Journey to the East

Last Saturday and Sunday I accompany my dear to her hometown in Kelantan. We departed from Penang at 9pm SHARP! incredibly the bus do depart sharp at 9pm. Throughout the journey was very er... suffering the seats was small and hard, i hardly able to sleep well. My dear on the other hand sleep soundly like a princess.. aww she looks extremely cute when she sleeps.. and NO im not gonna post any pics of her sleeping here.

We reach Kota Bharu at around 430am. It was damn cold that night. Once we reach there, Steph called her mum to fetch us to their house. Btw very few food photo during this trip coz mostly i focus on taking landscape only :p

The next morning we went to have our breakfast at a Kopitiam nearby. We ordered Koay Tiao Th'ng, 1 thing special bout Kelantan's Koay Tiao Th'ng is that they have lots of side dishes to choose from, almost like yong tau foo type. And the taste was very nice, the soup is sweet and the fish ball is great!

After breakfast Steph's dad bring us all to the first stop, a HUGE standing statue of Buddha. I was told that there's 3 type of this huge statue of Buddha in Kelantan, the 3 are seating Buddha, standing Buddha and sleeping Buddha.

The 3 Statue of Lord Buddha.

Saturday was among the tiring day of all.. after visiting the Temples, we went back to our house for a short rest b4 Steph's dad bring us for dinner. For dinner, her dad bring us to a shop where according to my dear.. hv the bestest Deep Fried Squid ever :p well she was right it was tasty. There's a lot of other dishes her dad ordered and all of them are super duper nice. Very very sorry that i didnt taken pictures that time :P Then when we got back after dinner.. her dad then brought out a few durians for 'dessert' we ate till our stomachs almost EXPLODED!

The next day, Sunday was the day for shopping, Steph mum again act as our tour guide, bring us to the town center Kota Bharu. When i was there we visited one of the most famous wet market there, 'Pasar Besar Siti Katijah' it is famous for its open air center side of the market.. where a lot of lady seller selling various type of vegetables and fishes.

Pasar Besar Siti Katijah

I went there and buy some 'keropok' to take back to Penang. Next i went to a handicraft complex beside it to get Batik Cloths for my mum and sis. After that we went to the office of the Kelantan Sultanate.

The main gate

Next we went to a few shopping complex there, i was suprise on how develop Kota Bharu is coz all the while i thought Kota Bharu is a very underdevelop place. But visiting there really change a lot in my thinking, the goverment there is doing really well in developing that state, although its slow but at least there's development going on.

When dinner time, Steph's dad again brought us to eat. This time we went to a bunglow turn restaurant for dinner. The foods there are kinda nice too and in a very huge portion. All of us end up too full to go back.. her dad bring us to a night market. The night market is very big and have lots of variety of stuff.

When we reach home.. her dad again bring out DURIANS for dessert. OMG! This time was Kelantan's special durian.. the Kunyit Durian. That durian is famous for its thick meat and small seed. Her dad also said .. there are people that come all the way from KL just to taste that durian. And again.. we ate till we almost EXPLODED! I swear that 2 days was time where i ate the most durian ever in my life. I think i hv durian phobia now.

We left for Penang on monday morning. Her dad bring us for breakfast at a kopitiam nearby. He ordered "nasi lauk" for us. According to him.. 'Nasi Lauk' is 1 of the most common food there in Kelantan.. then we head for our bus to go back home.

Overall it was a meaningful and wonderful trip back to Kelantan, i guess the most happiest person is my dear.. its been almost a year since she last go back to her hometown to meet back with her old friends. Thanks to her mum and dad for bringing me around... all i can say is they ROCK!

And last but not least.. thanks for my beloved Steph for inviting me to go back with her.