Road Trip: Serikin

October 22, 2007

Yesterday, being a Sunday and all, my parents and I, along with Fiona went on a roadtrip to Serikin. Serikin is basically located a little over an hour’s drive from Kuching and borders Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Serikin market traders sell are from Indonesia.

I was quite sceptical about this trip in the first place, thinking what possibly could a pasar/market on a border offer me. Boy was I wrong. After looking at pictures and reading about people’s experiences on blogs, I thought it would be quite an interesting place to shop see. I woke up around 6.30am, went to breakfast and arrived at Serikin around 8.30am or so.

They sell TONS of stuff. I was quite surprised to see how long the stretch of road was with stalls selling various kinds of souvenir items such as rottan mat, wood carvings, batik fabrics, handbags, ready-made baju kebaya (Malay traditional costume) and many more.

The first stall I encountered sold….

Handbags….

Lots of handbags…

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Some blogs even say the prices are cheaper than KL’s Petaling Street. Personally I think it’s easier to bargain with these Indonesian sellers than Petaling Street’s notorious sellers. The Indonesians were really really polite and friendly.

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Clothes and fabrics

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Toys

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More clothes and fabrics

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Handcrafts

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Rotan produce

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PERFUME HEAVEN!

The stretch of stalls by the roadside could reach more than 600-700m if I had to guess. Most of these stalls sell imitation perfume and handbags. The craftmenship of the handbags are really good that even I couldn’t tell the difference. Then again I may not know at all that much seeing as I don’t use branded items that often. The LV bags look real to me. Who knows some of those people on the streets of Kuching who are parading around with their LV/Coach bags and Prada/Gucci sunglasses bought their “branded goods” at Serikin.

The perfume was a good steal for me, seeing as I love different kinds of fragances. The perfumes are packaged exactly the same and they smell the same too. Don’t take my word for it though, sellers let you test the perfume. In the end, I bought two bottles! Sellers will give you more discounts when you buy more from them.

And because there’re many stalls selling almost the same items, we, the buyers have a lot of bargaining power. Wuahahahahaha.

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This is a toilet – I am not kidding

I think further up after passing that green sign would be Kalimantan. I didn’t dare venture that far up.

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I had stuff to buy still but it was scorching hot by 11am so we left. I definitely wanna go back again for more bargains.

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VERY VERY satisfied

On the way back we turned into the junction to the Wind Cave so I could capture these pictures.

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Pretty eh? I think so. Hope you guys had a wonderful weekend. I know I did. 😀

One response to “Road Trip: Serikin”

  1. Anonymous says:

    Aiyoh! Tell Lau Ee I will have my shopping list ready for her if someone coming over next time

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