Brunei Darussalam: Day 2

Our second day in Brunei was spent walking around the Gadong area, shopping for pasalubong, and a short trip in the Gadong food market. 

Gadong is busier and more crowded than Bandar. It also has more establishments and restaurants. We first dropped by The Mall Gadong for some shopping.

inside The Mall Gadong

The Mall isn't as modern as our malls here in Manila, but you can find almost anything here. 

My first purchase? Two oversized pants for B$35 (Php 1225)! 

But because there's no way I would post an OOTD, I'll post a link instead. I got one in black and another in pink. Medyo similar naman dyan yung itsura ng pants. Not bad eh? :)

I usually buy shirts as pasalubong to my family, and we found Brunei shirts at Utama Grand Mall, which is also located at The Mall. 

Two shirts are around B$16 (Php 560), which is already expensive for my standards. Anyway, we found another souvenir shop across The Mall, but I didn't bother buying anything at this point. However, I must emphasize that this particular store accepts US Dollars and even Philippine Peso. 

A few meters away from The Mall Gadong is the Gadong Public Market, where they have a food market in the afternoon. I'm not sure if the food market's a regular thing there, but my tita noticed that there are more food vendors than usual because of Ramadan. 

I have to admire the vendors, as it takes a lot of restraint to work around food during fasting. To show respect, we weren't allowed to eat what we bought. We had to wait until we get home. 

Apam Balik - Malaysian pancake with crushed peanuts, condensed milk, and raisins

I bought some Chicken Satay at B$ 1 (Php 35) for 4 sticks and a large Apam Balik or Malaysian Peanut Pancake for B$ 2 (Php 70).

My titas also bought some noodles, and of course, Nasi Katok! 

Nasi Katok

Nasi Katok is a Brunei staple dish. From the word Nasi (rice) and Katok (knock), this meal has a piece of chicken, rice, and sambal. It was created way back when a food vendor was already sleepy to serve anything, but people would still knock on his door for food. The usual price for Nasi Katok is B$ 1 (Php 35), and you can find Nasi Katok at almost every corner in Brunei. 

We also dropped by the grocery that day, here are the goodies that I brought home with me:

It was a super tiring day for our group, but I was happy to experience the food market in Brunei. We went back the next day to buy some egg tarts for dinner but most stalls are already closed during the evening. 

B$ 1 = Php 35