Trip to my hometown - Kelantan (17-19 May 2018)

I love my hometown, Kelantan state. Last week I just travelled my hometown, Kota Bharu, Kelantan. So, I make use this chance to write this blog post…

Kelantan is a state in north-eastern of Peninsula Malaysia which is also enriched with its Malay culture compared to the other states. This is because of Kelantan state is one of the states along with Terengganu have homogenous population, which predominately made up by the Malays (about 95%) then followed by Chinese (about 3.5%) as well as Indians, Siamese and Orang Asli (each less than 1 %). Thus, Kelantan is also deemed as the traditional “Malay Cradle” of the Peninsula Malaysia.

Kelantan State's flag

The way of living in Kelantan is differing than in other states of Malaysia (especially bustling west coast of Peninsula Malaysia where that side has a few metropolitans such as KL, Penang and Johor Bahru.). The life here is quite laid back and chill and most of the places in Kelantan are still retaining traditional “kampung” style of housing. All over Kelantan, only Kota Bharu has a city status, whereas the rest of the capital districts (Jajahan or Daerah in Malay) are still remaining the status of small town. So, only Kota Bharu, the capital city of Kelantan state is more prosperous and bustling compared to the other towns and districts in Kelantan.

The non-malays there are being more assimilated to the malay culture compared to the other states in Peninsula Malaysia. This is in light of fact that most of the non-malays here are at least being able to understand and converse in Kelantanese Malay dialect. Most of them have got used to speak and listen in Kelantanese Malay dialect since they are young. Besides, that dialect is also used in the business field since the business persons are mostly dealing with the Malay customers there. For your information, Kelantanese Malay dialect is being prevalent in Kelantan state compared to the standard version of Malay language. Therefore, you will be blur and left out when you don’t understand Kelantanese Malay dialect in Kelantan state, if you are outsider lah… 

In fact, Kelantan has a few places to travel. Many people from other states of Malaysia may think that Kelantan is so ‘ulu’ (outdated) and reluctant to visit there… However, actually there are a few places for us to travel in Kelantan. For example, there are a few Siamese Buddhist temples in the district of Tumpat such as Wat Pothivihan and Wat Machimaram for us to travel (visited during this year’s Chinese New Year). After travelling finish the temples, you can even Pantai Seri Tujoh in the district of Tumpat (this year I not yet visited). There is also a beach in the district of Kota Bharu, which is Pantai Cahaya Bulan. It is roughly 10 km away from town centre. That beach used to be a sandy beach. However, due to erosion of the wave, the beach shoreline is shortening. Therefore, the beach now has many of the stones to form a barrier to deter from wave erosion. Besides, there are also a few tourist destinations to travel in the capital city of Kota Bharu as well (look at the photos…)

Wat Photivihan

Wat Machimaram

Arch of Kota Sultan Ismail Petra

Pantai Cahaya Bulan...

Random old shop lots in Kota Bharu town centre

Padang Merdeka...

Sungai Kelantan riverfront

Kampung Kraftangan right behind Kota Sultan Ismail Petra.

This video is about Kelantan food...

Apart from that, Kelantan has a few prestigious local delicacies that you barely can find in other part of Malaysia (except its neighboring state of Terengganu). Firstly, Kelantan has also its own type of Laksa, Laksa is not only got in Penang but also in Kelantan. The main differences of Laksa in Penang and in Kelantan are their soup and ingredients. Asam Laksa Penang soup is made up of tamarind, while Laksa Kelantan is made up of coconut milk. The ingredient of Asam Laksa are fishes (and prawns), cucumber and lime, while Laksa Kelantan is onions, sliced dried tamarind and lemon grass. Futhermore, nasi kerabu and khao jam are also the main local delicacies of Kelantan. Both are actually they same in method of processing and using same ingredients. The only difference is Nasi Kerabu is more of Kelantan Malay style, while Khao Jam is more of Thai style…

Laksa Kelantan

Khao Jam

Thus, Kelantan state is one of the laid back and tranquil states in Malaysia but has a few of destinations to travel and local delicacies to eat.

