K'tan post: you cannot leave Kelantan without doing some of these… Crucial onformation!

For all my ramblings I forgot to put down some crucial information for Kelantan first – time visitors.

1. ALWAYS say “kurang manis” (less sweet) when you are ordering a drink. ALWAYS. See how I emphasize on this. Because if you don’t, I think you’ll be drinking what that is worth 5 – 10 drinks worth of sugar and condensed milk. No kidding. I was served with milo with 1/3 of the glass consisting of condensed milk. My other mistake was to swirl the spoon too much that all of it dissolved resulting in the most revolting and sweetest milo that I’ve ever drank. So in line with “kurang manis”, DON’T EVER swirl your spoon until you have tasted the drink.

2. When buying corn – in – cup, always check how they prepare it as you may get corn – in – condensed – milk – in – cup.

3. Food to try. Here I list down and summarize the common local Malay food that you can find anywhere there. Your visit to Kelantan is NEVER complete wthout sampling at least one of these.

a. Nasi berlauk (rice with side dish of chicken/fish/duck/deer) for breakfast. If you can find etok (a mollusc, usually fried with sand. Just be careful when it’s typhoid season and be wary of hepatitis A) to go together with it, even better

b. Nasi kerabu (aka salad rice): the blue rice (sometimes green or yellow) with lots of raw vegetable, coconut and chili sambal, keropok (crackers) and budu (fermented prawn gravy, very salty so don’t overdo it) with accompanying side dishes

c. Nasi dagang: glutinous brownish rice with accompanying side dish almost similar to nasi berlauk

d. Ayam percik: roasted chicken in creamy coconut – based gravy. You may find other variety like kerang (a mollusc), tonggeng (literally, chicken’s butt), eel and fish.

e. Keropok lekor: traditional fish soft cracker

f. Laksa & laksam: there’s a difference between these two. While laksa noodles are the thin spaghetti – like rice noodle, laksam is more like kueytiau or fettuccini except way thicker but both use the same fish – and – coconut milk – based gravy with the accompanying chopped raw vegetables, a dollop of belacan (fermented prawn) and chili.

g. Belut (eel): sweet sour, fried, paprika… the Kelantanese really know how to cook their eel. Last time it used to be the food for the poor, they even use it as the base of the laksa gravy.

h. Chakuey: served with pandan kaya, this flour – based snack is a tea – time favourite.

4. Hygiene. Typhoid and food poisoning can be rampant here when in season.

5. Dengue. There’s a season for this too.

6. Budget and shopping plan. It’s very easy to go overboard with shopping here. Seen that too many already.

7. Silk batik. Forget Chow Kit in KL. Here you can get more variable and lower price.

8. Tudung. All kind of patterns and grades. In fact, those sequined and stone embedded ones which you’ll find in KL priced as Rm100+ will be mostly only RM60 – 100+ here.

9. Pengkalan Kubo. Duty - free except when you hit the limit. From table wares to house decoration items to curtains to wedding items to “branded” jerseys of your favourite team… you get the idea

10.Beach. Pantai Sri Tujuh and Pantai Cahaya Bulan.

An eatery in Pantai Sri Tujuh where we always settle down to fish while snacking.

Some kitty waiting for tit – bits.

A view of Pantai Sri Tujuh from our fishing spot.

11.Museum. Yeah, museum. A great place to get to know this culture – rich place which is situated in the state’s capital Kota Bharu with breathtaking architectural design. And next to it is the White House kopitiam which operated seasonally but served some of the best roti bakar (toasted traditional bread) and roti stim (steamed traditional bread) accompanied by their famous kaya (equivalent to marmalade, made of coconut) and butter.

12. Traditional plays: wayang kulit, Mak Yong and others at the Cultural Centre. This is the hub of all of Kelantan’s cultural activities, where tops the size of a human head spin effortlessly, giant gaily-coloured kites frolic in the air, and wayang kulit (shadow play) and rebana ubi (traditional drums) thump to the rhythm of your pulse. The Cultural Centre is located along Jalan Mahmud near Perdana Hotel and admission is free on Saturdays and Wednesdays between February and October.

13. Universiti Sains Malaysia, School of Science Health. This is the branch campus of USM where the main curriculum centered in health sciences e.g. medicine, dentistry, nursing etc., the main building is in Penang. They offer elective programs to interested local and foreign students. Very well equipped with extensive medical library, teaching hospital, accommodation, sport centre etc.