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From Kelantan With Love (Sept 2003)
It was to be our maiden journey to Kelantan via air or any form of transportation for that matter, period. None of us had a single clue about this intriguing state located at the East Coast of Malaysia except for bits and pieces collected from the Internet. Of course that was nothing new to the people close to us. We had a reputation of being too spontaneous, sort of a disorganised bunch of travelers.
That was the fun of it though, we thought, to discover everything by ourselves be it about people, food or culture and to make our own mistakes throughout the journey. Therefore, we could learn from our mistakes and use them for guidance in our next adventures so to speaks. (yeah right!)
Sultan Ismail Petra Airport looked cosy enough for a small airport. Feeling slightly disoriented from the nap taken during the short flight, we were anxious to find the cheapest and the nearest hotel in Kota Bahru. Not knowing which hotel to go to, we decided to follow the advice of our very friendly taxi driver and ended up at this shabby little inn. Seriously, it reminded me of the Roald Dahl short story called The Landlady. However, when we checked the guest-book, there were lots and lots of names, thank God! We didn’t want to end up like Billy Weaver in The Landlady. I guess my imagination was working overdrive.
Well, the inn turned out to be our first mistake because for RM75 per night, it wasn’t worth it. You don’t have to worry about hotels in Kelantan actually because there were tons of them scattered throughout the town.
The first thing we did after the check-in was heading towards the famous Siti Khadijah market searching for breakfast. I remember it was a sweltering day and it’s not even afternoon yet. Not knowing where to get a decent breakfast, we decided to give the taxi driver the benefit of the doubt (after the inn incident) and followed his advice which turned out to be our second mistake.
It’s either jetlaggged or we weren’t fully awake yet otherwise we wouldn’t have eaten at the market in the first place. It’s still a mystery to us, the so-called seasoned travelers. No offense to the Kelantanese but the environment, the smell and the interior of the market were in dire need of a make-over. It’s an interesting place to shop though if not for the gigantic mice that we saw running here and there. The mice were so huge that Diy believed it was genetically-engineered.
We then decided to explore the town on foot. A Craft Museum nearby was barely opened but we went inside anyway. Nothing much to shout about though but the architectural wonder of the old palace and war museum nearby were breathtaking.
By mid-afternoon, dog-tired and drowsy, we decided to go back to the inn also on foot. It was a 40-minute walk under the searing sun, an unwise decision but what else could we do! The three of us slept like a log for the rest of the day. Night time saw us scouring the whole night market for a “white tomyam”. Was it just a myth or we just didn’t know where to find it. I would kill my brother if he lied to me about the “white tomyam”, supposedly how the original tomyam should look according to my brother. We couldn’t find one though and ended up lepaking at the only local western food restaurant in town.
Travelling with such a tight budget, we had to count every single cent. Renting a car meant that we had to cut down the rental of our hotel. So, off we went to the Pantai Cahaya Bulan formerly known as a Pantai Cinta Berahi. We dropped our luggage at the cheapest chalet that we could find and made our way to Rantau Panjang.
The journey to Rantau Panjang took us about 45 minutes using the new highway. Picturesque scenery accompanied us throughout the journey. Acres and acres of paddy fields gave us the glimpsed of a simple and peaceful rural life. We were so hungry when we arrived at the heart of Rantau Panjang town. There was this restaurant that struck me as authentic and it was there that we had our lunch. Nope, no “white tomyam” but when we asked her to make our Nasi Goreng Kerabu more spicy, we didn’t mean THAT spicy. Zal told me my face was so red it was the same colour as my plate.
We had fun shopping at Rantau Panjang where the three of us bought a TOTO each, a couple of jeans and little odds and ends as souvenirs for our officemates. Bargaining wasn’t one of my better traits though so I left it to my friend to bargain for me. It’s almost 5 pm and we headed back to PCB to check out the sunset there.
So much for sunset, we decided to stop at the night market again to check out for some CDs. Good bargain though because it’s only RM5 each. Lots of Thai films but without the subtitles, it was no use. We performed our Maghrib prayer at the State Mosque, such a beautiful mosque. Come to think of it, every Mosque I’ve seen here are all beautiful be it an old or a new one.