Crispy Chicken Rendang?

I love to eat chicken rendang... But wait... when do we have a crispy chicken rendang menu? I never heard it before...

 

The judges from Master Chef UK said the Malaysian contestant's chicken rendang is the biggest mistake because it didn't appear to be crispy.

Last few days, I have read some articles regarding the Master Chef Crispy Rendang issue... So, I make use this time to share this "news".

It was also my first time of hearing people said chicken rendang should be crispy... Seriously lah macha (bro in Tamil language), if you want to eat crispy rendang, why not go to KFC to buy their chicken and dip it into the rendang kuah (sauce in Malay language)??? It will end up to be not delicious one (look at the last video below). BTW, it is making no sense too, you mat salleh didn't understand the asian (especially South East Asia and East Asian one) but you criticize the food like you are an expert of the asian food cuisine...

 Here are a few of parodies of the CRISPY chicken rendang made by Malaysian Youtubers...

Dennis Lim Ming youtuber - Master Chef 2018 Chicken Rendang...

 

Campur ayam KFC ngan kuah Rendang...

 

However, I believe this "news" has made our Malaysian tradition cuisine to become viral in the most part of the world... Malaysia boleh! Chicken rendang is should not be crispy...

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!

Looking back to my form 6 life.

In this millennial era, there are so many platforms for us to further our study. After going through the nationwide examination of SPM (A must examination for students from public secondary school in Malaysia and O-level equivalent), the Form 5 graduates will be struggling to look for which 'road' is suitable for them to pursue their studies. Indeed, there are a few of examples you can opt to go to University. For instances, Form 6 (STPM, Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia), A-Level, Matriculation (Public U or Private U), University's foundation programme or even straight to Diploma.

 

(Video of  "The positive and negative impression of form 6" in Mandarin Chinese)

However, today I am going to share my life experience when I was a Form 6 student.

I recalled when I just finished my SPM exam in 2015, my relatives started to ask me which 'road' I will going to choose later... I've told them I want to study for accountancy. Then, most of them kept suggesting me to go for Private University's foundation as that's the fastest platform to get into University. Nonetheless, I just throwing these suggestions into 'tong sampah' (dustbin) and tell them I want to go for Form 6. Most of them even my father and my mother were discouraging me to go for Form 6 as they said there are so many opportunities for me to further my study and why form 6 leh? I replied them like this, I like Form 6 very much ah! Cui ah! (I stubbornly wanted to choose this hellish pathway)...

Soon after I was a form 6 student, my life is totally different... I can't be slacking anymore after school since there are many homework (more than in "Arus Perdana" (Secondary School). Although students only require to take for minimum 4 subjects in STPM (included Pengajian Am subject as a compulsory subject of STPM), that doesn't mean you can slack for the whole time. That one year and the half was the hellish part in my life. Once you delayed to do your homework, tomorrow will be more homework for you until you couldn't handle them later. Therefore, you should get rid of laziness when you get into Form 6 life.

Expectation vs Reality of STPM

Secondly, the form 6's curriculum is so compact and tough. In your form 6 life, you have to face 3 semester based final exams, 4 subjects' courseworks, MUET (Malaysian University English Test) and Retake paper in ONE AND THE HALF YEAR. Besides, you will be learning different topics in a single subject (some of the topics aren't related to each other) in each semesters.

Pengajian Am sem 1 textbook

For example, Pengajian Am subject's sem 1 will be emphasizing in domestic affairs (social economics related issues) as well as good governance in Malaysia and federal constitution of Malaysia. Then, sem 2 will be more on plotting a graph based on an article, Malaysia's government policies, racial harmony and the COURSEWORK. Meanwhile, sem 3 will be emphasizing on transferring information from a graph to an essay and international affairs (bilateral and multilateral relations). Don't forget to you need to cope with MUET too as most of the school will opt to let their student to enroll MUET exam on July or November. Thus, this is why many people resist to go for Form 6 tough pre-u platform.

