Being true Indian shoppers, the first thing my niece and I did after checking into the magnificent Pacific Sutera Resort was google the nearest shopping malls. Imago sprang to the fore and so off we went. A stone throw away (at least for people like Ashish Nehra), it’s a 5-minute cab ride. Although not a huge mall, the Imago has all the stores you would like to shop at.
We wandered into the Ground Floor of the Mall which was wonderfully decorated for Christmas already! With carols in the background, it made for a great shopping experience. Kaison beckoned and in we went! My niece, who’s getting married in January went crazy with the very realistic looking artificial flowers on display. From roses to lilies to daffodils and ferns – they had it all. She now has the necessary flowers to make a beautiful wedding bouquet.
On to DIY store next. This do it yourself store had some great stuff. We picked up sprays to clean your computers with, spotlights, tap lights, ribbons and packing paper. We hardly had time to look around but I think you can easily spend 2-3 hours just looking and discovering some interesting things.
Padini store is good to go into if you have the time to browse around and find outfits you like. Very reasonable and mostly for the younger generation. H&M is there with its standard fare. Trousers and tops are good to buy here. Terranova and Giordano also have stores with good offers.
Then we looked around and found my two favourite stores – Victoria’s Secret and Bath and Body Works. They had a Buy 2 get 1 free offer so we splurged. We got roll-on perfumes and lip gloss, shower gels and lotions, body sprays and hand sanitisers! It was so much fun just trying them on and we came out smelling so good!
The Oceanus Mall has some good stores but I found the Imago better. However, Body Shop had a 70% off sale in Oceanus which was great. For those of you who are fans, they had some great offers on night cream and moisturisers. The basement has a small market which had some awesome prices on regular beauty care – shampoos and the like. They had some unusual flavours in Maggi noodles – Laksa, Tom Yum.
On our way back from the Sabah Tea Gardens we stopped at a local souvenir market. They sold everything from tee shirts emblazoned with Sabah and Borneo lettering to intricately made bead chains and bracelets. You get some amazing coin purses and tote bags which are good to give away as presents as well.
The Filipino open market was quite the experience. With fish stalls and vegetables and fruits being sold, it was a riot of smells and colours. Some of their local specialities are sold there. Peanut biscuits, crispy little chips coated with sugar syrup, yummy coconut water flavoured with ginger and other spices, TehTerak and a host of other edible things! The fruit looked so inviting – big huge guavas, red apples, kiwis, bananas. We shopped for bracelets and chains to give away as gifts.
Other malls you must visit are the Suria Sabah, 1Borneo Hypermall, Pacific City etc. They all have basically the same stores but the layouts are very different. So depending on where you stay, find the closest mall and go be a shopaholic!
Great