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Published: April 22nd 2014
HE SAID... We woke early at 6am, as we were leaving Perhentian Besar Island at 8am for
Kota Bharu. We headed over to the open breakfast area at 7am and had coffee, juice, cornflakes and chicken–less
nasi lemak(i.e. rice with just the fiery sambal sauce, nuts, fried anchovies and hard boiled eggs). It was an incredibly calm morning, and we just sat at a table on the edge of the beach, sipped our coffee and gazed out over the tranquil bay of Teluk Dalam one last time. The tide was out and the sun was rising. We boarded our small open boat at 8.30am (after waiting for the tide to rise) and then sped across the South China Sea towards Kuala Besut on mainland Malaysia. We arrived at 9am after a bumpy but enjoyable ride, and it was already beginning to heat up. We clambered off the boat with our packs in tow, navigated the tout mayhem and occasional gaping holes in Kuala Besut’s floating jetty and eventually stepped onto dry land.
We made our way off the jetty, found a table on the wharf and sat and relaxed in the warm morning sun while we waited for our minibus.
As I sat and watched the procession of tourists and locals going about their daily routines, I was reminded why I enjoy travelling so much. While cultures, values and ideals may differ, the daily interactions of people around the world remain the same.
We boarded the minibus and set off on our northward journey to Kota Bharu. We arrived at 10am, checked into Flora Place Hotel, dropped our bags and headed out on orientation walk of the city at 11am. The Central Market (Pasar Besar Siti Khadijah) was teaming with life and filled with the pungent smells of fresh fish, butchered carcasses, vegetables and fruit. We walked past the State Mosque (Masjid Muhammadi), Islamic Museum and War Museum before retracing our steps to the Central Market, where we went upstairs and navigated the maze of internal stalls until we found the food court. Nothing was really standing out, so we went back downstairs and had a cold drink at an outside stall where the market smell wasn’t as stringent.
We wandered into the Parkson Giant (Trade Centre), stocked up on water and mosquito repellent, and picked up some rose lollies (the same ones from the wedding pack we
received a few weeks earlier). On our way back to the hotel we stopped off at Restoran Cari Cari Lauk for lunch, a covered outdoor eatery just over the road from where we were staying. We ordered
ayam goreng kunyit (fried chicken with turmeric) and
ayam goreng halia (fried chicken with ginger), and both were fantastic. The dishes came with a very fishy but tasty
sambal belacan (chilli sauce with shrimp paste) and hot chicken stock, which were also fantastic. I had a
teh tarik (pulled sweet milky tea) followed by an iced tea (the afternoon sun was incredibly hot), while Ren had an iced lychee juice. We finished our meal, withdrew some money from a nearby ATM and retreated from the searing afternoon sun to our air–conditioned hotel room.
We set out again for a walk around 2.30pm. We headed back to the Central Market and climbed the decrepit old concrete stairs to the third (top) floor, which offered some great photo opportunities of the ground floor vegetable market. We couldn’t stay long, as the old building wasn’t air–conditioned and the mid–afternoon heat was becoming unbearable. However, the heat was only unbearable to us. Hundreds of Malay women
were selling clothing in a myriad of cramped stalls that took up the entire third floor, and they didn’t seem to be bothered by the heat at all.
We left the Central Market and made our way to the Kampung Kraftangan (Arts Centre), passing the Kota Sultanl smail Petra (erected to commemorate the declaration of Kota Bharu) on the way. Ren picked up a coconut ice cream with sticky rice to cool down before we continued our walk to the Royal Jetty. The Sungui Kelantan (Kelantan River) was brown and not terribly aesthetic to the naked eye. We climbed the Menara Tambatan Diraja (which we think may translate as the royal clock tower), which offered great views of the city and surrounds. The heat was increasing (or at least felt like it was increasing), so we decided to make our way back to the hotel. We walked through the Central Market on our way back and stopped off at the local 7/11 to pick up some cold drinks. Kota Bharu appeared to be a dry city, but we’d been told some of the Chinese restaurants sold beer, so I lived in hope for the night ahead. We arrived back
at the hotel at 4pm and literally fell into the shower. We settled in with tea and biscuits on the bed and caught up on our travel notes.
We headed out to dinner at 7.30pm to Medan Selera Kebun Sultan, a Chinese food court just around the corner from our hotel. This was a similar setup to Red Garden in George Town, where a number of food stalls are arranged around a central eating area, and you simply order your preferred dish and it is delivered to your table. I ordered chicken rice claypot, and it was tasty but not very spicy. Ren ordered green papaya salad and barbeque chicken, but she ended up with green papaya salad and chicken feet spicy salad. She loved it! We ended the meal with a five spice Chinese donut, which was fantastic.
After dinner we walked to the night market (which was quite underwhelming) and then headed back to our hotel room to relax before our six hour bus trip to Kampung Kelantan tomorrow. We selected a few photos for the blog and eventually crashed at 11pm.
SHE SAID... We left the island paradise of Perhentian Besar and
travelled north to
Kota Bharu, more fondly called KB. KB is the capital of Kelantan State, the most conservative of all the Malaysian states. I thought that this would be Malay culture in its purest most undiluted form, with 95% of the population being Malay Muslim. However, it is only one hour from the Thai border, so naturally there was a bit of a Thai influence as well. As with other parts of the country, there were also some Chinese and Indian influences, albeit much less. All the road and shop signs were in both Malay and Arabic, by decree of the local council.
