Visiting to Kelantan - my hometown, this Chinese New Year.

Hello everybody! Every year my family and I will go back to hometown of Kota Bharu, the capital city of Kelantan State...

Kelantan State Flag

Therefore, I have had made use of this time to tour around the town of Kota Bharu as well as the neighbouring district of Tumpat (My family also wanted to do so lah...). This is because starting this year some of my relatives had been moving to the bigger city in Kuala Lumpur. So, less relatives to be visited this year and more time to travel in the Kelantan state.

Kelantan is located in the North East part of East Coast Peninsula Malaysia. It is still under-developed compared to the other states in Malaysia (even poorer than its neighbour state - Terengganu. However, this state is still retaining lots of the tradition malay herritage and kampung house which rarely found in the hustling and bustling cities such as KL and Penang.

To be begin with, let's start with Kota Bharu, Kota Bharu (my hometown) is the capital city of Kelantan. Kota Bharu recently has been developing in order to be on par with the city status... More shopping malls and international franchise opened in the town. For example, KB mall and Parkson were the pioneer shopping malls to be opened there, following by the Tesco shopping mall as well as Aeon mall...

Random picture of KB mall

Aeon Mall picture. Credited to Just Shea, So Shea Blogger

What is surprising is even Starbucks also opens their first ever franchise in the Kelantan state (Terengganu still doesn't have Starbucks yet). However, there is still no cinema opened in Kota Bharu as well as in the entire state.

Jalan Kebun Sultan, the Chinatown of Kota Bharu

On top of that, Kota Bharu has amazing place for us to get to experience the locals' life. My family and I had visited to the well-known Pasar Besar Siti Khadijah during this Chinese New Year too...

Pasar Siti Khadijah

There are many local malays as well as a few of chinese selling groceries and some keropok lekor snacks there (Keropok lekor is the local product of Kelantan and Terengganu states). I also did not forget to buy some souvenirs there for my friends too. There also offers lots of souvenirs for you to gift to your family and friends ranging from batik clothes to the little key chains.

Pantai Cahaya Bulan is one of the tourist attractions in Kelatan State of Malaysia. It is roughly 10km away from the town centre. The nearest village to the beach is Kampung Api Semut... In the village, there are several food stalls that offer you a variety of the local delicacies such as keropok lekor and fried sotong (Squid) and fishes with flour. Certainly, there do have 2 resort hotels provide to the tourist (but I no need it lah, since some of my relative still living there...)

After that, my family and I went to tour in Tumpat District. Tumpat District is located near to the Malaysia-Thailand border. Therefore, that district has a significant number of Siamese population in that state. We had our lunch at the Malaysian Siamese restaurant, namely Khao Jam Mea Thong which their most favourite and best selling dishes is Khao Jam and Som Jam.

Khao Jam and Coconut. I forgot to capture the photo of Som Jam...

For your information, Khao Jam and Som Jam are the cross cultural and mixture of Siamese and Kelantanese Malay dishes. Beisdes, you can order a coconut while in the meaning time of having Khao Jam and Som Jam.

There are 2 most outstanding Thai Buddhist temple in that district that we visited. The first one is Wat Pothivihan. Wat Pothivihan is considered as the largest Sleeping Buddha in the South-east Asia (with about 40 meters long of the Sleeping Buddha Statue). The next one is Wat Machimaram, that temple houses the Malaysian's largest Sitting Buddha Statue. Both of temple are just within 5-10 driving distance from each other respectively.

Me and Wat Pothivihan

Wat Machimaram

Kelantan is having a potential to be developed as tourist hotspot just like in Terengganu, if the state goverment and the people there working hand-in-hand to develop and boost the tourism sector in that state. As a Kelantanese who is being raised up in Kuala Lumpur, I hope Kelantan will be better than today in future. KELANTAN WILL BE GREAT AGAIN!!!

