Santai in Kota Bharu

I finally manage to make my long-awaited trip to Kota Bharu. Have always wanted to make this trip but for some reason or another it was always put off.

The journey up to Kota Bharu was pleasant via the partially completed Central Spine Highway. We did a short stop in Raub for breakfast at Kopitiam Tong Nam Bee and had the typical Malaysian breakfast of Nasi Lemak & eggs with coffee

Our breakfast stop at Kopitiam Tong Nam Bee

             Half boiled eggs & Nasi Lemak Breakfast

After a quick yummilicious breakfast, we continue our journey with intermittent stops to "kay-poh" some roadside stalls. Since it was a free and easy drive, the entire journey took about 8 hours.

We stayed Ibis Styes Hotel and it's close to the town center. You can actually walk to most of the attractions in Kota Bharu. The hotel rooms were clean and the front office staff were friendly. However, the view from the room was partially blocked. The room has a new concept where the shower and toilet are separated and there is no bathroom per se. The wash basin forms part of the room and is separated by a mirror. 

         The shower and toilet area (left) and the bedroom are connected with the basin separation

Importantly, the bed was comfortable and clean. There's a separate movie channel to wind down your day.

We headed off to our first tourist attraction, the Sleeping Buddha or Wat Phothivihan. It's located about 20 minutes from Kota Bharu and is considered one of the most popular Buddhist temples in the country. Unfortunately, the place was closed but we managed to look see a bit. 

The Sleeping Buddha

We headed back to town, to Chinatown for dinner. Unfortunately, the weather was not so kind. Dinner was at a Kow Lun Restoran

Entrance to Chinatown and dinner (below) BKT and Pork Curry 

Dinner was Kelantan style Bak Kut Teh and Pork Curry, quite flavourful but still BKT in Klang wins hands down. The curry was not too spicy and taste like how curry should be. Beer was sold here !!! 😁😁😁

After dinner, we walked around a bit and found s shop selling KL styled "fu kein noodles". Decided to buy a pack to try but the taste was so-so only

Fu Kien Noodles shop

Day 2 - Sightsee in Kota Bharu

We started our morning early with breakfast at the hotel and headed off to some attractions around the town

First stop - Siti Khadija Market

This is a wet and dry market in the heart of Kota Bharu and most of the stalls are owned and managed by women. The stalls are arranged properly and divided into different sections based on products. Prices here are relatively cheap depending on what you want, and I would suggest walking around to compare prices and bargain. 

View of the market.

Some interesting things you can see include local tobaccos, turtle eggs (thought they were banned) raw keropok lekor, 

Raw tobacco grown in Kelantan (above) and turtle eggs (top left) facial powder pellets (top right)

Next stop - Pitis Bank & Grand Palace

The Grand Palace is out of bounds to public, but you can peep in from the outside. The Pitis Bank is a small building that stands in front of the Palace

This building was the state treasury in the old days 

Built in 1844, the Grand Palace used to house the previous Sultans but now it's only used for ceremonies

Third Stop - Kelantan State Museum & Handicraft Village

We then proceeded to the Kelantan State Museum. Here you can look at the history of Kelantan and the royal family. On display are some interesting artifacts and different stages of life as a royalty. There is an entrance fee of RM 2.00 for adults

Kelantan State Museum

Located next to the museum is the Handicraft Village. There's some local handicraft on display but the main attraction is the restaurant within the compound, the popular Nasi Ulam Cikgu

Entrance to the Handicraft Village

The restaurant was packed with diners and fortunately for us we managed to get a table and tried the Nasi Ulam with Ayam Perchik and fried fish. The taste was good especially the sambal for the vegetables. 

Nasi Ulam & Ayam Perchik

Fourth Stop - Wat Machimmaram & Pengkalan Kubor Duty Free Store

After lunch we decided to make a trip to another temple, the sitting Buddha temple. There's a huge sitting buddha on site and like the other temple it was closed but we managed to walk around the grounds

After a brief stop, we headed off to Pengkalan Kubor, the place where you can drive across to Thailand. The duty-free shopping area is opened to public even without crossing over to Thailand. Most of the items for sale include crockery, kitchen wares, toys and clothes. As you exit after shopping, there'll be some customs officers to check your shopping. We managed to buy some chocolates at cheap prices. There were some street arts at the duty-free center as well

Fifth Stop - Clock Tower & Pantai Cahaya Bulan

With some time still on hand, we then proceeded back to town to the see Clock Tower. This is just a monument facing the Grand Palace and there's an entrance fee of RM 2.00 per adult to climb up to get a view of the city. The view is quite scenic, and you can see the whole of Kota Bharu. 

The Clock Tower

Town of Kota Bharu

There's some street art located just around the corner of the clock tower as well.

Located a short distance from the clock tower is the War Museum but unfortunately it was closed, earlier than usual. 

From here, a short 15 minutes' drive, we headed off to the beach area of Pantai Cahaya Bulan or Moonlight Beach. This is just a popular beach area where locals congregate to chill and enjoy the seaside

Dinner was Thai food at a restaurant called Hua Hin. We ordered their tofu specialty, tom yum soup, deep fried pork knuckle, steam fish and mix vegetables. Overall, the tom yum was delicious and not too sour but the rest were just plain and OK. 

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel for a good's night rest.

Day 3 - Sightsee and Goodbye Kota Bharu

On our last day, we headed to the War Museum and visited the Kota Bharu Street art. The war museum is interesting as it tells you the history of the Japanese Invasion of Malaya via Thailand and Kelantan. Shows how the Japanese gave Kelantan to Thailand to rule before the British took it back after the surrender by the Japanese. However, some of the displays need to be better maintained and some info were missing. Despite being a small museum, it was worth the trip and there is an entrance fee of RM 2.00

   An old sea mine (left) and Japanese currency used during WW 2

Replica of the 2 bombs, Fat Man and Little Boy that destroyed Japan

We then proceeded to Kota Bharu's street art to have a glimpse. There are 2 sections of the street art, the first one, though I don't agree with, is about the war on Palestine. It shows the suffering of the country and people. To me, I found it out of place

The second one depicts the multicultural life of Kelantan.

    Some of the arts on display showing the way of life in Kelantan

After freshening up at the hotel, we bade Kota Bharu farewell and headed back to Kuala Lumpur. It was a very interesting trip overall, saw some interesting sights, tried some local food and blessed with good weather throughout.

Thoughts for consideration:

1. All entrances to museums, places etc is priced at RM 2.00 per adult

2. Parking is via machine, so there's no need to buy a book of coupons

3. Parking is ample everywhere, so that's easy

4. Weekends are Thursdays & Fridays 

5. Take your time to enjoy Kota Bharu....there's quite a lot to see around Kelantan.