Kota Bharu - Day 3

We woke quite late at 8am. We had a half an hour trip to Pengkalan Kubor, so we jumped into an invigorating cold shower, packed our bags and headed over to breakfast at 8.30am. It’s at Kopitiam Kita again. We had hot tea and milo, nasi ayam gulai Kak Wok, nasi lemak, chicken curry puff and nasi dagang with chicken curry.  

  

We left Kota Bharu at around 10am in Mr. Nazaruddin’s (Hub’s friend) Mercedes Benz and arrived in Tumpat at 10.30am. There are also Buddhist temples in Tumpat.

Pengkalan Kubor is located at Golok River estuary and bordered with Tak Bai of Thailand. There is no bridge joining Tak Bai and Pengkalan Kubor. The residents of both border towns cross the river by boat or Ferry. 

Tak Bai Town

It is another duty free zone and popular for electronic goods, kitchen wares and clothes. Apart from clothing, a wide range of foods are also available at Pengkalan Kubor Duty Free Zone. We bought a Muay Thai shorts for Ben, my nephew, a teapot set and brass betel set. My children stocked up on water and chocolates.

On the way back to Kota Bharu, we stopped off at Kampung Laut, Tumpat to buy etak or etok and got to taste it the way the Kelantanese has been enjoying it for generations. According to Mr. Nazaruddin, etok is a freshwater clam which lives at the bottom of rivers and canals. Mostly found in the shallows and sandy parts of the river and only in fresh waters as it is very sensitive to the quality of the water. Mainly eaten as appetizer to go with rice especially nasi kerabu. We were told that the etak at Kampung Laut are special as they are roasted in the hot sun after marinating it in a paste made of salt, blended with lemon grass, shallots, ginger and garlic. This way will ensure that the flesh will be succulent enough. The marinating process takes at least an hour. Before marinating it, the etak must be washed clean and soaked in clean water. The soaking will make the etak purge all sand particles and mud within itself which may make it feel gritty when eating it if it is not totally purged. Soaking it over a minimum of 3 hours is necessary and overnight will be best. Mr. Nazaruddin even taught us how to open the etak with our teeth. Another friend of Hub, Hj Akmal, taught us to open it with the sharp edge of the shell, use it the same way as a knife.  

Mr. Nazaruddin then took us to Warung Pak Mat Pulau Pisang which is located at the Medan Ikan Bakar Kedai Buloh spot near Pantai Cahaya Bulan for lunch.  This place is famous for its teh tarik madu (honey milk tea) and fish head soup. Pak Mat uses madu (honey) for natural sweetness to the teh tarik drink instead of condensed or evaporated milk. This results in the drink being so bubbly that it overflows over the glass. Worth a try. Have it together with their signature dish which is steamed fish head served in beef stock. Match made in heaven. Sounds a bit weird but the taste is beyond imagination. The fish head was so fresh, flesh was really sweet, soup was done perfectly and a bit lemony tastes with a hint of chilly...Heavenly..!! Apart from the teh tarik madu, Mr. Naza also ordered daging korban goreng kunyit and omelette with white rice. Overall the soup and all the dishes were really good. No disappointment. Best in the world! 

On the way back to Kota Bharu, we stopped off at Kampong Kedai Buloh (Che Faridah Che Ahmad Tok She) to buy some raw and freshly made fish crackers to bring home.

We then made a stop at Che Minah Songket, at Kampong Penambang. Cik Minah Songket is a renowned songket and weaving company in Kelantan that has been around since the 1930s. They sell songket in various designs, batik and local handicrafts.  You can also see how the intricate songket design was made at the ground floor. The age old songket weaving technique has been passed down for many generations.  A fine silk songket with unique design can easily reach up to Rm2000 in price. 

Mr. Nazaruddin dropped us at the hotel and we then rushed to Istana Jahar before they closed for the day. It is a royal residence. It was built in 1855 by Sultan Muhammad II of Kelantan for his grandson Long Kundur. The palace has a pentagon-shaped and it is currently houses the Museum of Royal Traditions and Customs of Kelantan.

Then off to Bank Kerapu at Jalan Pejabat Pos Lama.  This building was built by Mercantile Bank in 1912. In 1941, Japanese troop landed near Kota Bahru. During the occupation, Bank Kerapu was used by the Japanese as their police station for war coordination. Upon the fall of Japan and the return of British, Bank Kerapu continued to function as bank until 1992 when it was turn into a war memorial by the Kelantan Museum Corporation. It houses more than 1,000 exhibits relating to the war and a mixture of Japanese tool used during the occupation, including Japanese bicycle, photographs, articles and artifacts.

It had been a long day, so we made our way to the hotel and cooled down with a cold shower.  We were so tired so we had to decline Mr. Nazaruddin’s invitation for dinner at Yati Ayam Percik but he was so generous to buy for us Yati’s signature dish which is Ayam Percik (grill chicken with special coconut gravy) and ikan percik (grill fish) for dinner. Then at around 9.30pm Hub and my son then went to Kedai Kopi White House to buy rice to eat with the scrumptious ayam and ikan percik.

Full and exhausted, we finally climbed into bed and crashed.