Kota Bharu - Day 2

We woke early at 7am and headed over to Kopitiam Kita, a Chinese family generation café, for breakfast. It was sure a culture shock for my children and me when we discovered that we’re having rice for breakfast at 7.30am. How could anyone be eating heavy rice with different dishes in the morning? We were told that the locals are accustomed to this as having breakfast in the morning gives them more energy to do laborious work just like their ancestors did before them.

My daughter and I had teh tarik and milo, chicken curry puff, nasi lemak, toast bread and fried kuew teow while Hub and my son had hot tea, half boiled eggs and Nasi Ayam Kari Hijau. An absolute feast!  

We left the city center and travelled north to Rantau Panjang Duty Free Zone which is located about 45 minutes from Kota Bharu, near the Thailand-Malayisa border just across the Sungai Golok. Sungai Golok Town is the town at the Thai side of the river. The residents of both towns used to cross the border without restriction, without any travel document. But the border crossing is now strict, a border pass or international passport is required. 

On our way, we saw a car/lorry accident. We just drove past. Hope that no one got seriously injured.  

This is a good place to buy wares, shoes, food stuff and cheap clothing. I bought a set of Corelle dinnerware and football jerseys for my brothers. Hub and my son also bought a few jerseys. 

 We also noticed plenty of this vespa scooter parked everywhere.  

It’s not air-conditioned and the afternoon heat was becoming unbearable so we left the Duty Free Zone and made our way to the Beijing Mosque or the Sultan Ismail Petra Silver Jubilee Mosque. If you are travelling from Rantau Panjang to Kota Bharu, the mosque is on your left. Locally known as the Beijing Mosque, it has a unique design that combines Chinese and Islamic architecture. Many might have mistaken it as a temple.

 We left the mosque and drove to Kota Bharu for lunch at Hayaki Restaurant. When we’re in KL we used to go to Hayaki, a restaurant specialise in Kelantanese cuisine at Uptown Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya as both Hub and my son love their Nasi Ayam Berempah. I ordered Nasi Dagang, a choice of either chicken or the usual local tuna curry was offered and I chose tuna since I don’t really like chicken. Hub and my son ordered their fav Nasi Ayam Berempah while my daughter went for the chicken chop. Overall, the food was not as good as the ones serves at their Uptown Damansara Utama restaurant. Service was so-so.  

After lunch we decided to visit the Kelantan State Museum. Exhibits seem to be quite limited. Fee is RM10 per entry. 

Then we decided to visit the Istana Jahar. Before that, we also visited the Tourist Information Centre which is just next door. We asked for a brochure and mentioned that we were going to the Istana Jahar after that. On arriving there (at about 5.05pm, we found that it was already ‘closed’ for the day. We would have expected the Tourist Information Centre to have known!!!

We then drove to Kelantan most famous beach, Pantai Cahaya Bulan (Moonlight Beach) which is formely known as Pantai Cinta Berahi or literally meaning ‘a beach of passionate love’, In Malay, both ‘moonlight beach’ and ‘beach of passionate love’ uses the same acronym – PCB. Locals refer to the beach as ‘PCB’, renowned for its clear blue waters and golden sands. The road to PCB from Kota Bharu zigzags through old fashioned villages. In many of these, there are cottage industries producing local, handmade goods such as batik prints, kites (referred to as ‘wau’), and silver, as well as copper tooled handicrafts.

We left the beach and travelled back to Kota Bharu, retreated from the searing afternoon sun to our air–conditioned hotel room.  Showered and then took a snooze until 8.30pm.

We set out again around 9pm and headed to Kedai Kopi White House at Jalan Sultanah Zainab, for supper. We had hot tea and milo, nasi lemak, nasi tumpang (rice with different layer of dishes consisting an omelette, beef or fish floss, and shrimp or fish local curry, sweet sambal gravy and cucumbers wrapped in a cone shape with banana leaf packed), nasi dagang (literally means "Trading Rice". - rice steamed in coconut milk, fish curry and vegetable pickles) and nasi berlauk ikan (rice served with fish and vegetables cooked with turmeric and galangal infused yellow gravy). Good stuff!! Service was so-so and no photography was allowed. Our bill came up to RM32 for the 4 of us.   

 It had been a great long day and we were so exhausted. Good night Kota Bharu. 

Kota Bharu - Day 1

We finally arrived at noon after a bumpy but enjoyable flight. Hub's friend, Hj Akmal fetched us from the airport and took us straight to Kampung Kraftangan at Jalan Hilir Kota for lunch at the famous Nasi Ulam Cikgu Restaurant. 

This restaurant serves a spread of ulam (raw/blanched vegetables) which you can eat with your rice and various side dishes such as ikan keli goreng berempah, asam pedas ikan patin, ikan patin masak lemak, the ikan singgang, just to name a few.  It was packed with people on their lunch breaks, so we took that to be a good endorsement and we weren’t disappointed. This is basically a help yourself kind of theme and you only get your bill after you've seated down. For those who like budu (fermented fish sauce) and fresh ulam, this is the place to have your lunch. 

   

When we got our bill we were surprised to see the amount which was RM41.90 for the 5 of us because what we ordered was quite a lot.

After lunch, we walked through the Kampung Kraftangan complex which showcased local crafts in a beautiful traditional building and saw this small stall selling homemade coconut ice cream mixed with nuts, chocolate syrup, glutinous rice, bread and sprinkles for RM3 a cup. The ice cream has a slightly salty taste. My children and I struggled to communicate with the vendors, so a lady who was also buying some ice cream helped us ... 

After lunch we went to the hotel to drop our bags and later went to Pasar Besar Siti Khadijah. This market is one of the most photographed places in Kelantan, filled with the overpowering smells of fresh fish, butchered carcasses, vegetables and fruit.  We went upstairs to the 3^rd floor but couldn’t stay long as the old building was not air-conditioned and the afternoon heat was becoming unbearable. Hundreds of Malay women were selling clothing in a myriad of cramped stalls that took up the entire 3rd floor and they didn’t seem to be bothered by the heat at all. My son bought a few souvenirs for his friends and Hub bought me a fridge magnet at the 2^nd floor. Nothing was really standing out, so we went back downstairs where the market smell wasn’t as stringent. 

We left the central market and made our way to Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium which is located in the heart of Kota Bharu town center, on Jalan Mahmood. The newly painted pink and white stadium was built in 1967.  The use of both colours is part of the deal made by Kelantan Football Association and their new sponsor and Honorary Advisor, Datuk Seri Dr. Hasmiza (Dr. Vida) of Qu Puteh. 

It was almost 6pm when we finally arrived at Wakaf Che Yeh, to visit the famous night market located about 7 kilometers out of Kota Bharu to see what it was all about. The night market is open seven days a week and comes alive at night. Here you will find an assortment of local products ranging from fabrics to food. Ladies apparel especially for the Muslim women are seen sold all over the area.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped off at Restoran Orange for refreshments. We ordered Pulut Mangga (Sweet sticky rice with mango). Hub and I had teh tarik(pulled sweet milky tea) while the children had iced milo. 

On the way back to the hotel, we wandered into the KB Mall and stocked up on water and food.

We then headed back to our hotel room to relax before our trip to Rantau Panjang Duty Free Zone tomorrow. We eventually crashed at 11pm.