TUNE HOTEL, KOTA BHARU

This was the hotel I stayed in for three nights in Kota Bharu. It was a brand new one, was just opened about a month before. It is located at about half an hour walk from Siti Khadijah Market and situated right next to Kota Bharu Mall.

The rate was reasonable, with tax and all the package cost about RM80++. Nevertheless, do not get too excited because there was catch behind the tag line "you pay for what you are using". For example, if you want to use the hotel towel and toiletries, you have to pay for them and plus, a deposit of RM10 needed to be surrendered at the counter just in case you would love the towel so much and run home with it. For my 3-night stay,the package included air-conditioner usage for 12 hours and TV service for 24 hours. And after that, for extra usage, I had to pay more.



There was an internet kiosk at the lobby and usage was free of charge but that must had been included in the package offered.

it has now officially become my bookmark

Nevertheless, I was quite happy staying there. Nothing much to complain as I was always on the move and only spent the time in the room for less than twelve hours a day. For backpackers, this could be an option if you want a bit of luxury once in a while.

SITI KHADIJAH MARKET, KOTA BHARU

This is the shopping haven in the Kota Bharu city centre, for women especially. The place was a bit small but you can get everything your heart desires, especially the products locally produced. There is no doubt there are other shopping spots in Kelantan but for backpackers and people depending of public transport, the market is convenient enough.

ground floor

first floor

second floor

outside the market

7th JUNE - KOTA BHARU LAST DAY

On our last day in Kota Bharu, my old friend, Miss Zalina Ismail, was kind enough to voluntarily take us around to places outside the town. Or else, we wouldn't be so sure of what to do while waiting for the bus at 8:00 p.m. The first place we went to was Kuala Besar, a small fishing village located by the Kelantan River.

We stopped at a small factory producing and selling "keropok" [fish crackers] and we could observe how the workers were busy cleaning and processing the fish in the open work place.

Then, we went to Cahaya Bulan Beach, which is actually a famous tourist spot. However, the beach was badly eroded and the were large rocks arranged by the sea side to at least slow down the damage done by the waves. But I wonder, how long will this last?










And once we were there, we had to sample its well-known delicacy (from what I had read from other people's blog), fried squid and prawns coated in flour. But the one that got the highest rating from us would be the refreshing and cooling coconut water.

Miss Zalina then took us to a graveyard which was different as the length of the graves was longer and narrow in size. The plot of land was large but then it was divided into smaller lots and the smaller lands were fenced which was already booked, I suppose, by certain family members. By looking at some peculiarities of the tombstone as well as the structure of the graves, this could be the burying ground for royalties.

Lastly, we went to a significant spot in the local history, the first place where the Japanese Army landed in Malaya during World War ll, that was Sabak Beach. It was another fishing village by the sea and not much remnant of the past could be found here though.

Pengkalan Chepa Mosque

We managed to see a real Japanese Fort that was situated by the roadside in Pengkalan Chepa. Just imagine the number of people who had been killed here during the bloody war about 60 years ago.

So that was all, a 4-day visit to Kota Bharu. Even though I had been here before, this time round I must say I have covered many parts of the town. Thank you to Mr. Shamsul Nahar for the company throughout the stay, and to Miss Zalina for taking us around to some interesting places, as well as to Mr. Hisham for his help to ferry us back to the hotel during the first two days. The next school holiday will only be next November. Forget the break in August as we would be celebrating Eid at that time so there will be no expedition whatsoever.

6th JUNE - KOTA BHARU THIRD DAY [PART TWO]

Since I was in town, I took the opportunity to get in touch with my old friends. Nevertheless, there was only one person available, Miss Zalina Ismail. I was glad that she decided to take us out for dinner or else we would end up at the same Food Court in KB Mall. The last time I saw her was back in 1993, during convocation but it was easy to spot her as some people they did not change (a lot).





So we went to this exclusive looking dining place by the name of "Wau" and at that time, there were a lot of customers. Only after ordering did we realize that the proverb "never judge a book by its cover" applied here. The service was VERY slow and when requested why Shamsul's order of "belacan" [shrimp cake] fried rice did not arrive, they simply switched his food to "kampung" fried rice, to our amazement.

Nevertheless, thanks a lot to Miss Zalina for the time spent. Maybe next time, the TESL group members should have a gathering here in Kota Bharu.

6th JUNE - KOTA BHARU THIRD DAY [PART 0NE]

touring the city, foreigner style

The journey into the Kota Bharu town/city continued on the third day, on foot. By now, we had familiarized ourselves with roads but a map would still come in handy.

The first museum that we set foot in was the Kelantan State Museum. After all the museum visits, now all the exhibits looked more or less the same to me. But it was a relief to stay for quite some time. Other then drowning ourselves with the sea of knowledge, the cool air-condition was a bliss before we had to be exposed to the hot weather outside.








This was a jetty for the sampan [boats] that are using the Kelantan River. From its name, the facility was only for the access of the royal family members as there was not a single boat in sight.


This should be a new landmark for Kota Bharu, I supposed. The construction of the clock tower that was overlooking the Kelantan River had just been completed. Once it is opened to the public, then people can go up the tower and get a view of Kota Bharu from a higher level, which could be a tourist attraction.

This is Muhammadi Mosque that was located at the centre of all the tourist spots visited. We were there twice to perform prayers.

The last museum visited was the Arts and Crafts Museum, the smallest one. There were displays of the local arts and crafts which included batik and songket, as well as silver and brass products.





All in all, I learned a lot from this excursion. Apart from learning something new, some very old knowledge was refreshed like the story of Cik Siti Wan Kembang and Puteri Saadong.

For your information, camera was not allowed in all the premises but I needed to get things documented and published for my blog. This is solely for education purpose, and never for commercial reason. I also hope that I could promote visitors to these places as most of time it would be only Shamsul Nahar and me walking around the museum. And the museum staff would be just at the entrance collecting fees [RM1 per entry] so you could do whatever you wish to do here, and there was no CCTV too, I hope. Just in case if you have any relatives working there, please do not tell them I took pictures inside. :)