Apart from that, through form 6, you can hone your communication and leadership skills as these skills will likely to help you ace in your life later. Similar as in secondary school, form 6 students do also need to take part in co-curricular activites. There are a few of clubs and activities which are offered by each of the form 6 school for the students to take part. For me, I took part in the Kelab Usahawan Muda (Young Entrepreneur Club) as the club's ajk (working commitee) and in football (soccer) and PBSM (Red cross society). When you are holding and possessing a position in a club or a Badan Beruniform (Uniform Body), obviously your responsibility will be higher compared to the normal member. For example, last time, I was a working commitee in the Kelab Usahawan Muda forced to spend some precious study time to think of what kind of activities to carry out next and the feasibility of the ideas in each respective activities. Besides, I as a mini-leader, I had to also make sure my club members were in the same wavelength with me when carrying out the club's activities. This is because form 6 students were deemed as mature young adult compared to the teenagers in the form 1-form 5, which means the form 6 students have to think and discuss the activities of co-curriculum by their own lah...

Next one is you can master your communication skill through co-cocurriculum activities too. Here's the photo of the Kelab Budaya's ajk (working committee) was presenting the chinese yee sang tradition to the students (including me there) as well as teachers.

As you can see, he braved himself to present a slideshow of the chinese yee sang tradition to the audience there. This indirectly will hone our communication skill that is deemed as useful for our future working life. Therefore, it can be said that form 6 provides us a good training ground in order to suit in this competitive world which.

Before I end this blog post, I would like to briefly talk about the retake papers. Yes, STPM (Form 6 exam) has retake papers for those who want to improve their grades in the overall result. We are being lucky compared to those senior who finished their STPM exam before 2013. Since 2013, the examination system of STPM had changed from terminal based to modular based (3 semester). You can retake sem 1 and sem 2 papers except sem 3 ones. Each subject's retake paper costs RM50.00 (not yet included with GST). Retake papers are held after the examination of sem 3 (Upper 6) exam and sem 1 (Lower 6) exam. 

Final advise to the form 6 students, try not to retake papers as retake papers will make you more burdened as you have to cope with the semester's studies and your retake papers in one time. Later you will be gg.com. In fact, anyone can go for form 6 in order to further their studies later in Public University in Malaysia or the private ones, all you need to do are just don't be lazy and study hard for it in order to score flying colour CGPA in STPM. Good Luck.

My first ever solo backpack trip... (Kuantan and Kuala Terengganu)

Last 2 weeks, I had my first ever lone backpack trip to the East Coast of Peninsula Malaysia. I was being so fortunate to do so after finishing STPM (Form 6) examinations by last year…

Pahang state's flag

Terengganu state's flag

On the first day of my trip (21/2/2018), I had commuted express bus to the first destination of my travel list – Kuantan in the morning. As we all know, Kuantan is the capital city of Pahang State. Moreover, Kuantan area has several tourist attractions at the beaches such as Teluk Cempedak and Cherating.

After arriving to the destination, I took Rapid Bus 303 from Kuantan Terminal Center (TKS) to the town centre. Then, I went to checking in Kuantan Guess House hotel right before I went to Teluk Cempedak in the evening. I purposely went to the beach is to sight seeing and having dinner there (I eventually end up having McDonalds meal there). 

View of Teluk Cempedak

For me, Teluk Cempedak is a decent place to de-stress temporary in life. This is because the magnificent view of the beach will likely to aid you to keep your bad feeling at bay for a moment and you can enjoy the sea breeze there.

The next day, I strolled around the town centre after I checked out from the hotel. I had a plenty of time to walk around the town centre prior to boarding to the next destination – Kuala Terengganu by 2:45pm. I took Rapid bus to tour around Kuantan as well as to the Gebeng Industrial Zone. Just like in Klang Valley, Rapid bus service had enhanced the town’s accessibility, people there are easy to travel in Kuantan area.