Ok, that's all I want to talk about. I hope you enjoy this article and please follow me on my Google + account, twitter (@JiaZhe1) and facebook (username: Jia Zhe Wong)... If you have any comments or suggestions about this blogger, please comment below this blog post. Thank you, bye! Have a nice day! 

Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快乐！ 身体健康！ 万事如意！ 心想事成！年年有余！

Northern Malaysia Peninsular trip: Part IV – The finale (Taiping, Perak)

Continue from the last part…

New year? The continuation of the journey I’m going to present to you righr now… Very sorry ah, take a long time to update my blog...

*This is almost similar to the previous blog post in 2016 (https://eduardowongjz.blogspot.my/2016/12/my-perak-trip-2016.html) as My family and I travelled back again to Taiping in Perak State.

On the 4^th day (20/12/2017), we had finally begun our trip in the tranquil town of Perak State – Taiping.

 

Perak State map...

Taiping

As I mentioned above, Taiping is a tranquil and peaceful town in Perak state. This is because the town is quite far from the hustling and bustling cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang… The town itself is located between two major cities in Peninsular Malaysia which are Penang and Ipoh. Therefore, many travelers and tourists will probably stop over here before they go to Penang, Ipoh or even back to Kuala Lumpur.

 

Taiping lake garden (1)

Taiping town is being famous for its Bukit Larut, Mangrove forest and fishing village at Kuala Sepetang (15 km from Taiping).

My family and I travelled to these places:

Bukit Larut

Bukit Larut (or being known as Maxwell Hill) is much like the Cameron Highlands style, except there are no vehicles allowed to go up the hill (because the route is very steep and only the jeeps of Municipal of Taiping are allow to go up hill). The hill is 1036m above the sea level. Maxwell Hill was named after William George Maxwell, who was the British Assistant Resident in Perak. Last but not least, bonus fact: Bukit Larut is also the wettest place in Malaysia where it has the highest volume of rainfall compared to other parts of Malaysia.

The peak of Bukit Larut

You also can opt to hike up to the top of hill, if you a lot of stamina to do so… The jeep or four wheel drive service is also available there for tourists to go up hill… The price is RM10 per person… 

Road to the peak...

Peak of Bukit Larut

Here’s the view on top of the hill…

Taiping lake garden

Taiping Lake Gardens (Taman Tasik Taiping in Malay) is the first public garden established during the British rule in Malaysia. The garden is located near Bukit Larut, and is equidistant to the town centre and the Taiping Zoo. Besides, here’s the brief history lah… The Taiping Lake Gardens was originally a mining ground before it was established as a public garden in 1880.

There are many locals there who jogs at the garden every morning, while the tourist come there to take some iconic pictures… (P/S: we just passed by here because later we go to Kuala Sepetang)

Kuala Sepetang

Kuala Sepetang (or being known as Port Weld) is the first port build in Malaysia. However, the role of the Port Weld was diminishing after the other ports such as Port Klang (Port Swetttenham) was build. Kuala Sepetang also has the Malaysia’s first railway that linked with Taiping town, but unfortunately it was being dismantled for a long time ago… The only thing left is the Port Weld railway signboard…

The view of the fishing village from the bridge that connecting two parts of the fishing village

Kuala Sepetang is now an ordinary chinese fishing village in Perak… Albeit of that, there are still many tourists (including us) flock into the village to visit certain places right here…

There are...

Kuala Sepetang Mangrove Forest Reserve Park

 It is also few hundreds meter away from the fishing village...

Charcoal Factory

Watching fireflies at night

*There are many fishermen make use this opportunity by taking tourist to watch fireflies at the mangrove forest at night to gain extra income.

Night view of the dock...

Last but not least, makan seafood there…

Porridge seafood @ Foo Man Lou (A restaurant at Jalan Kuala Sepetang - Taiping)...

 On the fifth day (19/12/2017) we had lunch in the Larut Matang food court before we go back to KL… What really I amazed was there were different races do business in a food court (really hard to find in KL).

Larut Matang Food Court...

The trip ended.

