Kota Bharu 28 december 2013

Coming back from Kedah that month we decided to use the Gerik Highway.  We couldn't stop anywhere because it's raining all the way.  We passed through so many small, quaint towns and Papa was busy entertaining Zoey with stories of Raja Bersiong and she was really fascinated with those stories.  At least she's not bored, that's good!

We arrived in Kota Bharu at night and straight away looking for something to eat because we're famished.  Luckily we found a cosy place for the night.

Zoey watched an alien movie on TV. So traumatic was she that she felt like throwing-up which lasted for a few weeks and couldn't eat squids yet up until now. - aliens crawling out through the mouth of victims to kill flight passengers trapped in an airport due to blizzard. 

The next morning we checked-out and went out to look for Pasar Siti Khadijah.  It's very interesting to see for ourselves the sellers were mostly women - Yeah! They really promoted this aspect of the bazaar. The food there wasn't mind-blowing, though.I think food on the roadside stalls would carry different and more interesting (and better) flavours and tastes.

The items on sale were expensive - similar kind of tudungs I bought in Teluk Intan for RM5.00 were double the price in this bazaar.  So much for commercialization.  So, I decided shopping wasn't the best option here. Selamat duit!

Instead, we left the bazaar looking for other interesting things.  So many things shown on the tourism map and we're undecided which one to choose.  We settled for the state museum.The street was busy. There wasn't enough parking area.  So we park illegally in front of the tourism information center, went inside and asked them and went out through the side door and voila! The state museum!

Hmmm... I'm not sure what happened to other pictures inside the museum. It's 2 storeys and many of the exhibits were on the culture and previous rulers of the state - not only the sultans but it seemed that the state was ruled by many rulers with their own sovereign states.  All these with an emphasis on Cik Siti Wan Kembang - the most famous ruler (among both male and female rulers) in Kelantan. There were also many old photographs with more artist impressions on past rulers.  The present sultanate and lineage were also fairly young.

There were also exhibits on traditional games including the famous top spinning activity and wau bulan (traditional kite flying activity) and also cultural activities including the Mak Yong, shadow play and their origins and original purposes.  I remembered I wasn't feeling particularly excited at the exhibits on the different Shadow Play characters. They're not only eerie but I didn't feel any good vibes being near them.  In fact, the lighting were also very dim there.

The collections of exhibits were not very extensive.  Most parts of the museum were still under construction or being prepared for new exhibits.

We loved these cars.  The cars were once used by the sultan for official duties.

While taking pictures with the cars, it rained. And it rained heavily! And we found shelter at a kiosk in front of the museum and bought something to eat. When the rain turned to drizzle, we made our move. Our next destination was the Pantai Batu Buruk in Terengganu.  We didn't want to go to Kuala Terengganu because there wasn't must to do except for more shopping at Pasar Payang and I was done with shopping.  Papa and I also were quite tired of museums by now.

This was a detour on our way to Pantai Batu Buruk.  I forgot the name of the beach.  The red flag was up.  The wind was blowing.  We were the only visitors there. Maybe because it was still early - around 2.30pm or so.  Only 1 hawker stall was opened.  So we bought something to eat.

 Zoey ventured around and found a walking plank attached to the hill but I didn't allow her to use it because I wasn't sure of it's strength and it's above the water.

 The South China Sea was really brewing.

 

We took our time there.

 Eating the food we bought.

Smelling the sea air.

         This was on the other part of the beach - behind the hill which Zoey found the walking planks.

These two men were checking their fish net - directly in front of the place above.

Somewhere in Terengganu.

The journey wasn't very long. We took the coastal road just for the view.  Zoey was becoming unwell.  We were also looking for a clinic or at least a pharmacy. But there's none.  We were really hoping that she's not getting worse.  Luckily she fell asleep.

We finally arrived at Pantai Batu Buruk.  There were many people there.  It was cloudy - still in the midst of anticipating for the second wave of the flood.  The wind was strong.  Many locals were flying kites.  The hawker stalls were also packed with people. We decided to enjoy the beach and the sea instead.

It's still beautiful regardless of the weather that day.  The clouds were rolling in and it's getting windier. 

Zoey clearly enjoyed herself a lot on the beach.

It was while we're strolling on the beach that the rain hit. So, we ran into the A&W Restaurant nearby, ordered some food and ate while waiting for the rain to stop.Some people were really happy with food.  There weren't many people in the restaurant. So, it was our place.

We arrived home around 2.00am that night.  The next day Papa found out he left his phone at the A&W restaurant and called them but they didn't find anything.  I was angry. Papa kept quiet. Hahaha...

The day after that Nana's dad handed Papa's phone to Zoey.  Somehow, somebody dropped it in front of the front gate and Uncle Mat found it the next day. And yay! Happy to have the pictures in Papa's phone back!

Thank you Uncle Mat!

It was tiring, as usual.  But we're happy.  That's what important.