Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Kota Bharu in 2008

Kota Bharu in 2008 doesn't look much difference from the trip that I first made with my parents in the late 80's. Perhaps certain infrastructure in the city centre has been upgrade, but it doesn't took away the whole 80's ambience.
I'm not a bargain hunter so, basically I don't know where else to go other than the Central Market known as Pasar Siti Khadijah. However, I don't have anything in mind to look for over there since I'm not a big fan of Kelantanese delicacies  (of which mostly sweet stuff) plus I'm not a big fan of cramp-crowded places, so the only thing we did was taking a tour around the city center on wheels..

Monday, July 14, 2008

Exploring Terengganu - July 2008

My first journey to Besut involved a continuous 600 kilometers of driving from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu with the first pit-stop for breakfast in Kuantan, where we had a delicious calimari fried rice (it looks more of  fried calimari with rice with big portion of calamari than rice - nice!)
An hour later, we proceed the journey to Terengganu and after 5 hours of drive we reach Marang. We stop over by the coastal road and head for nearby stall for  quick lunch. All throughout, the weather was okay.

We decided to make another stop in Kuala Terengganu city centre which we regret so, as we were caught in traffic congestion. The congestion has delayed our arrival in Merang which is about 45 minutes journey from city centre. We opt to stay at Merang Suria Resort by the Tanjung Rhu Tapai beach facing the Redang Island. The resort however doesn't actually sits facing the beach, and you have to take a 5-minutes walk to take your stroll by the beach, however the beach was private and secluded, but as any other beach that facing South China Sea, it wasn't advisable to take a dip into the water even how alluring it seems to be.. Anyway , our room was on the 2nd floor and the room could be consider as neat. Its floor were finished with tiles which suit the condition of having to walk into the room with all the sands particle creeping your barefoot..Our windows are facing the sea while the entrance corridor was facing the pool, which create an advantage. However, the buffet was quite bland, so don't give a very high expectations on food here.


We checked out the very next day, not due to any bad reason that is, but we need to head for Besut which is about an hour journey from Merang. So, we checked-in at Bukit Keluang Beach Resort. It is an interesting resort with clusters of individual timber chalet with intricate carvings for selection. However it doesn't located immediately to the beach and you would need to walk more than 15minutes to get to the nearest beach.. Due to that, we decided to travel to Kota Bharu as it was only an hour away from our current location.

With all the traveling, we head home straight from Besut, stopping only for lunch.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Nilai 3

The first time I set foot in Nilai 3, I have this huge question-mark in my head - "why on earth would people come here to shopp??" It is so far away from city centre and it doesn't has anything more interesting other than the warehouse-like shopps selling mostly carpets, linens and flowers.. It's hot and humid with so many people (I have no idea where they're from) this is so not for me!!