential and integral part of the Malaysian culture - instead of turning to hypermarkets for fresh produce, many Malaysian housewives will head for the evening or night markets (I call some of them evening markets because they are usually open in the late afternoon). In my township, the market is just a 10-minute drive away from my house, and since we always arrive early, I will find myself looking at how stall owners screech in with their loaded trucks packed with goods and most importantly, position their stalls, unload and display their goods. Setting up tents is a must on their to-do list, given than the humid tropical climate might just bring unexpected thunderstorms or blazing afternoon sun. Mom wears a jacket to, quote, keep her from being roasted alive.
Stallowners have to be born with good throats, or if they don’t win the genetic lottery, get their throats trained and seasoned enough to yell and advertise loudly to attract customers. So I don’t really talk much when I’m there with my parents - the whole place is flooded with vocal advertisements and my squeaky voice will most probably get inundated inside. We comminicate through body language - pointing at the drink stall means I’m going to get a drink, if you can’t find me, I’m over there.; looking at me furiously and shaking the plastic bags in hand at me means What the hell are you doing over there? Come over and help me with my groceries. Interesting, isn’t it?
The aftermath of the markets is unbelieveable. There’s everything, well, everywhere. You might just step on a chicken head, a duck liver, a rotten cabbage, a bruised apple, banana skins, strings, empty bottles and etc. They usually have a specialised group of cleaners to fix the mess before dawn. Almost everytime when I return from the markets I’ll have to clean my shoes and make sure that nothing is stuck underneath it.
Here’s a panorama of the evening market. Click on it to view the larger one.
So dear readers, where do you usually get your weekly shopping done?
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17 responses to Evening / Night Markets
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March 24th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
seems like we have similar activity, =p
And hey, how you do the panorama?!?!?!
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March 24th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
i don think we have pasar malam here…
night bazaar have…
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March 24th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
I miss pasar malam!! T___T Ah, the joys of growing up in Malaysia. Mine was on Friday, and there was a bigger one on Wednesday close by too. When I was a kid I used to go to pasar pagi too, but I think pasar pagi kinda died out over the years.
I always had asam laksa, tau foo fa and that carrot cake (the deep fried one)… oh and ham cheem beng. <3<3 sometimes if i manage to get there early, i’d have a super nasi lemak instead of asam laksa.
DAMMIT. I WANNA GO LIVE IN KL AGAIN. T____T. It’s so not happening.
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March 24th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
very colourful!
wah….pasar malam,I remember I used to buy those stickers for RM1 and then stick in my sticker album
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March 25th, 2008 at 2:03 am
wah the colour so vibrant. if pasar malam so nice like this i go everyday!:P
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March 25th, 2008 at 2:46 am
Yea, pasar malam is part of our culture. It adds more colour to our Malaysian life.
Moreover, there are variety of foods in pasar malam. You can see people of all ages in pasar malam.
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March 25th, 2008 at 10:13 am
I love the vibrance of pasar malams. I grew up in Indonesia so they have something similar in nature, and seeing these photos remind me of that. =)
By the way, the food in the first set of photos looks so delicious.
Which reminds me. It’s 10 in the morning here. I should get some breakfast.
Thanks for sharing these photos, Teddy and introducing the Malaysian market culture to your readers. =)
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March 25th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
hey. erm i was trying to scroll like mad on the clickable panorama. the photo is like that as is?
Check out lix’s last blog post: a sad day…
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March 25th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Hey dear commentators sorry for the late reply! Tuesday is always a busy day for me. Here are your replies!
ingSiang: Oh woah you do go pasar malam on weekends as well? I usually go unless it’s raining - where a miserable umbrella is big enough to cover only my parents and not me. The panorama is actually stitched from two separate images using AutoStitch. The whole stitching process is pretty much automated, but it’s always better to check certain options before stitching. I should be writing a tutorial about it soon
I hope I have some time.
eddy: Yea I know there aren’t many pasar malams over there, I think because there is a lack of space and the government is actually quite strict about illegal stalls operating. There’s quite a lot of night bazaars around, I know there’s one at Jurong East MRT
when I go in the evening I’ll usually drop by and have a look. That’s a few years back though, I don’t know whether it still exists or not.