Taman Esplande in Kuantan town centre.

3kg of salted fish, It cost roughly RM65 per kilogramme

 (P/S: I just now forgot to mention that Salted fish is famous within the region of Kuantan and Chukai (Terengganu). There are ample of salted fish related small and medium industry at the semi urban area of Beserah and Balok in Kuantan.)

Upon reaching to Kuala Terengganu in the late evening, I went to Kampung Cina and Pasar Payang after checking in the DJ Citi Point hotel which is located nearby Kampung Cina. I stayed there for 2 nights. I had the Kuey Teow Soup which costs me for RM5 as my dinner. 

Night view of Kampung Cina...

According to some locals there, Kampung Cina has roughly more than 250 years of history. This is proven by the oldest temple in the area – Ho Ann Keong was build there more than 250 years already. So, Kampung Cina is considered as one of the earliest Chinese settlements in Malaysia. Recently the Chinatown has added many new attractions to lure more visitors to travel there.

Ho Ann Keong Temple

Chinatown and me...

On the 3^rd day of my trip, I took Grabcar to Batu Burok Beach from the hotel in the morning. Similar to Teluk Cempedak, Batu Burok is able to attract tourist to visit there too. This is because of Batu Burok Beach is surrounded by the malay eateries stall of Cendol, Sate Ikan and Terengganu tradition of Keropok Lekor as well as A&W fast food restuarant. All of them are just a stone’s throw away distance from the view of beach.

There are quite a number of swings for the travelers as well as city dwellers to enjoy the moment at the beach.

However, that day was on Friday. Most all the shop lots and stalls in Terengganu will be closed temporarily from 12:30pm till roughly 2:00pm for their prayer. Even the town’s Bas Kite service was also stopped temporarily on that day.

I forced to walk along Jalan Sultan Zainal Abidin to go back to the town centre. Amid walking along the road, I had found a warung was still operating, so I went there and have Nasi Dagang as my simple lunch.

After the prayers’ time, I went to the Hentian Bandar MBKT to wait for the Bas Kite to depart to Muzium Negeri Terengganu (Ticket of Bas Kite costs RM1 per trip). I had waited for roughly 30-40 minutes for the bus to depart to the destination. The state museum is the largest museum in Malaysia and that museum is exhibiting the ancient and modern artifacts and stone inscriptions that were found in that state.

 

Bas Kite Kuala Terengganu

Besides, that museum is also having the Maritime gallery where you can get to learn more about the maritime history of Terengganu. There has also the royal gallery where you can get to learn more about the Sultanate of Terengganu from the ancient till the modern history. After that, I visit to Crystal Mosque a while right before the sky became dark.

Terengganu state muzuem, one of the tourist attraction in Kuala Terengganu where you can get to know more regarding Terengganu state's history.

At night, I went back to Kuala Terengganu to have dinner again in Kampung Cina. In the meantime, on that day was also the date of BaiTianGong (A Hokkien Chinese celebration on every 8^th day’s night of  Chinese New Year). The vibrant atmosphere of the Chinatown lured me to have a look on what was going on near the old temple. Their celebration God Worshipping was as lively as it was carried out in Penang and Klang.

On the last day of my trip, I went to visit Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT). The public university is located at Gong Badak in Kuala Nerus District (15-20 minutes driving distance from the town). I did also revisited Kampung Cina and Pasar Payang for the last time before I went back to KL in order to buy some souvenirs for my family and friends. I (I am a Kelantanese but raise up in KL) really in loved with the ways of life in the East Coast region especially in Terengganu and Kelantan. I will certainly revisit there again for second time… Ah, next time I will upload more blog posts about my backpack trip...

 Please do watch this video too. This Youtube video is introducing Kampung Cina (Chinese Settlement in Kuala Terengganu) as a tourist attraction for the tourists from all over the world. Besides, this video did lure me to visit Terengganu. Lol!

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！