Places from one’s childhood dreams

I woke early to take the public transport (shared minivan taxi) to Kota Belud for its famous Sunday market.  It’s the stuff that childhood dreams are made of, influenced by those tourism posters eg. Bajau horsemen, markets selling jungle produce, water buffaloes being traded … all against the backdrop of SE Asia’s highest peak, Mount Kinabalu.

It wasn’t the best start as there weren’t enough passengers to fill up the van.  After much waiting, we were only one seat short of full … so an English couple paid for an extra seat so we could get going.  The one hour journey took us to Kota Belud where the market or tamu was only a short walk away.

I was so disappointed … I forget that it’s been 30 years since those posters that inspired me to come here.  It was a very normal market of permanent sheds plus large parasols … selling yummy food, clothes, daily stuff and produce.  No Bajau horsemen, no water buffaloes.

I spent the afternoon and evening with my old schoolfriend David who advised me that the market in Kota Kinabalu itself is much better.  I should have visited Kota Belud 30 years earlier … but never mind, I’ve seen some pretty amazing markets in my lifetime but the one that’s closest to my childhood vision of Kota Belud would have to be the water buffalo market in Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia.