Day 2 - Kota Bharu

We checked out of Fully Inn after breakfast.....asking ourselves, nak ke KB/Pasir Mas or TasikKenyir? Ok Kota Bharu.

Goodbye GM...it has nice limestone mountains/cave, we were told. We have not actually discovered it all because of the rain.

The limestone hill as seen from the railway station

It was an 'overcast weather'. Logging GPS & off we go. Baru nak keluarkan camera, hujan pun turun....alahai...Passed by Daerah Dabong (this district seems big)- Kg Lela Jasa, Lata Sg Rek, Laloh, Karangan, Kuala Krai, Sg Sok, Manik Urai, Chuchoh Puteri, Kg Peria, Mengkabong, Kg Pahi (MRSM & SM Teknik here); stopped briefly at Dataran Peladang.

Along the way to KB, ternampak lagi nama2 tempat yang agak unik;- Chenulong, Batu Jong, Kuala Nal, Kg Keroh, Pasir Gajah, Kg Telekong, Banggol Kulim, Laklok, Pangkal Jenereh, Paloh Rawa, Setor Lima (ternampak sign 'gerai Tuak??), Temangan, Jambu Lawar, Ayer Hijau, Kg Simpul, Kg Kemuning, Bukit Bakar(recreation area). Kiri kanan jalan berselang seli sawah padi, ladang kelapa sawit serta kebun getah.

Machang, Labok(SMSains), Kolam Air Panas Tok Bok, Pulai Chondong, Bukit Buluh, Merbau Chondong....rain getting heavier.

Daerah Kota Bharu (Bkt Merbau, Kok Lanas)

Daerah Ketereh (Cekok, Melor, Pasir Putih, Kedai Piah, Lundang Paku, Kg Chengal, Kadok, Pdg Halban, Kg Berangan, Perol Peringat, Pendek Limbat, Mulong...list go on....

Arrived Kota Bharu after two and a half hours . There was massive jam around town area as there were many visitors to Pasar Siti Khadijah. Checked into Grand Riverview Hotel, Kota Bharu. We can see Sg Kelantan from our window.

Riverview Hotel lobby

Jalan jalan cari makan brought us to Pantai Cahaya Bulan(PCB). We ate at the roadside stalls, to the sound of Laut Cina Selatan waves (kuatnye bunyi dia-seram). Ordered a few varieties but I pictured the best - Sup Gearbox, fuh terangkat tau!

It was just past 3pm when we got back from PCB, so we headed to Pasar Besar Siti Khadijah.

There were two buildings, separated by Laman Siti Khadijah. We went to the one that has wet market, bought some souvenirs (kain batik/pelikat) before going back to the hotel.

The wet pasar taken from 1st floor

After maghrib, again we went out for food. A 10 mins walk to Pasar Khadijah, saw only three of us, mana pi orang lain??? Adil said we could menari guling guling on the road!

We had a good night sleep, woke up early hoping to capture sunrise, but was dashed, as the sun did not rise! he he. Checked out & headed to the Pasar...again. We missed nasi dagang. I bought the rice, so i could make it back home.

Went to the first floor where they sell goodies (dodol, asam, serunding etc) & the second floor (tudung, kain, baju...). I was excited to see all these (orang Penang kata ketaq kepala). Bought more goodies for those at home.

Ops, on the ground floor, I saw a very light green colored chili, something new as i normally see the deep green chili.

Kelantan is indeed a nice, quiet place, still maintaining its traditional values and most of all - all the cek meks over there molek molek belako, serious, they are beautiful & hardworking.

Here are some of the pretty traders

Habis shopping, kami pun nak balik Penang lah, kali ni ikut Gerik pula.....

Sekali lagi we passed by places with unique names;- Kg Mat Pomen, Wakaf Che Yeh, Kg Pendek, Salor, Pdg Sakar, Parit China....

There're many houses along the way, the road quite busy.......then back to the quiet one.

Tau tau ada lagi tempat yang boleh jamu mata......ketaq kepala sekali lagiiiii.

This time it's a place called Bukit Bunga in the Tanah Merah District. Ada banyak gerai kat tepi jalan, menjual segala macam barang, soft toys, goodies, baju, beras.....hai meriah.

Stop juga nak memeriahkan lagi keadaan yang sudah sedia meriahnya dengan barang2 bergantungan, berbagai warna.

Habis tu apalagi, baliklah....jumpa lagi nama tempat yg unik;- Buketa, Gemang, Lakota, Kg Bkt Pak Mud, Kg Sg Mekong, Kg Salor, Tumbi Rapat, Kg Bt Melintang....

Magnificent view of the green countryside...

Tasik Banding, we stopped to capture view...

