A trip to the Islam State

I'm back! Saturday evening actually.. It was indeed a great a trip. We were purposed to bless the Kota Bahru folks there, end up, we were the one being blessed. Very blessed.

There are two alternatives to Kota Bahru. Either by boarding the bumpy train (takes around 10 hours) or by plane (45 minutes). Managed to book the cheap flights by Air Asia and the tickets are actually cheaper than boarding the train.



Oh what do you expect with a RM 1.99 ticket rite? Of course you have do some walking.



SELAMAT DATANG KE KELANTAN DARUL NAIM


Mun Wah and Emeri at the foreground. Take note of the background art. So Islamic!

We were greeted by this Islamic-art airport. This airport is something like our old Subang airport; in terms of size and services.


The girls that went were Emeri, Mayvern, Shee Wuen, Madeline, Mun Wah and myself. You can tell which foot belong to who. Cough.

Oh by the way, before I go on.. take note at our footwear. We're on a TRIP with a youth group and we should expect lotsa walkings and what not. You should be expecting more comfy footwears such as walking shoes or sport shoes but no, someone brilliant actually wore high heels to the airport and brought along 2 flip flops for this journey. Cough. You know who laa..



This is the church that we visited. And it's located at the center of the city. It's just opposite the KB mall; the LARGEST, one and only mall in the entire of Kota Bahru.


KB mall

It's like our Jusco back in Klang where you will meet at least someone you know when you go to the mall. Quoting from Andrew, "Everyone will meet everyone in this mall, as its the only place in town where we can walk or buy stuffs"

This mall seems so huge but to my finding, they have NO cinema in the entire of Kelantan. They have lotsa supplies of pirated VCDs and DVDs for sure, but no surround sounds and atmosphere? That's a pity. I was told that there are crazy people (Florence's friends) where they would board the bus at night, travel all the way to KL (they'll reach in the morning) to watch Spiderman 3 and then travel back to KB by bus, reaching KB at night. It's like travelling for almost 20 hours to watch the 2 hours movie and then return home. Watching good movies in the cinema just have the power of attractions eh? This taught me to appreaciate the many facilities and entertainments back here.


Found this notice at the entrance to a snooker place in the mall

Oh, did I mentioned that we're in an Islam place where short pants are prohibited? Err.. not really prohibited for a non-muslim like us if we wear knee-length-shorts but not anything shorter than this..



We will NOT be fined but everyone will give us a weird stare. NO short pants for public areas like shopping malls etc. And yea, if any Muslims are caught wearing shorts or anything, they WILL BE FINED RM 300. Thank God am not a muslim there.

Moving on, we put down our luggages in the church when we reached, started doing soundchecking and fixed our instruments. After that, we went downstairs to the shop lots to have some food. Boy, the food here are so cheap!



Oh that's my tomyam by the way. According to Pei Fong (my KB friend), the tomyam in this shop is good. And I agreed. And the tomyam only costs RM 3?? You know those rice with a dish (eg. Blackpepper chicken rice) would cost at least RM 5 per plate back here, over there in KB each of these only costs RM 2.80. My oh my~ The huge glass of fresh fruit juices only costs RM 1.60 each where here will at least cost you RM 2.50 per glass.

We took over the worship for the bible study on Thursday nite. It's supposed to start at 8pm but people there are really punctual, they all come at 7.30pm. Unlike those back here.. cough. Vee Lun (my monash friend from KB) called and said he wants to take us out for supper. Pei Fong texted me telling me that he's in KB mall, asked if I can go and meet him there. But Andrew took us out for supper, so had to decline this two friends. So sweet of them right? Thanks friends!

Told Pei Fong that Andrew's taking us out for supper and I asked if he wants to join us. He wanted to, but it was too late to go out already. It was just 10 pm at that time! Did I mentioned that most of their bedtime is between 10-11 pm? Nobody goes out after 10 pm in KB. It's a little too late as if it's already 1 am in KL. So, there isn't much of a nightlife there. Hardly you can find mamak stalls. We had our supper at Oriental Kopitiam and Andrew treated us all. Thanks, Andrew!



The following morning (Friday), we had our breakfast at this famous beef noodle restaurant downstairs. And it operates only in the morning.





For beef noodle lovers out there, you should try! People commented that this is the best beef noodle shop in the entire of Malaysia. I had my first beef noodle here and I liked it well. The beef is tender and the soup is just.. tasty! It's just the row of shops below the church and you guys should try it when you're there! Oh, Uncle Raymond loves it heaps and he paid our bill. Gosh. All paid for.. really paiseh. Thanks Unc Ray!

