Wat Photivihan

Location: Kampung Jambu, Tumpat

Wat Photivihan is one of the famous Siamese temple in Tumpat, Kelantan. It housing the biggest reclining Buddha statue in Malaysia, and also believed to be the largest in Southeast Asia. It measures 40m in length, 11m in height and 9m in width.

Besides the reclining Buddha, you also may visit the colorful temple besides it. No entrance fee when visiting the temple.

You need to ask the local people here for the direction if you are not familiar here. Road sign leading to the temple is not sufficient. Optionally, GPS will be your best buddy when going to this temple.

Construction work starts in year 1973, and completed in 1979. Some visitors (include my wife and me) surprised to see such a huge temple in this Muslim majority state. However, since the district is near to Thai's border, it most probably influenced by Thai's culture.

U-Lang Corner

Location: Jalan Wakaf Mek Zainab, Kota Bahru

Business Hours: Start selling at about 11.30am

We came here to have our lunch before continuing our journey to Terengganu. What is so special about this little restaurant by road side? It is famous for its Nasi Kerabu, also known as "Khao Jam" in Thai.

This is served with green-colored rice, with the mixture of many herbs. It has sliced onion, sliced cucumber, bean sprout, basil leaves etc. One can choose to have Khao Jam served with fish (ikan kembong) or with chicken.

Besides this, there are few other nice food to try over here. There is asam laksa, but it is different from what we usually have in KL. The gravy almost the same in KL, but the ingredient is different. Over here, the ingredient looks like the "chee cheong fun" that we usually had. We ordered a bowl and try it out... Yummy!!!

Also, we ordered a bowl of "chendol pulut tapai". We seldom have this in KL, so we tried out the taste and it is very nice to have it, especially during the hot day.

Siti Khadijah Market

We came to Siti Khadijah Market as it is a well known landmark in Kelantan. When you mentioned Selangor, you will think of "Royal Selangor Pewter". So do Kelantan, it will always associate with this vibrant and colorful market.

This market is located in the heart of Kelantan. From my search from the internet, it was found the market was renamed as "Siti Khadijah" by chief minister of Kelantan, Dato Hj Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat. Formerly, it was known as Pasar Besar Buluh Kubu. Siti Khadijah Market was named after the wife of Prophet Muhammad, Siti Khadijah, a successful businesswoman herself. The market is dominated by Kelantanese women.

When we reached here, it was almost noon time. Many stalls has called it for a day. Since we are here, we decided to buy something over here. After much consideration, we bought 2 packets of "red rice". Before we left the market, we bought longan here to eat during our journey to Terengganu.

Wat Matchimmaram

Location: Lot No 2367, Kg Jong Bakar, Jln Pengkalan Kubur, Tumpat, Kelantan

Wat Matchimmaram is easily located in Tumpat. While driving to the border town of Sg Golok, the Wat is situated just besides the main road. You might missed the main entrance to the temple, but definitely you won't miss the large Buddha statue.

The "Sitting Buddha" is believed to be the largest in Malaysia of its kind, estimated to be 98.4 feet in height. During our trip, we did came to take some picture during the evening, but the impact does not look good. We decided to pay a second visit during morning time, and the result is amazing.

Though there is no entrance fee charges, we didn't spend too much time over here. We just took few photos from outside as our memories.

Chengmai Thai Food Restaurant

Location:

No 107, Kampung Kulim, Wakaf Bharu Tumpat, Kelantan

Tel: 09-719 0568

How to get there:

While we were in Kelantan, we using the GPS to reach to this restaurant. Although I have had my dinner here before, but it was few years back during my work related task. This time around, we came here with the help of Garmin, our best buddy for travelling to foreign place.

My friend once told me that this is Siamese Village, as there are lot of other delicious restaurant around here. It is not only Chengmai Restaurant, but you will able to see other restaurant name which belong to Thailand's famous place.

We believe that there might be lot of people that sceptical about Kelantan, where it is hard to find delicious food around here. Afraid not, you can find lot of yummy foods if you know the place, and of course do some research before you come here for your cuti-cuti trip.

Food:

1. Prawn with coconut milk

Highly recommended food if you are eating here. This dish is a bit sour, spicy and mix together with coconut milk that deliver the wonderful milky taste, definitely fulfill your need on Thai food. The prawn was quite big and it is very fresh, making the dish very delicious and unforgetable. It would be hard to find the same type of food in KL. So if we were there again, definitely this is a MUST eat dish.

2. Seafood kerabu

From the first expression, we thought that this look alike another yam dish that we always had in KL. However, when we start eating it, we never doubt that we have make the right choice. Crispy yam basket with seafood and anchovy and guess what ? When it serve with the raw onion and fish sauce, it is just a perfect combination.

3. Squid cooked with lime sauce

Another seafood dish that we ordered, SQUID. This is the best among the 3 dishes that we have order. The most amazing part for this dish is you really taste the original freshness of squid despite it is steam with special lime sauce. We finish the whole dish and yet still keep on digging on whether there is any that being missed out, with that you can imagine how good and delicious the dish was.

Gua Musang Railway Station

Location: Gua Musang

While we were on the way to Kota Bahru, we decided to have a pit-stop in this small town called Gua Musang. This small town is almost famous for its limestone hills. Between the town and hill, there is a must visit place, which is the railway station.

Also, it is known as "Jungle Railway", which we get to know from wikipedia. Officially, the East Coast Railway line, it branches of the West Coast Trunk line at Gemas on the border of Johor and N Sembilan and goes through the forested heart (hence nicknamed as "Jungle Railway") of Peninsular Malaysia to Tumpat.

When one is inside the railway station, one will see 2 signboards, telling the passenger the direction of the north-bound train to Krai or Tumpat, or south-bound train to KL or Singapore. Besides that, one is exactly at the foot of the limestone hills while inside the railway station.

Another information that we would like to share would be the name of "Gua Musang" (Cave of Fox) from wikipedia.

"It was believed that long ago this town was inhabited by some superstition hunters who made offerings of animals in front of the cave of Bukit Gua Musang. One afternoon a raging storm broke out and the huts of the hunters were destroyed. At the height of the storm a bolt of lightning struck of the hill and nearly split it into two. The hunters, believing that the God of the Cave was angry with them, knelt down and began to pray. As they were praying they saw a huge pack of foxes (or musang in Malay) running into the cave. At once, they seized their bows and arrows and lay in wait for the foxes. They waited the whole evening but the foxes did not emerge, not even the storm had stopped. From then on, the inhabitants called the cave Gua Musang."

Wat Pracacinaram

Location: Kg Kulim, Wakaf Bharu, Kelantan.

We visited Wat Pracacinaram during the East Coast's cari-cari makan trip. Actually the Wat is very near to Chengmai Thai Food Restaurant, just a walking distance away. It is one of the many famous Siamese temples around the area. As for the local, this temple also known as "Wat Kampung Kulim" as it is located at Kg Kulim itself.

We liked the structure of the building, as it is resembling the Thai's colorful Buddhist temple. It took us about half an hour taking some photos as well as touring the temple's vicinity.

There is also herbal steam bath facility within the temple, which requires RM5.00 per person (as donation to keep the facility). However, during our visit, the temple was under renovation and we could only see the facility from outside.

It is basically boiling the water in a big tank, heated by firewood. The hot water will be added with herbs, ginger, onion etc by the monk there. The steam will then be released into the room. What a MISSED !!!