Kelantan, the ‘Land of Lightning’
22nd Oct 2010 – 25th Oct 2010. We are supposed to be ‘somewhere’ during these date. However, due to certain circumstances, the plan was not fruitful. After much debate with my husband to where should we spend our energy over the 4 days leave, we decided to visit Kelantan. You might be wondering, why suddenly Kelantan? Well, first and foremost, the last time I’d been to Kelantan was 20 years ago, when I was very young and hardly remembers anything. And for dear hubby, he never set foot in Kota Bharu (he had been to several remote places in Kelantan – for all the adrenaline rush activities but never the town). As said earlier, we ought to be ‘somewhere’ at the first place, where we will be strangers. Since it does not happen that way, visiting a strange and isolated town of Kota Bharu is a likely alternative. And the final reason, despite being remote, Kota Bharu is full of colors as it is bordering with Thailand and things are much kept to the traditional ways. It will definitely be a very good location for photography and some lil’ adventure. (I hope ;D).
So, on 23 Nov 2010, the 454km journey to the cradle of Malay cultures begins. Sitting at the verge of the north-eastern part of Peninsular Malaysia, the journey to Kota Bharu will take 7 driving hours from Kuala Lumpur via the old trunk road of Gua Musang-Jeli (Route 8), cutting through the Pahang state at Raub and Kuala Lipis. There is another route, bypassing the coastline of Kuantan and Terengganu (East-Coast Expressway), however it covers much longer distance.
The 454km journey to Kota Bharu (credit: googlemaps.com)
The lonely Gua Musang old trunk road, running through remote villages, massive oil palm plantations and god knows what else.
The longest strech of Route 8
The dull and boring landscape is drastically change as we approach Gua Musang. One 'explicit' looking rocky formation catches my attention 
Another limestone formation bulging in the middle of nowhere. What a landscape. Unfortunately the harsh sun is not in our favour. By the way, do you see what I saw?
In case you couldn't see, this is what I mean...
Awesome ravines...
At last, Kota Bharu! Heavy traffic upon entering KB. There are a few motorists passes us by cheerfully and waving their state flag so I guess it is football night. I'm not much into sports so please bear with me. (Later: It is indeed football night, Kelantan won against Kedah in the semi-final Malaysia Cup and got through to the final match with Negeri Sembilan).
Populated by 95% Muslims, Islam is the most influential religion in the state and this is clearly reflected on their signboards where the Arab script of ‘Jawi’ is highly used in writings and printings.
Since it is already dawn and we are sorely tired from the strenuous driving, we quickly find a place to settle down. Unfortunately, Saturday in KB is like Sunday in the rest of the world (Kelantan’s weekend falls on Friday and Saturday), and even though it is a remote town, to our surprise most of the low-budget and decent hotels are fully occupied. We finally managed to get a room at the seasoned Temenggong Hotel that is within our budget, but to later found out that it is not any typical room. It is a suite! (I love this town! But don’t expect too much, it is a budget and ‘seasoned’ hotel, remember?)
Our budget 'suite'
After refreshing ourselves, we went for a quick dinner and got back to the hotel to recharge. KB by the way, is a dead town at night as most shops close at 6.00pm and being a purely Islamic town, night life here simply means mosque activities.
Kota Bharu at dawn. This view is captured from our hotel room.
>> End of Day 1.
this is the way a blog should be! thanks!
I love your photos, but your ‘faith’ ala the shymkent declaration is stunted and class-bound, promotes rebellion, ultimately a closed eye.
Thanks Janet for your comment
. I quite agree with you, some of the declaration are a bit exaggerated and foolish. Well I don’t intend to follow all of it, but at least the more realistic one are the fundamentals that I apply when seeing for things. It’s kinda an approch to see ‘out of the box’ instead of looking from the same angle as other tourists. Yeah, I’m still not good at it, but I’m working it out.
For your comfort, I still prefer staying at a decent, comfortable hotel and scrumptios meal rather than embraces hunger and hallucinations and shit hotels. I don’t scorn daredevil that have courage to enter Afghanistan, I think they are awesome (my mentor is one of them). Thus I believe, the last declaration is totally me. Cherio!
you are Just a simple person trying to live the dream. and i am a nowhere person suddenly crushed to your planet ( wrong click actually ) and read this lovely every words written. btw, the house in the picture is exactly the same house i dreamed last night. btw too, thanks for staying at TH. am the owner. and FYI, its not the dead town actually. its night of football. Kelantanese will be nowhere but Stadium , Restaurant and Coffee shop..
p.s ; do not be scared my presence here because i am here completely not in the league but accidentally crushing here as i mentioned before ” false click ” sorry.
-adrian.
Hi Adrian, welcome to my blog. No need appologizing, really. As a matter of fact, I love crash visitors!
Thanks for the hospitality while I was in KB. Sorry for the misinterpretation of the town, it was just my observation at that point of time. And thanks to Khairul Fahmi Che Mat now I fall in love with
himfootball!Cheers,
Niza
hi .. I’m planing a trip to Kota Bharu this coming Mei. I’m a wheelchair user, anything that you can advice on me. Thanks, will be driving there.
Hi Donald, if you are into history I would suggest all the museums and palaces in central Kota Bharu i.e. Istana Jahar, War Memorial, Bank Kerapu to name a few. For a taste of culture you could visit their Cultural Centre, I heard they have a lot to offer from Wau making, shadow puppet to Mak Yong every now and then. Or the best is to head to their colorful central market (Pasar Siti Khadijah), which mostly run by women. Apart from the typical wet market stuff, you could also find the local delicacies – nasi kerabu, laksam, ayam percik, their sweet ‘kuih’ and fish crackers. Other than that you could also visit the many buddhist temple (pls refer to my blog on Tumpat) or shopping at the duty free complexes in Rantau Panjang and Pengkalan Kubur.