Tak larat nak bagitau dah nama2 tempat yang di lalui , yang pasti pemandangannya indah. Satu percutian indah tanpa di plan........

Then, we are back to our everywhere anywhere place called home....Everywhere?-you see people & buildings everywhere...anywhere??-you can see vehicles parked anywhere!

Gua Musang escapade -somewhere nowhere ride

Thursday, 25 Dec, Christmas Day

We started our 'somewhere nowhere' trip. Somewhere because we decided to go to Gua Musang, Kelantan & the nowhere refers that we don't really have a place to stay! Adventurelah kira nya.

We left Penang about 8.30am, after a brief b'fast at McD, Autocity. One and a half hours later we stopped at Bukit Merah Laketown, saja nak snap snap snap...cuti cuti nowhere kan...

Hubby yang take 'serious' pictures here and here, while Adil & myself ronda2 & take photos just for memory sake...

Bukit Merah Laketown entrance

Ingat nak pose lidah sama, takut Cik Igua 'murka' pulak

Adil, me, Wan. Missing in picture is Alif - he shud be here

Then off on the road again. Weather was good....only a little while for just after that, it started to drizzle. We pray for good weather, neither sunny nor rainy, so we could capture images along the way. Brief stop at Simpang Pulai for fuel/food before 'climbing' up Cameron Highlands, still undecided whether to stop at Cameron Highlands (CH) or continue to Gua Musang(GM). Weather does not permit good "along the way" photo shoot, so we only manage images thru our very own 'eye-lenses'

It was still drizzling when we reached the Cameron/GM junction - we decided to go straight to GM! The scenery was nice (we don't find 'green hills' anymore in town) though it was raining. The hill slope between Cameron and Lojing was full of activities- Strawberry/Vegetable farming.

The journey was very 'sunyi' not a car within the stretch...until an hour and a half later, we overtook a car. There were however quite a flow on the opposite site towards CH. It was amazing that hubby & me don't feel sleepy or tired, unlike the drive to KL. We both enjoyed the view but Adil??? Oh this guy slept throughout the journey. I make records of the names of the places we passed by (missed some of them) -: Sg Beruk, Perasu, Felda Chiku 1-8, Tmn Negara Kuala Koh, Felda Sg Aring, Paloh, Chalil, Lebir

This was indeed a 'rain journey'. We reached GM at about 2 pm and with help of GPS, looked for a place to stay. Trying a nice name, we logged Evergreen Hotel....arrived there & Adil strongly requested we find another place.......The hotel's on the first floor and the stairs up reminded me of the song "...& we go up to the room...at the top of the stairs...." Cancel! we looked for another one & settled with Fully Inn (which incidentally not "fully" booked). The 3-storey building has no lift so we climbed our way to the room on the second floor. It was raining, so after lunch (tapau from gerai behind hotel), we had our 'siesta'. All shops closed (X'mas), no mall but luckily ada pasar malam that day. Redah hujan to buy dinner (nak tengok around town actually) and bumped into this cek mek molek jual tudung, ha moleklah tu.....

Cik mek molek hok tudung brown tu

Tak ada apa nak buat lepas maghrib, watched tv, read magazines we brought along. Kesian Adil, he was so bored that he read newspaper! Something he doesn't do back home & now I know where to take him if i want him to read. The other classic place in GM is the railway station. We cannot capture the station from outside as it was raining.

An Evening in Telok Tempoyak

Telok Tempoyak is a rather small fishing village located in Penang, accessible thru the coastal road. For newbies, you probably need someone to assist you there.
This quiet place has (probably) 2 eateries, one on left, the other on the right and offers a variety of food, particularly the famous ikan bakar, seafood, noodles, satay etc etc.....come and experience yourself.
We went there for dinner yesterday, and my hubby & kids took the opportunity to capture the evening thru their lenses.
We ordered simple - Vege tomyam, Masak lemak lala, Ketam masak lada, kangkong belacan, ikan pari bakar with air asam and white rice...hmmmm yummy. We enjoyed the food to the rhythm of the waves...
Sorry, was too hungry to capture the food but.... I leave it to your imagination..
I however captured the evening thru my hp...

Pizza

Masih ada masa sebelum 'beradu', nak share juga resepi pizza yang makcik buat 2 hari sudah.....

Pizza base
500gm high protien flour (fr experience, plain flour pun ok)
1 packet (11gm) dry yeast
1/2 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cup water
1 teasp salt

Knead all ingredients together, make sure it does not stick to the bowl, otherwise,add a little bit more flour.

Leave to rise (double) in the bowl, about 30-60 mins, covered with wet towel.

