THE DONGGONGON TAMU

The Donggongon Tamu could be the best tamu this part of Sabah.

The Tamu is held every week for two days and two hours. It starts from 4 o'clock in the afternoon of Wednesday through Thursday to Friday.

The best time to do your shopping for fresh vegetables, local fruits, fresh water fish, fresh chicken and local native condiments is on Thursday.

Ginger

Fresh vegetables of all kinds are these for you to choose. Large tubers such as sweet potatoes and yams are available aplenty. Most of these are from Tambunan. The fat gingers are from there, too. Pineapples, mostly from Babagon, are there waiting for your taste buds. Babagon pineapples are the sweetest in Sabah! You will never regret buying one or two. Never mind the price. Try one!


Go early on Thursday in order to get a parking space more easily. If not, you will have to go round Donggongon several times. You may get a space if you are lucky enough. Avoid double-parking and never triple-park. You may get fined if there is a policeman on duty. This is money you can better use to pay for your shopping.

Soursops

If you go on Wednesday, you have limited time before it gets dark. And if you go on Friday, the best items will have already gone. You may get some bargains but the vegetables that are left would be somewhat withered and the fruits are the "leftovers" of other tamu goers. So, go on Thursday if you don't want to get disappointed.

If you are interested, and you are from outside Penampang, bring your videocam to record the beating of the 'brass' gongs and the bambo gongs. But if you are late, the players would already have gone before you come.

By the way, there are also dry foodstuff on sale at the Donggongon Tamu such as salted fish, dried prawns and anchovies. Anyway, you may want to avoid these if you have a medical conditions that do not allow you consuming any of these foodstuffs.

There are also flowers, ferns and decorative plants on sale at the Tamu. You may be fortunate enough to find something you have been looking for a long time for your house. So, go!

Local herbalists are not to be outdone. I know one of them, a Mr. Joimis from Sugud. He has a lot of items for sale from Thursday to Friday. He also sells tree barks called "osok" used to convert the coconut tree sap into an alcoholic drink. You may know this as "toddy" or "bahar"which is "baa" in Kadazan. I have not seen any toddy on sale there. Perhaps, the Penampang District Council does not allow its sale.

The only thing that may irritate you is the way vehicles are parked. These are parked haphazardly. But don't allow this to disturb you. This is the way many motorists park during tamu time.

Enjoy your "tamuing"! And may you get the best items.