Ivy: Yeah one of the joys of growing up in Malaysia is getting to visit the night markets! I guess it’s a really integral part of our society and culture… well as for my family a week without visitng the market will make everything chaotic (like during Lunar New Year when the stallholders usually do not operate), we’ll have to drop by Cold Storage or Carrefour to get our weekly shopping done. But I never like queuing up in hypermarkets. It’s stuffy and squeezy, especially during weekends! In my neighbourhood there’s a Wednesday night market, it’s smaller but nearer to my home (a 3-minute walk will do). I usually buy nasi lemak (there’s no official English name to it, but it’s known literally as ‘cream rice’) and steamed corn, or if I’m hungry enough, get a roti canai / prata (Indian pancake). I wanted assam laksa but my mom told me that it’s not good for an empty stomach…
LogicYuan: Lol yea that brings back my childhood memories! I would usually beg my mom to buy me some if I think I’ve been a good boy for the whole week
cindy: Thanks! They’re actually a joy to visit! Well I wouldn’t go everyday, but I will miss it if I weren’t there every week.
hp84: It’s literally a melting pot for all Malaysians
Id: Same here. I like it the way it adds a unique perspective into a Malaysian’s daily life… where many of us do shopping in openair, temporary stalls instead of in hypermarkets like in other countries. We actually did buy dinner from that stall, but I chose to pack nasi lemak instead since I was in the craving mood for it. Heheh.
lix: The clickable panorama opens a larger one in the lightbox, there’s no need to scroll unless a scrollbar is present (which shouldn’t be the case if your screen resolution is 1024*768 and above).
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March 26th, 2008 at 7:20 am
“And gosh, I hate it when I’m voluntarily roasting myself under the brutal afternoon heat.”
Whaaaa! At least you get heat, I’m hear rolling around in front of a heater just to keep warm. LOL! No, just kidding, but it is freezing when I walk to class and I just hate it! I cannot wait for 98 degree weather so I can pull out the shorts and tank tops! *sighs* You’re so lucky. Especially with all the yummy looking food! It reminds me of the Markets in New York Ave (In Washington, D.C.) Delicious food! And amazing shopping too. ; )
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March 26th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Yum. That food looks delicious. Now, I just finished some Easter leftovers, and now I’m hungry once again — thanks to you, of course!
As for food shopping? Mom works in a grocery store, so obviously, I don’t need to do it.
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March 26th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Doesn’t have to be perfectly horizontal (aligned properly)? How about the moving people? xD
Anyway, I don’t go on weekends, usually weekdays. Weekend I accompany mom go shopping + visit granny. =p
Home boy here, LoL! xD
Check out ingSiang’s last blog post: 24.03.08 - Balancing is So Scary!
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March 26th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Melle: Woah it must be still very cold over there. Although they’ve announced “It’s official spring!”over there, the weather seems to be warming up a little slower this time! I hope we can get to freezing temperatures over here, seriously, the sun is baking us alive! I can’t survive the heat in a room without the air conditioning unit running - I’m actually envious that you get winter over there. When I go to New York next time, I will definitely be visiting the market you’ve mentioned! It sounds like a great idea
Brandy: Hey I’m glad you’re finally feeling better *pats pats*
wow your mom works at a grocery store, how cool is that?! I wish I can work in a corner shop next time - you get to interact with lots of interesting people.
ingSiang: Nope you don’t need the photos to be perfectly aligned before stitching. What you need are photos that have overlapping areas so the software can determine where to do the stitching. I have no freaking idea why this panorama turned out to be so nice because of the moving people… maybe it stitched the areas with static objects together and try blending the moving objects in to prevent any obvious distortion. I go shopping with my mom a lot too - I’m on break now, brother’s at school and dad’s at work, so I’m the one and only person that can go with her, haha.
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March 27th, 2008 at 3:05 am
yea melting pot.. that’s the word
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March 27th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
For me, I am the only one who would go with her, sister and brother is very big already.
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March 27th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Oh, the market is on New York Ave, Washington, D.C.–hours from the cool atmosphere of New York City. But thinking about NYC, I could definitely take a trip up there for a cool and unique shopping trip! So much fun! I would definitely like to go over to this night market too. I’ve never been to Malaysia or even Asia, I only get a sample of it here in the US and I feel like I am being robbed of an exciting cultural experience.
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March 28th, 2008 at 12:15 am
hp84: The word just came into my mind when I read about the New York market Melle was taking about
because NYC is famous for being the world’s biggest melting pot! Heheh.
ingSiang: Oh I see so you’re the youngest. Well too bad for me, I’m the oldest and have to set an example of being a faithful, loving son
ahhh.
Melle: Thanks for the additional info Melle! I actually wanted to visit US a lot
it’s an amazing place! I love the rugged terrain of Texas, adore the neon glows of Las Vegas, crave for the gorgeous scenery of Chicago, envy the citylife of NYC… I wanted to go elsewhere too, I’m feeling of being robbed of an cultural experience as well. When I get enough money for backpackers travel, I think I’ll go to a few countries that I adore most - US, Canada, Australia, Cambodia, Vietnam, South Africa, Spain, Greece… and a whole long list! I guess I could just announce that I wanted to travel the world and get someone to sponsor my trip 
and make headlines, muahaha!
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