Kota Bharu, Here They Come.

Flight MH1396 touched down on time at Kota Bharu Airport on 11th August 2008. Puteri and her huband Douglas with their children Duncan and Denise in tow with two trolleys of baggage were the last to exit from the arrival hall.

They had to hire a taxi just to carry their baggage to Hotel Raudah where I have booked them a room. A family room with two extra beds in a hotel right smack in Kota Bharu seemed to have serve them. If they are not happy I will have to relocate them to another hotel in town.
Due to the death of a distant member of the family by a fatal road accident, I was unable to take them around on the second day. They did some part of the town on their own. They made the mistake od taking an unnecessary taxi ride to The War Museum which cost them RM8.00 (after some bargaining) since it was just a short distance away from where they were. See Puteri's story of their adventure in Kota Bharu here.
I came over the next day and took them to visit the Buddhist temples in Tumpat namely the Sleeping Buddha and the squatting Buddha. Puteri pointed out the influence of the Chinese culture in the later as displayed by the presence of the dragon motif on the pillars and the Chinese God which I wouldn't have noticed while Douglas pointed to the sculptures of the monkeys that depict the famous "see no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil" principle that we all should adhere to.
On the way back to Kota Bharu my guests wanted to see how akok is made and they saw it somewhere in Wakaf Baru.
We had lunch at Pasar Besar Siti Khadijah in Kota Bharu which many tourists wouldn't have done. Puteri was attracted to a stall with some large cuttlefish on display. The stall was empty so it was convenient for the five of us to sit in. I forgot to warn Puteri that an empty stall during peak hour doesn't reflect well on the food's palatabilty. It was later proven so when the cuttle fish turned out to be leather tough and not as succulent as it looks. Douglas had two packets of laksa Kelantan costing a mere ringgit each which serve him fine for what was to follow uo next.

Duncan can put up a sweet smile while Denise who is hidden behind Duncan enjoyed her piece of chicken. Puteri looked at her seemingly delicious cuttlefish which proved to be not so succulent.
After the lunch I showed Douglas and Puteri the most often photographed central part of the Pasar and they took a couple of shots with their camera.
Next we went over to the fruit section on the ground floor where Douglas showed every passerby how a durian loving American eat the durian batang mas from Thailand. The same durian would have cost them dearly if taken in California. Durians are exported in the frozen form from Thailand. The earlier laksa lunch was fine for Douglas as it leaves him with enough space to finish off the whole durian with Puteri. Me? I can't take any durian and just enjoyed the sight of them eating them while taking pictures of them with my old camera. How I miss my Alpha 350 which is still under repair.

Puteri admiring his man for being able to eat durian like the locals do.

Duncan need to pee. I took him to the public toilet and he readily posed for a photograph with a smile while holding back his urge to pee.

Compared to the toilet near the fish market in Labuan, this toilet isn't very ceria at all. Anyway Duncan managed to do it this time which he couldn't at the other toilet on the other side of the pasar. Anyway they refunded his payment for entrance when I told the keeper that the toilet wasn't clean enough for him. Being a child, the lady keeper had to believe him.

It was the night for the gathering with Kelantan bloggers at Yati Ayam Percik in Jalan Long Yunus. I went there early to book tables for 20 people set at 8.00 PM. Pakpayne of A Clear Blue Sky and Bakpo and family came to the Raudah Hote Hotel first since he didn't know the location of the place we were holding the gathering. Pakpayne doesn't look his gae and Lil looked resplendent too. After doing their maghrib's prayers, Pakpayne and family followed us in a convoy from Hotel Raudah to the place and so he had no problem. Captain Yusof of the Ancient Mariner had checked the place out during the day time so he thought he could find the place easily. I had to ask the others to start eating while I went to search for Captain Yusof with his group of NGO friends. He told me he was waiting infront of a small mosque at the junction of Jalan Bayam and Jalan Dusun Muda. He missed the bigger landmark of the 13 storey Wisma Persekutuan and The Sutera Inn across the road whose only signboard faces the other side of the road. The mosques was definitely too small as a lorry parked infront of it hid it from my sight.
When we reached Yati Ayam Percik, the other members including the latest arrival Awin of Little Dewa and her kid Dani were almost done with their dinner. Our own dinner was served soon after.
Wan Aziz of Kelantankini.com was the last to arrive as he had to send his wife off to Perak.

Pakpayne' family is at the ened of the table. Will have to ask Pakpayne for a picture of his other half.
Captain Yusof explained to me the function of his NGO, The Friends of Kelana Jaya. The association also help them to find an excuse to be away from home. I must set up a similar association in Pasir Mas too. I definitely need an excuse to be away from home sometimes.

The five of them above are from the NGO. The nearest to the camera is of course Captain Yusof, Syed Khalid on his left, Nusa hidden behind Syed Khalid, Yap hidden behind Captain Yusof and Gabriel beside yours truly. Let us see if others have more frontal picture so that I can replace this picture.
It seemed that nobody brought their kain batik lepas and Puteri brought along a kain batikSarawak since she didn't know what a kain batik lepas is. The five pieces that I brought along was of course not enough to give everyone each. After writing our names and blogsite on the kain batik lepas with a fabric marker which Puteri brought out from her bag after seeing me brought only a permanent marker which wouldn't last, we wore the cloth as a semutar for the photography session.

Kamal showed Douglas how to wear the semutar while Captain Yusof looked on.

The group photograph. From left to right: Awin, Pak Zawi, Pakpayne, Kamal, Wan Aziz, Douglas, Captain Yusof and Puteri.
The kids: Duncan, Luqman and Dani.
It was at about 10.30 PM that we called the day off. How I wish we could stay longer with such friends but knowing everybody has had a long day, breaking off early is definitely a wiser action. Let the event be short and sweet.
Finally I would like to record a word of thanks to those who contributed financially to the event especially the one from KL who contributed but knowing full well that she couldn't attend. To Syana, you were with us though not physically. To those who attended, you were our guests and we definitely enjoyed your company.
Today 14th August, Puteri, Douglas, Duncan and Denise has left Kelantan for a night stay in KL before flying off to California USA tomorrow. We wish you a safe journey home.