It was almost midnight when we reached our chalet. Feeling tired and drained, we each had to wait for our turn to go to the bathroom. The chalet had a bathroom that reminded you of a scene from the Hitchcock movie, Psycho. It made you felt like somebody’s watching and your eyes would wonder and as if the creepy feeling wasn’t enough, there were worms crawling all over the place. Urgh! Apart from that, the room was quite comfortable, better than sleeping in a car I guess.
It’s a brand new day and our plan was to go to Pengkalan Kubor for another round of shopping. Driving to Pengkalan Kubor was an enjoyful and relaxing experience. I guess the rows and rows of kampung houses scattered throughout the journey worked as a balm for our batterred souls.
Such an intriguing place Pengkalan Kubor is, maybe because it is a border town between Kelantan and Thailand. However, we were not impressed by the myriad of shops there. The blouses were tasteless and most of the stuff sold weren’t much different from the Rantau Panjang shops.
What attracted us the most was actually the river that separated Pengkalan Kubor from it’s neighboring district. With only 60 cents and a 15-minute journey by boat, we were already in another country, so to speaks. To be honest, we’d never heard of Tak Bai before but we went anyway despite warning from well-meaning friends.
Tak Bai is a small lively make-shift town that beckoned people to explore its hidden depths. Everything was cheap from headscarves to CDs. Our budget went haywire by the time we visited the run-down shop that sold the latest printed headscarves.
Finally, we found the “white tomyam” that we’d craved for so many days. It wasn’t a myth after all. The mouth-watering, hard-to-find delicacy was simply delicious though not as spicy as we would like but beggars couldn’t be chosers, right? I guess, the journey was complete when we found the white tomyam. We had to rush our shopping after that to beat the six pm curfew. When we reached the customs building, there was nobody there and so we assumed there was no need for our passports to be stamped.
However, we assumed wrong when the Malaysian’s customs officer refused to let us in because our passports weren’t stamped. We told her nobody was there and there was a closed sign at the counter. She made a phone to call to other side of the river and received an answer. Well, as far as she was concerned, the customs office was still opened over there and we had to go back and had our passports stamped. Feeling embarassed and dejected, we took another boat trip to Tak Bai and a good samaritan over there showed us the other customs counter that was still operating. Stupido, there was no signage or anything to show the way to the building. Urgh!!
On the way back to Kota Bharu, we stopped at this Buddhist Wat because it looked so mysterious and interesting. We asked for a permission from a very cute monk (what a waste!) to take pictures around the Wat.
We didn’t get to go to many interesting places in Kelantan due to the time constraint and our tight budget. To think that our original plan to go to Kelantan was for our friend’s wedding, still we managed to cover a few interesting places. We are definitely coming back. On our last day in Kota Bharu, we went for a last minute shopping at the Siti Khadijah market again. I bought my serunding and Diy bought her keropok.
That night we returned our rented car at the airport and we left the East Coast with lots of good memories. At the KLIA, I said my goodbye to Diy and Zal. They were going back to our house in KL while I went straight to the Pan Pac to meet my family. We had a plane to catch the day after. It was to be my next adventure – Sabah, here I come…
last modified Apr 27, 2004 at 1:20
UPDATEČ....!!!
org balik lagi keeee..???????sunyi jeeeeeee
hmmmm kelantan.......... it has a special place in my heart.
sebenarnya dh lama zaza berangan2 nak buat mcm ekau.
pegi bercuti....... suddenly....at the spurs of the moment.tapi sampai sekrg tk buat2 lagi.
one fine day.............. i'm gonna do it.....tp tak tau la bila.
gua baru terjumpa fotopages lu,
tidak kalo, dah lama gua cilok masuk gua punya cerita gunung kinabalu...hehehe...
kelantan.interesting.sabah seems cool. still wondering where i'll end up this few months for holidays. kelantan. i'll note that to go before the monsoon season then. oh yeah yup the vcd is out, 20 bucks in carrefour.waiting for dvd. who knows what "extra" stuff they add in it. heh.
1st May, my turn pulak to go to kelantan sis
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