A Walk in Town

The weather was nice and I have a couple of hours to kill. 10 am on a Monday morning and in was on leave. My camera was with me and Pasar Siti Khadijah was only 10 minutes away by foot.

Off I went without much hesitation.

The traffic in the morning was quite happy. I walked past the bus terminal, made a right turn and before I knew it, I was already at one of the entrances of the unmistakeable facade of the market.

It was the day before Aidil Adha, and I wasn't expecting the place to be crowded. But minis the crowd, I felt that place lost some of its photogenicity. I managed to squeeze out some decent photographs but ,in us the crowd people were aware that in was snapping at them.

I hung around for about half an hour, before deciding to head put to Bazaar Buluh Kubu next door. Again, my timing was bad. I was too early.

It was around 11 and only a handful of the shops were opened. Colourful, but again minus the crowd, I couldn't slip in to take photographs.

The sun was really high by now, and I took some time taking in the cityscape. They still have plenty of old buildings built after the war at the city center. Mostly built with art deco influence most needed refurbishments. The area around the bus terminal caught my eyes. And one particular bakery was calling me in.

More about the bakery later. As for now, let's just enjoy the snap and the ambiance.

Link to the photowalk slideshow can be seen here. More write-ups from the whole trip here.

Bring the Pasar Back!

Talking about renovations, when I was walking from the Menara Utama to Menara Timur yesterday, I realised that the main corridor linking the two were closed. There was a big sign blocking the way. It used to be main walkway for patient transfer. It turned out that there was a some renovation work going on at Pasar Siti Khadijah, a foyer at Menara Timur.

It was called a pasar - meaning market - because back when I first joined UMMC, once a month, usually after payday, there were stalls being erected there, selling clothes, foodstuffs, gifts and I used to enjoy going there to buy some pickles. I knew the nurses like the market, and so were the patients. I used to buy pickles and snacks for the nurses back then. Unfortunately, the market stopped operating three years back. Not sure why, but it was a crying shame.

So far I have seen that they have put on a coat of paintAt the moment, the foyer were used for indoor sports, patient gathering and assembly points. I'd say, bring the pasar back!

KB Photo Walk

The famous Pasar Siti KhadijahOne peculiar thing about KB during my stay there was the gorgeous weather during the day, but it will start to rain late afternoon, making evening stroll during the golden hour a bit of a challenge. I decided to take my camera out during the late morning instead but unfortunately time was tight and I only had a couple of hours on my hands on the Monday morning for a walk.

There were quite a few places to visit reading through the various blogs. The ones I wanted to visit was definitely the famous Pasar Siti Khadijah - not for the shopping I must add - the War Memorial, the State Museum and Islamic Museum. Unfortunately time was tight, I plotted a round route taking me to the Memorial, Pasar then the State Museum.

Can't remember what this was called, but it was partially run down alreadyThe War Museum basically chronicled the struggle during the Japanese occupation. The materials were decent, plenty to read and ponder, even though there was not much in terms of exhibits. The ground floor was mainly on the World War while on the first floor, there were rooms housing royal mementos and the such. Took me close to 45 minutes to read through. Realising I was running out of time, I headed straight for Pasar Siti Khadijah.

Remember staying at this hotel during my first trip to KB back in 1988The Pasar - or market - was unique in the sense that it was under a big dome, and the majority of the sellers were Malay ladies. It has a central wet market, while the two upper floors mainly do packed food and clothes. If you were into clothes, you should check out Pasar Buloh Kubu next door instead. But be prepared to haggle. Make sure you have a local with you since the moment you open your mouth, people can tell if you’re from Kelantan or not - 50% discount if you were local trust me!

If you read websites or brochures about Kota Bharu, Pasar Siti Khadijah would definitely be a feature. From a vantage point on the second floor, you can see all the business taking place, a neat place to snap photos. It was too conspicuous of me to carry my dSLR walking around the market snapping picture on my own, so I stayed at the vantage point instead.

Puan Anita's favourite makan place in KB - Sun Two and Hoover

The Kelantan State MuseumNext was a quick stride across town to the State Museum, passing rows of old storefront, and Hotel Temenggung. I think I must have stayed there in 1988 on my first trip with my Mum to Kota Bharu. The hotel still looked the same. In front of the museum was a round-about with a newly built clock tower right in the middle. The museum was showing an exhibit on snakes - which was a hit amongst the local. I could see schoolbus-load of students coming through the entrance as I was making my way in. The locals - at least their children were pretty mesmerised by snakes. The exhibit was rather corny when I learned that part of the draw was a lady sitting in a glass room full of poisonous snakes - “Gadis dengan Ular Berbisa”. I switched off after that. I was hoping more on historical account of the state, wau bulan, gasing, wayang kulit and the likes.

My two hours was up. I had to go to Pengkalan Chepa for lunch right after, followed by a drive to Rantau Panjang for more shopping.

More constructions for the weekend

It used to be a hall with occasional stalls at the end of the months. The stalls used to indicate to me that it was pay day! I definitely spend money there. Usually at the shop selling pickles, asam and jeruk. And I usually buy for the nurses as well. They love them. Unfortunately there has not been any stalls for the last few months, ever since the constructions were going on.

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