Divide the flour into 4 portion (will fit 4 , 9"baking tray). This option is open, depending on your baking tray. Leave to rise or abt 15 mins.

Normally, i will half-bake my base, so i can keep for use later.
To proceed, top the base with tomato paste of your choice (i will share later my version of pasta sauce), sometimes i use Prego pasta sauce or just canned tesco chopped tomatoes
Top with your favourite toppings, pepperoni, basil leave, onions, capcicum or just chopped garlic, followed by grated cheese (mozzarela/cheddar), sprinkle with a dash of oregano, black pepper and bake till the cheese turns slightly golden .
Eat it while hot and enjoy.
I made this very simple as i sometimes use normal bread or pratha bread (you can buy this in supermarket) as base.

My pizza with chopped tomatoes & pepperoni

Jalan-jalan

Spent sunday morning driving to Batu Ferringhi for breakfast. Hubby with his camera, clicking away & I, not wanting to just sit and watch, used my handphone (sony ericsson-he he kira promo ke ni?).
The outcome? Hmmm quite nice one......as seen here. Maybe the photo is too small, but if you notice writings on the rocks...i just wonder how those guys wrote the words high up the rocks...ni baru orang kata kes cinta berapi...

Aidil Adha

Kami sekeluarga balik kampung (tak jauh pun-sejam perjalanan je).....since adik dah masak soto, makcik buat bubur pulut hitam & fruit tartlet.

Aktiviti yang riuh rendah tak ada sebab kanak2 yg nak buat bising dah tak ramai this time, so we spent our time catching up with each other's story...Sembang2 juga pasal nak buat family day & kami sepakat serahkan tugas mencari tpt, menghebah etc etc kepada younger generation....dan inilah a few of the younger genarations (ala ala 'pemudi harapan bangsa') yang sibuk benar nak posing....

Hidayah, suriani, ati, kak pija, adil (just to mention a few), start sourcing now...we'll guide you through.

kak pija, ati & hidayah

Family outing

Saturday, 5 Dec.....My better half, Adil(2nd/youngest son) and myself decided to go somewhere for 'photography'...where? nobody can decide, so hubby drove straight across the bridge. We thought of having breakfast at Seberang Jaya,instead we ended somewhere in Telok Air Tawar. From there, we headed to Pantai Merdeka (my last visit there was probably >30 yrs ago). Hubby & Adil took photographs while I 'dok buat bodoh' staring at the sea......

I observed boys (young entrepreneurs)at the beach doing business-renting floats. They seemed to lead very simple life...playing with whatever they found on the beach, swimming in the sea and i even noticed one boy cycling with only the 'rim' of the bicycle, no tyre! Tak payah nak sibuk2 pi lepak kat coffee bean/starbucks/mall etc like our children. I was also from kampung ...panjat pokok hanya berkain batik (he..he) tapi anak2 dah kurang kekampungan nya.....

After spending about 2 hrs there, we decided to visit Museum Arkeologi, Lembah Bujang. Tired (it was drizzling), we only managed to 'visit' the waterfall within the Museum vicinity (he he he).

From there it was another 'nowhere' ride to look for food as it was already 'lunchtime'. We stopped at Tanjung Dawai, well known for its 'Belacan' for lunch.

Habis lunch & shop for ikan kering, we headed home...Penang i mean. Naik feri & straight drove to Telok Bahang (to the very end of the world lah konon). We stopped at Taman Negara entrance, dah tutup cos its already 7pm. Hubby ambik gambar lagi, & i pun snap snap snaplah.

Pondok tu bersebelahan Pejabat Urusan Tmn Negara & the other one is the jetty where you can take a boat ride to Pantai Keracut. We can also take a 1-2 hrs hike thru the hutan to reach to Pantai Keracut, that's what people told me...haven't been there.

After magrib, we had dinner at the roadside Tari Cafe, Tanjung Bungah and then home sweet home....zzzzzzzz

Zizi in memory

Zizi bte Ismail- 4 Sept 1965 - 28 Nov 2008
Received phone call saying Zizi was critical.
8.15am-Rushed to hospital, she could still talk & smile & joke....her hubby by her side.
10 am- Ambulance took her home, friends/relatives started pouring in upon hearing news....
11.15am - innalillahiwainna ilaihiroji'uunn......she lost her battle, about 2 yrs after being diagnosed of having melanoma.
...A bubbly, honest & cheerful young lady, married to Saw & blessed with a son (17) and daughter (14). She spent her last one month in hospital...
Dearest Zie, you may be gone but memories of our moments together will be cherished forever.

Zizi was one of the first few that I acquainted with when I moved to Penang Island from B'worth in 2002.

May Allah swt keep you among the favourite ones, alFatihah.