Today is our last day in Kota Bharu. Before starting our long journey back home, we headed first to the famous state market, Pasar Siti Khadijah to buy my mom’s home-made spices and some keropok (fish chips). This market is also home to some rare stuff (at least rare in KL). 

Inside Pasar Siti Khadijah. The business in Kelantan is dominated mostly by woman entrepreneurs.

Mak Ciks waiting for customer

While waiting for customer, smoking traditional leaf cigarette (tobacco folded into dried palm leaves) is one of the favourite past time here.

Being the most influential Islamic state in the country, Kelantan really encourage on the use of Islamic currency; dinar and dirham.

I'm not sure whether this would be a good marketing strategy, but somehow the chicken arrangement is a bit daunting; as if they are criminals that have been sentenced of death penalty.

Aha, if you must know, this is how tamarind fruit looks like. Don't underestimate, even though it looks like nothing but a fresh cat poops, it has this sweet and tingling sour tastes; thus making it one of the main ingredient in most malay and thai dishes.

Velvet Tamarinds (Buah Keranji) which is eminently described in traditional malay poem.

Well no, these are not dented ping pong balls. These are turtle eggs.

We then went to the second floor to see what's more of it. To our finding, second floor is chock-full of colourful local tidbits and whats not.

  

Raw 'keropok' or fish chips; our must buy if visiting the east coast.

Our final contestant of the day. 'Serunding' or meat floss is one of my favourite. It's simple and can be eaten just with anything, marvelous as bread fillings. It looks simple, but the cooking process is really tedious.

 

>> To be continued… 

Second day in Kota Bharu astonished us even more as we are having our breakfast at the White House. No kidding! In case you didn’t hear us right, we are having our breakie at the White House Kopitiam! Situated in front of the state mosque along Jalan Sultanah Zainab, this kopitiam (hokkien: coffee shop) is among the oldest and they serve coffee the old style! Recommended is their toast bread serve with home-made ‘kaya’ (Malaysia style jem) and ‘kaw’ (means strong and thick) white coffee. This place is sure famous as it was crowded and you have to queue to get seated. Sorry, no decent photos as camera are disallowed in the premise. Breakfast never feels so much presidential like this before!

We then make a move towards the duty free zone of Pengkalan Kubur, in the district of Tumpat. En route to Pengkalan Kubur, we arrived at Chabang Empat, a small town 25km from Kota Bharu. Chabang Empat means crossroads, and the place is simply that. The Kelantanese are very practical in naming their villages, being a simple village folk. From our observations, most places in Kelantan are usually named over everyday objects that perhaps associated with the history or the establishment of the place. I  couldn’t help myself from noticing signboards with striking names; sometimes a little too morbid. For instance we are bypassing a village called ‘Talak’ which means divorce in Malay, and ‘Bunohan’ which means killing. Even the Pengkalan Kubur direct translation means ‘Grave Base’. But one thing for sure, one signboard really makes me feel welcomed and homely. And I didn’t find it anywhere else in Malaysia except in Tumpat, Kelantan.

Signboard bearing my name! Unfortunately I was too lazy to find out where or what it is heading to.

Chabang Empat

What’s interesting about Chabang Empat is that, each intersections lead to an enormous Buddha constructed in various positions. The first intersection to the left will lead you to a sleeping Buddha, while the straight route towards Pengkalan Kubur is heading for the sitting Buddha. You could find the standing Buddha by taking the right intersection. This is due to the fact that Tumpat is mostly occupied by the Siamese, being in proximity to the Narathiwat Province of Thailand. Startlingly, in the mostly predominant Muslim state you could find a lot of temples and wats of such sizes, and this really shows that Islam really promotes religion and culture tolerance and such teachings are reflected in their way of life.

The reclining Buddha at Wat Photivihan. The Buddha statue is believed to be about forty meters long and claimed as the longest statue of a sleeping Buddha in South East Asia.

More gigantic Buddha in various meditating positions

A shringe within the vicinity of the Wat with Thai's architectural influence

The sun is so harsh we decided to seek refuge at a nearby stall and enjoy the refreshing coconut drinks.

The biggest sitting buddha of South East Asia could be found at Wat Machimmaram. The 30-metre-high, 47-metre-wide statue of Buddha is sitting cross-legged on top of the shringe.

  

 

And finally, the standing Guan Yin. This 36-metre tall statue located at Wat Phithikyan Phutthaktham in Kampung Balai, Tumpat.

 

 

We continue our journey to Pengkalan Balak for some shopping, being well-known as the duty-free zone. Unfortunately, I didn’t help much in boosting the economy here as nothing really catches my eyes. Most of the selling items are ‘pasar malam’ standards that are easily acquired in Kuala Lumpur plus the prices are not that cheap. There is in fact another duty-free zone in Kelantan which is at Rantau Panjang, some 25km from Pengkalan Balak; however being frustrated with the quality of the selling stuffs at Pengkalan Balak, we ditch the idea.

On the way to Pengkalan Kubur. Being in close proximity to the border, police post is a common sight here. The tight security is to ensure control over the high rate of smuggling activities.

 

Pengkalan Kubur Duty-Free Complex

 

 

 

By a few meters, we would be in another country already.

Very much later. We are having our dinner by the sea at Pantai Cahaya Bulan (Moonlight Beach). Enjoying hot Thai-style dishes while listening to the lapping of the waves and the gentle murmur of sea breeze is heavenly. The above image shows how the beach earned its name (again, this proves our theory that Kelantanese are very practical people).

 

 

End of Day 2.

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.