Malaysia is famous for its shopping.
Mega sales are the main tourist's
attractions which are there round the
year. Normally the sales are held 3
times a year that is in march, august
and December. Mind blowing discounts are
offered in these sales.
Malaysia is famous for its international
class shopping complexes.Its main
attractions are ultra modern
air-conditioned shopping malls which
have side-walk stalls, bazaars and don't
forget it's night markets that are also
called 'pasar malam'.
۞ Places to visit such as
shopping malls & plaza.
۞ Angsana
johor bahru, kuantan parade and alor
star parade.
۞ Bintang
walk- it consists of many shopping
and commercial complexes. Hundreds of
steps at lot 10, sungei wang plaza,
tauihu, BB plaza and Kuala Lumpur plaza.
۞
Langkawi plenty to buy and duty free
heaven.
۞ Jalan
ampang / Jalan Tun Razak- it
contains many international as well as
local brands in the
complexes like suria shopping plaza and
city square.
۞ Night
markets(palau malam)- they begins
their attractions by late afternoon
Southeast
Asia offers real shopping bargains, with
electrical equipment, cameras, clothes,
fabrics, tapes and CDs all selling at
competitive prices. What’s more, the
region’s ethnic diversity means you’ll
be spoilt for choice when it comes to
souvernirs and handicrafts.
Unless you’re in a department store,
prices are negotiable, so be prepared to
haggle. If you’re planning to buy
something pricely-a camera, say, or a
stereo-It’s a good idea to pay a visit
to a fixed –price store and arm yourself
with the correct retaial price; this way
you’ll know if you’re being ripped off.
Asking for the “best price” is always a
good start to negotiations; from there,
it’s a question of technique, but be
realistic – shopkeepers will soon lose
interest if you offer an unreasonably
low price. Moving towards the door of
the shop often pays dividends- it’s
surprising how often you’ll be called
back. If you do buy any electrical
goods, make sure you get an
international guarantee, and that it is
endorsed by the shop.
Throughout the Guide, good buys and
bargains are picked out and there are
features on the best things to buy in
specific regions. Malaysian pastimes
throw up some interesting purchases:
wayang kulit (shadow play) puppets,
portraying characters from Hindu legend,
are attractive and light to carry;
equally colourful but completely
impractical if you have to carry them
around are the Malaysian kites, which
can be several metres long. There’s a
round-up below of the other main
souvernir items you might want to bring
back.
In East Malaysia, the craft shops of
Kota Kinabalu in Sabah have a wide
variety of ethnic handicraft native to
the state. Most colourful of these are
the tudong duang, a multicoloured food
cover that looks more like a concal hat,
and the painstakingly elaborate, beaded
necklaces of the Runggus tribe. Also
available are the bamboo, rattan and
bark haversacks that locals use in the
fields. For more unusual mementoes, look
out for the sumpitan, a type of
blowpipe, or the sompoton, a musical
instrument consisting of eight bamboo
pipes inserted into a gourd, which sound
like a harmonica. Kota Kinabalu’s stalls
and markets also sell Indonesian and
Fillipino products, some of which are
worth a look, such as mats and wooden
sculpture of animals and birds.
Sarawak’s peoples also produce a wide
range of handicrafts using raw materials
from the forest, with designs that are
inspired by animist beliefs. In
longhouses, you may see blowpipes and
tools being made. If you travel deep
into the forested interior you might get
a chance to meet the semi-nomadic Penan
peoples, who are experts at firing metal
and making parangs (long Knives).
Kuching is also renowned for its
pottery; ceramic vases and bowls
designed with lban and Bidayuh native
designs. If you travel a few miles out
of town you can visit the pottery
factories where craftsmen use
traditional methods. Kuching is the best
place in Sarawak to buy just about
anything, especially tribal textiles,
pottery, Iban pua kumbu (hand-woven
rugs), lovely rattam mats of various
sizes, and other handicrafts, although
prices are higher than in other towns
and longhouses. If you’re offered a
locally made item that you like in a
longhouse snap it up, don’t wait for
Kuching. Most of the handicraft and
antique shops in Kuching are along Main
Bazaar, Jalan Temple and Jalan Wayang.
Kuching is well known especially for its
locally produced Chinese pottery, whose
decoration bears local Dyak influences.
There are some ceramics stalls on the
road to the airport, but it’s better to
visit the potteries themselves, where
you can walk around and watch the
potters in action at the wheel and
firing kilns; each pottery also has a
shop on site. They’re clustered together
on Jalan Penrissen, 8km from town – take
Sarawak Transport Company bus from Lebuh
Jawa.
Fabrics
The art of producing batik cloth
originated in Indonesia, but today batik
is available across Southeast Asia and
supports a thriving industry in
Malaysia. Batik is used to create
shirts, skirts, bags and hats, as well
as traditional sarongs. Clothes.In some
of the Malaysian east-coast towns,
little cottage industries have sprung up
enabling tourists to make their own
batik.
The exquisite style of fabric known as
songket is a big step up in price from
batik; made by hand-weaving gold and
silver thread into plain cloth, songket
is used to make sarongs, headscarves and
the like.
The other thing you’ll be able
to buy in Indian enclaves everywhere is
primary-coloured skil sarees – look in
Little India in Singapore and the Chow
Kit and Lebuh India enclave in Kuala
Lumpur for the best bargains.
Unique to Sarawak is pua kumbu (in Iban,
“blanket”), a textile whose complex
designs are created using the ikat
method of weaving. The cloth is best
picked up in the bazaar towns or
longhouses along the state’s many
rivers.
Metalwork and Woodcarving
Of the wealth of metalwork on offer,
silverware from Kelantan is among the
finest and most intricately designed;
it’s commonly used to make earrings,
brooches and pendants, as well as more
substantial pieces. Selangor staye is
renowned for its pewter – a refined
blend of tin, antimony and copper which
makes elegant vases, tankards and
ornaments. Prices for pewter are fixed
throughout Malaysia.
Over in Brunei, the specially is
brassware – cannons, kettles (called
kiri) and gongs decorated with elaborate
Islamic motifs. Brunei brassware,
however, is substantially more expensive
than similar sized Malaysian pewter
articles.
Natural resources from the forest have
traditonally been put to good use, with
rattan, cane, wicker and bamboo used to
make baskets, bird cages, mats, hats and
shoulder bags. Woodcarving skills, once
employed to decorate the palaces and
public buildings of the early sultans,
are today used to make less exotic
articles such as mirror frames. However,
it’s still possible to see one of the
dynamic statues created by the Orang
Asli tribes at cultural shows and
festivals in Kuala Lumpur and Kuantan.
As animists, Orang Asli artists draw
upon the natural world – animals, trees,
fish, as well as more absrtract elements
like fire and water – for their imagery.
Of particular interest are the carvings
of the Mah Meri of Selangor, which are
improvisations on the theme of moyang,
literally “ancestor”, which is the
generic name for all spirit images.
Dozens of moyang, each representing a
different spirit, are incorporated into
the Meri’s beliefs and inspire the
wooden-face sculptures which they carve.
Look out too, for the exquisite
woodcarving made by Sarawak’s indigenous
tribespeoples, much of it representing
slender rice-gods; you’ll find this work
sold along Kuching’s waterfront.
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