Kg. Simee Wet Market, Perak

Kampung Simee (狮尾/撕美) is a new village located 5 kilometers from Ipoh, built by the British authorities during the colonial days. In the 1950s, British government officials decided to surround the village with an electric wire fence in order to prevent the villagers from communicating with or supplying aid to the communists. According to the old villagers, Simee had only about 10 houses. The population gradually increased following the relocation of people from nearby places such as Kampung Kepayang and Hwa Keow to Kampung Simee. The first public facility in the village was the police station. This was followed by the wet market and Chinese primary school. During the Emergency period in Malaya the village had only one exit gate. The gate was opened early morning around 6.30am and it closed around 6.00pm. In these days most villagers worked as rubber tappers; tin mine workers, and farmers.

The heat bore down on one's neck like it was supposed to during this Spring Festival season. The road sweltered beneath the walking humans, passing trucks, vans, 50 year old cars, bicycles, and push-carts. Along the street lay a mix of vendors, predominantly ethnic Chinese, but some Malay and Indian.

Tucked away in a corner of the Kg. Simee market is a lane dedicated to Indian sellers. Perak somehow has a proliferation of racially segregated markets and hawker centers, which I find intriguing. Presumably mixing non-halal meats and beef/etc. would be a hassle, but what of the non-Muslim segregation?

Look to the left just outside of the market and you are greeted with a glorious heap of what looks to be garbage. There is a garbage bin but it looks like it either has overflown or it is just easier to dump everything onto the road first. Someone comes along and empties another load of coconut remnants onto the pile. Funnily enough, it doesn't smell bad. Yet.

Man pushes wheelbarrow with coconut pieces.

There was a stall selling nuts, "imported from USA" once a year only, to support the Chinese New Year cookie industry. Markedly cheaper than what it would be in KL. I try to picture Jalan Pasar as it would be at night, with less people, no stalls. Quieter. I marvel at how markets bring goods and services, people together.

Looking at the goods sold, a lot of these items, especially the herbs and New Year related fare, are sourced from China. But where from? Who are they? I need to dig deeper and see where exactly more of our produce is from. Often times a perceived language barrier prevents me from venturing further. Sometimes people really don't know and are just selling the goods while a boss or manager sources the products. We'll get there.