Kelantan Trip – Part 1: People and Places

It has been my wish to visit Kelantan and Terengganu since I was young. I don’t know why, but I am curious of the different, unique cultures of the local people.

So last Friday morning, my friend and I departed towards Kelantan with another friend, HX and her mother. The journey took approximately 5 hours and we stayed at HX’s aunt’s house at Tumpat.

One of the must visit places are the beaches. We dropped by Pantai Sri Tujoh for a breeze of salty air. Quite a lot of people visit this beach during the evenings.

 

Another beach would be the famous Pantai Cahaya Bulan. This weather was hot when I arrived, and there were not many people on the beach. Perhaps there would be a crowd during evenings?

Other beaches include Pantai Irama, Pasir Puteh etc. Some of the beaches are clean while some others may be a bit dirty due to lack of maintenance. I’m sure that after you have visited the cleaner beaches of Redang and Pulau Perhentian, you’ll feel that the sea water near to mainland is cloudy and dirty. I’ll discuss more in another entry.

Anyways, there are quite a lot of temples around Kelantan, surprisingly. Kelantan is known to be of a Muslim state, but the Chinese still have the rights to their religion. I must admit, some Chinese people thought that Kelantan is a hard place to live in, but it seems to me that if a person can adapt, this place has lots of heritage to enjoy.

The first temple I visited was Wat Pikunthong near to Tumpat. At this temple, you can also enjoy some nice Thai style Nasi Kerabu and congee.

Next, I visited a small temple near to Kota Bharu town area – 妈祖庙 (Matzu Temple), a nice place with a long history.

Later, we went to a newly built temple near to Kota Bahru – Wat Phothikyan Phut Thak Tham (菩提願菩萨道精舍 – 双龍寺). Quite grandly built I must say. The temple welcomes its visitors with two huge dragon at the front gate. Close to the gate is a gigantic wishing tree, where people make their wish under this tree.

One of the tallest Buddha statue ever built.

 

This temple is located at Kampung Balai, 16300 Bachok, Kelantan.

A few other temples are worth taking note of such as Wat Matchimaram at Kampung Jubakar, Tumpat…

 

Wat Pothivihan with the largest reclining Buddha in South East Asia.

As for food, so far food in Kelantan has not disappointed me. All the food I ate was so good. Although I am a Lacto-ovo-vegetarian, it’s not hard for me to find food around Kelantan.

One of the must try food is their Nasi Kerabu as mentioned above. Another must try is Kelantan’s Nasi Dagang and Nasi Lauk.

Kelantan also have Masakan Padang as mentioned in the Bali post, but it is better known as Masakan Sumatra here. This is also known as the economic rice in the Chinese culture and Masakan Sumatra originates from Indonesia.

Also, I noticed that the Kelantanese consume really heavy breakfast in the day, such as having Nasi Lauk, glutinous rice with dishes, satay (BBQ meat sticks) and many more heavy breakfast.

Then at night, HX brought us to a shop selling tasty western food. They even have a vegetarian set for me! Well, the price is a bit expensive, I admit, but they certainly tasted fantastic. If you’re around Kota Bharu, do stop by and have a try!

This 20 years old shop is located behind Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) and the address is as below:

386-Q, PT40, Rumah Kedai, Buluh Kubu, Jalan Pintu Pong, 15000, Kota Bharu, Kelantan. You can call Mrs. Ho at 012-9082740 or 016-9259982.

Other good food to try includes Budu (fermented anchovies sauce), ayam percik and many other desserts such as dodol etc.

Anyways, since Zaiyed is working in USM Kubang Kerian, I called him out for dinner and we had a great time chatting together. Definitely one of my best friends.

To my friends who feel that Kelantan is just another undeveloped state with majority of the people are Malays, you are SO WRONG. You can even get pork here in Kelantan. So, stop listening to all the rumours about how bad Kelantan is, and come experience Kelantan for yourself!