Street Market Fair & the Cowboys
Kota Belud is a town well publicised for its once a year Grand Tamu (Street Market Fair), where farmers & fishermen gather to flog their produce & commodities in the big annual event. On the three event-packed days you can also catch a glimpse of the Cowboys of the East riding astride on their horses in elegant pose adorning their opulent traditional costumes. The cowboys are of course referred to the Bajau, an ethnic population well established in the area. The ethnic Kadazandusun tribes will also participate in this colorful event.
The event is “usually” held in the month of October. Traffic jams will be your main concern on the big days. Actually, come to think of it, Kota Belud is gridlocked with traffic anytime I am there.
Incidentally, the mosque in Kota Belud is well worth a visit with its Arabique (Arabic then, if you insist) flavour and a pose in front of the mosque should go without saying.
Kota Belud is situated in the West Coast Division of Sabah. The routes you take to the place offer breathtaking panoramic views, especially if you take the road that runs in parallel with the River Kadamaan (refer to my post on River Kadamaan). On this route you may catch the sight of the Majestic Mount Kinabalu on a clear blue day. The view is gorgeous & awe-inspiring- that is, if you are lucky. The picture below represents a replica of the traditional Kadazandusun houses common in that place.
Traditional House of Kota Belud
This is the last of the series of traditional indigenous houses of Sabah. There are of course other traditional houses of other indigenous people- varies from 30 to 50, depends on how you look ai it- in Sabah. I shall leave that to the future series.
Next, I shall show you the truly traditional houses of Sabah in modern days.
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