Motoring Holiday
As promised, I’m back to relate the tale of our "motoring holiday". 
Our first destination was Kota Bharu. I was looking out for elephants
all the way. (Daddy had been telling me about the day he encountered an
elephant on his way to Kelantan. That was years ago before I was born.)
I haven’t seen one wandering on the road before. Of course I’ve seen
many in zoos…but seeing one crossing the highway would be so much
more exciting. Well, there were no elephants, much to my disappointment
and to Daddy’s relieve. 
At
Kota Bharu, we had lunch before meeting Peck Koon and mum. My brother
wanted KFC, but we couldn’t find any. The closest we could get to KFC
was A&W at KB Mall. Fancy having fast food at Kelantan when we
should have been trying out their local food which we could not get in
Penang!!! Haha. Peck Koon joined us on a hunt for rooms to stay. I was so happy to see Peck Koon. Three weeks had seemed such a long time to be apart. Sometimes I wonder how I would survive the 8 months of internship away from all my frenz. After
a few hotels, we decided on the chalet in Perdana Resort at the seaside
called Pantai Bulan Cahaya. The beach was unlike those we have in
Penang. In Penang, we can see land (Butterworth) on the other side
since our beaches overlook the Straits of Malacca. In Kelantan, we were
facing the South China Sea….the beach stretched for miles and miles
and the sea…it stretched beyond the horizon. The sea was very rough,
therefore not suitable for swimming.
We spent two nights in
Kota Bharu. We had dinner at a Thai restaurant on the first night and
home cooked food in Peck Koon’s aunty’s house on the second night. Her
family was so hospitable…they treated us like relatives and
immediately made us feel at home. We tried various Kelantanese cuisine
such as nasi dagang and kau jam. There were some unique fruits as well…buah katak puru, buah salak,etc. Buah salak has skin like a snake’s. Haha. Didn’t really like the smell…some sort of fermented smell.
The batik factory was very interesting as well. We watched the workers
draw the designs with only their free hands…no
stencils…nothing…amazing!!!
Our next stop was at
Terengganu. We stayed at Kuala Terengganu for one night. There, we
visited the state museum…the biggest in the whole of Malaysia. Eu
Choon just wanted to see the Batu Bersurat. Oh ya…can’t leave this
out!!! There was an ancient chest, big enough for an adult to lie in.
Brother’s itchy fingers had already started to lift the cover. Mummy
hurriedly hit his hand and the cover slammed shut. I just stood there
stunned…in my mind, I could imagine a mummy sitting up after the lid
was lifted. It was a most scary moment…I could tell that mummy was
scared stiff. She hurried my brother to the exit as he complained that
he would regret all his life not having opened the chest. "It was lying
there just waiting to be opened. Now I’ll regret all my life not having
opened it. I won’t know what’s in it. It’s not like I’ll ever come here
again you know…"
Tasik Kenyir was fun. We had a boat ride all around the lake. Tasted some Tongkat Ali and Kacip Fatimah. Tongkat Ali was extremely bitter!!! Yucks!!!
After Tasik Kenyir, we decided to head back home. Trying a new road
back, we suddenly realised we were lost. (Well, I thought we were
lost…though Daddy didn’t.) There were miles and miles of oil palm
plantation on both sides of the road and not a single person in sight.
The road had not been officially opened to the public yet but we were
allowed to pass. There were no road signs anywhere, thus we had no idea
where we were heading. And it was scary… To cut the whole story
short, we reached Cameron Highlands at 9pm. Fancy ending up in Cameron
Highlands!!! Haha. That’s some adventure for you. It was trully a motoring holiday…5 states in total…Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Perak.