Quite strangely I have always wanted to visit Kota Bharu. I say ‘strangely’ because the story behind it is quite odd. There was a time when flights to most parts of the world from Australia were cheapest with Garuda Airlines and Cathay Pacific, so we always had a mandatory stopover in Denpasar or Hong Kong. That’s where I first heard of Kota Bharu, with multiple flights being called for it. I really liked the sound of the name and have been fascinated with this place ever since.
We breakfasted early at Arwana Resort and
caught the ferry at 8am. By 8:30am we were at the ferry office in Kuala Besat. We used the lovely public toilets I mentioned in the last blog and hopped onto two minibuses for the two hour journey to KB. This drive was the first time we’d been able to witness truly rural villages and small farms, regional towns and a landscape of coconut trees and rice paddies. It was a much improved view on the vast palm oil plantations we normally saw on travel days.
We arrived in KB and dropped our bags off in the world’s smallest hotel room at the Flora Place Hotel. It was so small that we had to coordinate our movements around the room as we couldn’t both walk around the room at the same time. And I could hang my feet off the bed and into the bathroom. We were only there for one night, so it was bearable.
We gathered in teh lobby at 11am for an orientation walk of the areas around the town centre and the museum district. The Central Market (Pasar Siti Khadijah) is a beautiful market in the central courtyard of a circular art deco building.
The ground floor had the lovely produce sections and the butchery sections with gruesome cuts of meat and freshly slaughtered chickens; while the upper levels had spices, food items, fabrics and household goods. We loved this building and its gritty market so much that we went back three times. It was a fascinating space and I loved walking around the maze of shops, looking into the stalls with silversmiths showing off their craftsmanship and rows upon rows of batik fabric and clothing on display. Like in Kuala Terengganu, traditional
kain songket (fabric with gold or silver thread) is very popular here.
We also walked past the National Mosque and the beautiful buildings in the museum quarter, but with only one day here, we preferred to spend time walking around and getting to know the local street culture. We visited the Giant Supermarket in the Trade Centre to stock up on water, wet wipes and insect repellent. I also found the rose lollies that I’d been craving since I first tasted them in the goodie pack we received at the wedding we gate–crashed in Kampung Kelantan (when staying at the Suka Suka Retreat). Happiness!
We were very tempted to
eat at the Central Market, however we weren’t really sure what we felt like. We ended up having
nasi ayam goreng kunyit (chicken fried with turmeric) and
ayam goreng halia (chicken fried with ginger) at Restoran Kari Kari Lauk just across the road from our hotel. It was packed with people on their lunch breaks, so we took that to be a good endorsement and we weren’t disappointed. This was the first time on our travels in Malaysia that I was very conscious I was the only female who didn’t have a head scarf on. I wasn’t uncomfortable in the least, but it was an awareness nonetheless.
I was very impressed with the friendliness of the people here. Even though KB is a large city, it had the feel and accessibility of a small town. I had absolutely no expectations of this place, and I was pleasantly surprised. We did a bit more walking after lunch – we walked back through the Central Market and ended up at the Royal Jetty and Royal Clock Tower. The Royal Clock Tower was an odd little building, which we climbed to get a view of the muddy Kelantan River and the town
centre (with it’s extremely mixed bag of architectural styles).
We also walked through the Kampung Kraftangan complex, which showcased local crafts in a beautiful traditional building. I bought some coconut ice cream from a small stall, whose sign claimed that it was a traditional dessert. We struggled to communicate with the vendors, so three young girls who were also buying some ice cream helped us. I went for the plain version of the dessert, which was a scoop of sweet and salty sticky rice, a scoop of coconut ice cream and then sweetened evaporated milk poured on top. I opted out of the ‘special’ toppings of fresh corn, cubes of fresh bread and chopped peanuts. I’m not convinced of the sticky rice and ice cream combination, but I think I’ll have to try it again before I make a final decision.
We had a group dinner at Medan Selera Kebun Sultan, a local food court. Andrew ordered a claypot chicken rice, while I ordered a
som tam (green papaya salad) and a spicy chicken feet salad! I have to confess that I didn’t intend to order the chicken feet salad, but in trying to order the grilled chicken
wings, I clearly miss–communicated my wishes to the old guy at the stall. The chicken feet were more about texture than taste, and even though I liked it, I could only finish half of it. All through our Malaysian trip we’ve asked for spicy food and managed to cope with the level of chilli. But being so near the Thai border, the level of spiciness was quite a bit higher here, and I struggled a bit with chilli in the
som tam.
After dinner we bought some delicious Chinese doughnuts with five spice, and then walked to the night market near our hotel. The night market was far from being anything special – just a bunch of straggly stalls selling rip off brand clothing. It was also annoying that cars were allowed through the narrow market path, even though the stalls were on the street. I’m not sure I’d make a return journey to Kota Bharu, but I really enjoyed our short stay there.
Next, we head back to the state of Perak and visit our beloved lakeside homestay in the small village of Kampung Kelantan again!
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El Eterno Caminante
Greg
Market!!
Love the market pictures! Every country I go to I ALWAYS make some stops at the outdoor markets! So lively..and of course I love food lol!! Happy travels guys!