In conclusion, this Northern Peninsular trip was like an ecological trip, for me lah… This is because we had been went through lots of places from paddy fields to the mountain and to the fishing village…

Northern Malaysia Peninsular trip: Part III (Kedah)

Continue from the last part…

On the 3^rd day of our trip (17/12/2017), we finally reach the Kedah State of Northern Peninsular Malaysia!

Kedah State

Kedah, I believe many of you who lived in Malaysia or even foreigners certainly do know this state being famous of its paddy field and Pulau Langkawi (Langkawi Island).

Map of the Kedah State

Kedah state is bordered by Penang State at the south, Perak State at the southeast, Perlis state to the northwest and Thailand to the north. The rivers play an important role in making the state’s natural border. Sungai Muda (Muda river) is the natural border of Penang state and Kedah state, while Sungai Kerian  is the natural border of Perak State and Kedah State. The state’s capital is situated at Alor Setar (Which was also the place my family travelled to), meanwhile the royal capital of Kedah State, however, located at Anak Bukit (which is 10km north of Alor Setar).

On 17^th of December 2017, my family and I “check-out” from my aunty house to the North (Kedah). My father chose to use old trunk road to go to Alor Setar so that we could get to see more scenary of rural areas in Seberang Perai’s outskirt areas as well as the small towns long the road in Kedah. The actual trip shown on google maps used roughly 90 minutes to reach Alor Setar from Butterworth (IF you didn’t stop and rest at anywhere lah…). Here are the place we stopped and travelled.

Sungai Petani

            Sungai Petani is one of the industrialized areas in Kedah State. The town itself already has lots of amenities such as Rapid Penang bus service from Penang State and Shopping Malls. 

Furthermore, just like Kulim town, Sungai Petani is also very near to the Penang State centre (31 km away from Butterworth and 59km from Alor Setar, Kedah). Therefore, this helps the town to develop rapidly to be on par with the major town of Penang’s Seberang Perai. Lastly, I forgot to mention that this town is connected with KTM train service from KL sentral to the Thai Border station of Padang Besar… (IF you backpackers are willing to visit this place lah…)

Landmark of Sungai Petani

Landmark of Sungai Petani part 2

Gurun

            Gurun is only the small town located between the road from Sungai Petani to Alor Setar and has KTM train station. Nothing much to talk about, expect the Gunung Jerai (Mount Jerai) nearby there.

            After passing by Gurun town, there is a magnificent view of paddy field along the way from Gurun outskirt to Alor Setar outskirt. There also has the Malaysia’s longest paddy irrigating system and canal from Alor Setar to Gurun, namely Wan Mat Saman Aqueduct. 

Magnificent view of paddy field

Alor Setar

Alor Setar, capital state of Kedah, We arrived at Alor Setar at noon. Under the hot scorching sun, we find a typical chinese restaurant to settle our lunch before we go on our one day trip in Alor Setar.

There are few places to go in Kedah such as Alor Setar Tower, Pekan Cina (Chinatown), Tun Mahathir Mohamad’s birthplace house, Pekan Rabu (Wednesday market), Wat Nikrodharam and Paddy Musuem. Due to lack of time (rushing to Taiping in the evening), we only go for few places from these destinations.

Alor Setar Tower is the communication tower for the Kedah State,,,

Even though the tower is not as tall as KL tower in Kuala Lumpur, but it does give you a great view of the city…

Brief history of Alor Setar Tower

Pekan Cina is the Chinatown of Alor Setar. It is located at the riverbank of Kedah River and besides of Pekan Melayu (where the Pekan Rabu located at). Albeit of that, the Chinatown is still comparatively quite than the Chinatown in other states…

Tanjung Chali, Alor Setar

The youtube video shows food trip of Alor Setar...

Then, we said goodbye to Kedah state and travel to Taiping, Perak. It is possible to have one day trip in Kedah state, IF you began your journey in Penang State…

Coming out next, Taiping, Perak.

Merry belated Chirstmas, everyone…