Pasar kutu??? Yes, pasar kutu, or....as I have literally translated from English......flea market.
Well, actually, a flea market is called pasar lambak in Malay (at least, I think so), but I really think it's more fun to call it pasar kutu, as in, a market of fleas. hahahaha!!!
Anyway.....yesterday, hubby and I popped by the flea market at Amcorp Mall. The flea market operates from 10am to 6pm, Saturdays & Sundays. A table rental is RM30 on Saturdays, and RM50 on Sundays.
Although the flea market has been around for years, this is only our second visit there. Most of the vendors are retired people selling antiques, stamp collections, old black & white photos, collectibles like coal irons, records, record players and even magazines dating from 1960. And some items that are so antique that I couldn't quite figure out what.
There was a table that sold homemade soaps, which the vendor claimed he made them himself. Now, that really got me interested, as I love homemade soaps made from natural ingredients.
But at the same time, I was puzzled, as from what I understood, lye, a basic ingredient in soaps, is not available to the individual. Only large organisations like Palmolive could buy it as lye falls under the poison or hazardous category. So, how did the vendor make his soap? Did he import lye from Indonesia?
His answer was no. In fact, he had never heard of lye, even after I spelled it out for him. He said he did not use lye, and does not know what lye is. So, how? To satisfy my curiosity, we bought a scrub bar that he claims is what people use to make their skin fair. Hubby wanted to look as fair as me, so he was sold immediately. :))
This is the soap we bought. It's RM5, and the vendor said it could last 3 weeks, used on a daily basis. The ingredients are: curcuma aromatica extract, rhinacantus nasutus extract, palm kenelate, perfume (essential oil), glycerin & water. Hmmm.......no lye. The ingredients don't mean a thing to me. Hope my cousin, the soap-making expert, could help me understand the ingredients better.
I also bought a pot of plant for my mum. Blackie my cat & master had chewed my mum's precious plant until it is all gone, and my mum had been moaning the fact that it's not available anywhere in KL, not even in the nurseries in Sungai Buloh. She was beginning to think she would have to make a trip to Penang to procure this plant.
It costs only RM5, and the vendor said he grew it himself in his own garden. It is an indoor plant and must not come into contact with sunlight. Hope Blackie will leave this plant alone. So far, he hasn't noticed it yet. :))
