People were surprised that I went to Kota Bharu, why would someone like that go to a place like that they said. Well to an extent I went to Kota Bharu becuase it is different. But also becuase it was logically in a travelling loop to get to Taman Negara from Penang without going back down the west coast. I caught the bus from Butterworth and the trip over the mountains had taken a few more hours than I had been told to expect. But then I had distrusted the body language of the man who told me. He was guessing.
I arrived in the bus terminal and had decided to stay at a backpackers that sounded nice. The only draw back, I could not find it. When I asked a man, who I suspect did not really understand, but maybe he did. He told me I needed to get a cab and then a boat. So I looked at another back packers that was close to where I was at the time. I did not like the room, though the vibe was good. So I ended up staying at a moderately expensive hotel near by which was more the haunt of cheap business men. The staff at the hotel were very helpful. My room also looked out on the main microwave tower mast which is located in the middle of town and was the highest thing around, giving me a good point of reference.
After getting into my room, I went out and wandered the town for an hour. I was quite tired, feeling a bit sick, so I just went for a short wander before heading back to my hotel room for some rest. I walked initially to the river. I passed through a Chinese part of town. There were a small number of food stalls with an impressive array of food and lots of customers. But I was not yet ready to eat.
I then, after a short walk reached the river front. They are in the process of making it quite up-market. The eating places there were clearly the most expensive in the parts of the town I visited. There were only a small number of well heeled customers. There were a few boats on the wide brown muddy river.
I then headed back inland and a little down stream. There were now some impressive bits of architecture as I headed into a land of colonial architecture, sultan’s palaces and mosques and all the government buildings that go along with these things.
Golden hour is a great time to be there as all the gates and things with gold writing face directly towards the sun and get the best light.
The markets were just setting up for the night. So I did not do any shopping there. With my penchant for taking photos of streets, and buildings, I did not get many photos of the people. But in many ways, it is the people that make this place. As one of the few majority Muslim major cities in West Malaysia, it was interesting to see that this mainly meant that people who would be in other cities wearing jeans, or short skirts were still wearing jeans and short skirts but also with colourful scarves. I was well pleased to see this and say that the Muslim women here were the best dressed that I saw in Malaysia. I found the towns people relaxed and friendly. I wish I had more photos of the people, but my lens was not really suitable for such shots.
I then came to the main mosque. As always, I was inappropriately dressed, so I did not go in.
This market seemed to be selling food stuffs, but I did not wander over to it.
Clearly you have to watch out for bag snatchers in front of the sultan’s palace.
There were a few people riding bikes, but more than in most Malaysian cities.
Finally I stopped to eat. This place seemed quite good and the food was good. I had chicken and omelette and rice. I can’t remember what the drink was.
As you can see there are signs in Arabic. This is quite common in this city. Especially the Chinese signs are also in Arabic.
So I would recommend more than one evening in Kota Bharu. I had intended to spend two nights there and that would have let me visit the museums. But my changed plans to say an extra day in Penang and the issues with the train to Jerantut, meant that I only ended up staying the one night and leaving the next morning.
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