I don't usually take breakfast, what more such heavy breakfast as this BEFORE church service. After service, Andrew's parents brought us out for Khaojam (its pronounced as cow-jump). Pastor Alan loves this.. Uncle Raymond can have 3 plates of these though the serving for each plate is quite a big portion.



It's actually some green-herb rice mixed with raw vegetables like cucumber, onion, taugeh, finely-chopped fried fish. It may sound yucky when I tell you this but.. its yummy! Seriously!



This is Khaojam. Emeri, Mun Wah and I shared one plate

We went to KB mall after lunch for ice-creams. These HUGE scoops of ice-cream with topping only costs RM 2.80 each. All time favourites! =)



It's delicious!
The guys bought so much. It's cheap and they called KB the ice-cream heaven. LOL.


This is (the handsome) Ronnie with his ice-cream

The girls shared a bowl of thai tomyam in the mall. Six of us were full but we wanted to try. So, we all shared.



We were at the mall for an hour plus only and then back to church to pack before we adjourned to the beach.



On our way there, there are many stalls by the roadside selling same things just like those lemang stalls on the way to Genting Highlands. Steamed sweet corns and steamed ground nuts. At least 9 stalls by the same road. Uncle Raymond stopped by and bought some. 8 corns for RM 5. That's a deal weyy! Those sold in our pasar malam costs at least RM 1.30 each. Well, according to our KB friends we were cheated. Too expensive. Oh yea, did I mentioned that a huge plastic bag filled with pisang goreng only costs RM 1 in Kota Bahru? Crazy! All these deals amazed big city kids like us.

The amazing views of Pantai Cahaya Bulan (formerly known as Pantai Cinta Berahi but after PAS took over, it sounded "obscene".. must choose a more decent name and there it goes..)











It's peaceful and relaxing.



The girls.



This is our chalet

The church booked 2 chalets for us for the night. And they purposely had their youth meeting there with us. The youth invited a lot of other their friends just because the HCA team is here. Whoa! Felt so honoured weyy! Lotsa non-believers. About 40 young people from there turned up. We had campfire!


City brats like us (or like me) have never experienced all these campfires before. Where can we do this? Klang river? LOL. So cannot blame rite?

We had praise and worship around the fire. A few couples of adults came along to join the fun. They are young at heart man! We all sung and danced and everyone enjoyed. Oh, how can i leave out the ever-loving-cute chicken dance! So chunted when everyone does it!



We had potbless for dinner. The food were awesome man! Thai tomyam was one of it! Whoosh~ True blessings from heaven!

After that we were divided into 5 groups of mixed KB and KL young people. We played games and I believe everyone had a great time. They laughed their lungs out and everyone was exhausted. At least my sister was (sweat so much running around during games). She doesn't usually sweat like this.

The entire thing ended around 11 pm. It was superbly late for them!! Remember? Anyway, we bathed and rested for the night.




The Muslims wore long TRACKSUITS into the pool! What do you think?

There's a huge swimming pool there too. As the chalet's guest, we're allowed to use this swimming pool and we're supposed to wear shorts and tee into the pool (not swimsuit). LOL. Well, as you all know we're in a Muslim state. cough. None of us went into the pool because we didn't bring extra sets of clothes.

Posers (learnt and still learning from Amelia. cough)









We checked-out about 12 something. Florence and her mom brought us out for lunch. The place seems dirty. Not really dirty, but lotsa house flies all around.



The food is called Nasi Lauk. It's yummy! Basically, its rice with curry chicken (their style) and kunyit fried chicken.



It's seriously delicious! And it's only RM 2 per packet. Great deal!

Went back to church, packed our luggages. Florence brought us to the market to buy some famous local delicacies such as dodol and keropok ikan home. They are cheap. Good bargain.
And.. I saw this in the market



This somewhat looks like my dented pingpong balls are telur penyu (turtle's eggs). They are sold in the market; 3 for RM 5. Not cheap eh!

Rushed to the airport after that and we were almost late. The check-in counter was about to close in 10 seconds. Managed to check-in but of course the clerk bebel-ed (nagged) because we were late.

We were back safe and sound. Overall, it was a great trip I must say. As said, we were supposed to bless the people there but we ended up being blessed. What more can I ask for? Thank You, Jesus!

Till then, signing OFF.