Kota Bharu Day Trip

There was a Firefly free seats offer in early April, shortly after GST came into effect. I browsed and found free seats to Johor Bahru and Kota Bharu. I chose to visit Johor Bahru in mid-May and Kota Bharu in early October (so that I get to travel every month. Well, almost every month).

It so happened that I lost my anklet again (fourth anklet I’ve lost now. One when my house was burgled and three disentangled themselves from me) at KLIA when I arrived back from London. Yes, I’m a dazed ditsy scatterbrain and I have jewellery drop off and slip off me without realising it. I only realised it in the car; it must have slid off while I was performing prayers. It was getting loose and I told myself during the flight to get it fixed during the weekend but it decided to slip off before I could send it to be fixed. So I decided I would look for an anklet in Kota Bharu, never mind that I’m broke. Gold jewellery costs less in the East Coast after all.

I arrived at Subang Airport at 0745 on Saturday, 3 October 2015. Firefly cancelled its flights the previous Saturday due to the bad haze and I was praying hard that my flight to and fro would not be cancelled. Otherwise, well, I guess I’d have to take the night bus back to KL (if I was already there). After informing the Firefly counter that I had my long brolly with me and being given a tag, I headed to the ATM to withdraw some cash (I had already withdrawn some money the day before but decided I needed more; after all, I would need cash at Siti Khadijah Market). I popped in my card and waited. A bloke came over and stood next to me at the other ATM machine.

It was taking sometime and I was beginning to worry especially when I heard that the next ATM machine was furiously processing the bloke’s request. I waited and waited and suddenly a message appeared saying that my card had been swallowed. Oh no! The bloke looked at me and asked what was happening when he saw me frantically pushing the Cancel button. I told him and he suggested I asked at the Bureau de Change. So I hurried over to ask.

The lady at the Bureau de Change listened to me sympathetically but told me she couldn’t help as she didn’t have the key (I know ATM machines are serviced every few days by a different team but thought I’d just try my luck). She then suggested I do a cardless withdrawal and guided me how to do it (you need to go to Accounts & Banking > Transfers > Cardless Withdrawal and then choose either Favourite Cardless Withdrawal or Open Cardless Withdrawal. Good thing I had my iPad with me then. I tried but the option was either RM100, RM200 or RM300 (maximum is only RM300/day) – and you need to bear the service charge of RM1 plus 6% GST WTH. Well, I refused to pay the service charge and the accompanying GST so I cancelled the transaction. The BDC lady also advised me to call my bank and cancel my card. It was then when there was an announcement for us to go to the boarding gate immediately.

After clearing security, I called my bank and finally got through. I was still on the phone with my bank when I boarded the plane! Good thing the cabin crew didn’t tick me off and they had every right too. Maybe they sensed my desperate and panicked face. I got off the phone just as we were about to taxi off.

We took off 9 minutes before ETD (efficient!!!) landed at clear Kota Bharu at 0930. After collecting my brolly and visiting the bathroom, I walked out of the terminal to the main road, Jalan Pengkalan Chepa. I had read that a Cityliner bus services the route and I was very lucky for the bus no. 9 pulled up within two minutes. The fare was RM1.80 and the driver gives you back your change (unlike in Penang where you have to pay the exact fare or pay to the nearest Ringgit and not get your change back). It took us 22 minutes to reach Kota Bharu Bus Station, which is less than 100 metres away from Siti Khadijah Market. It was that near! I couldn’t believe how convenient it was. A direct bus to the city, a 22-minute ride, a bus station right smack in the city... amazing!

Where I alighted. The bus I took from the airport was that white one

Kota Bharu Bus Station

I headed first to the food court across from Siti Khadijah Market and searched for Kak Ani stall which was suggested by my colleague. I sat down and ordered a bowl of kuay teow sup perut and hot lemon tea (I was given hot lemon drink instead). It was all right. There were shreds of water spinach and I have stopped eating water spinach as it is windy so I had to set those aside. The meal cost a whopping RM6. I had expected to pay less than RM5 for it.

These brands are not available in KL

My less-than-satisfactory kuay teow sup perut and warm lemon drink

After that, I headed out to Jalan Buluh Kubu and went into every gold shop there was. It was easy because the conversation would go like this:

Me: Ada gelang kaki emas putih? (Do you have anklet in white gold?)

Shopowner/sales assistant: Tok dok (Nope)
Me: OK, terima kasih. (OK, thank you.) (After a few shops, I had ‘Kthxbai’ echoing and reverberating in my mind)

in all but three of the gold shop. I know Kelantanese prefer yellow gold but I was hoping some of the Chinese-owned shops would have white gold but I guess they wanted to meet the demand of their customers. So although I may have a daunting task, it was easy because hardly any shops carried white gold anklets. I even checked out those shops at Jalan Temenggong and Jalan Belakang Istana. The first shop that carried white gold anklets had only 3 pieces and they also accepted Maybank2u. How great is that? The sales assistant told me there is a surcharge for credit card payments.

After visiting all the gold shops there were in the vicinity, I decided to go to Siti Khadijah market to do some shopping. After all, I had to pay in cash and if I decided to buy the anklet in the first shop, I could pay the balance via Maybank2u. So I sauntered over to the market and headed to the second floor (top-most floor). I browsed a few stalls before finally stopping at one and buying some batik sarong. I also bought some pelikat sarong at a nearby stall. No, I don’t wear batik sarong but I find them a great fantastic souvenir to give away. I gave my Filipino mate and Algerian guests batik sarong and they all loved their sarong. The humble batik sarong is colourful and so versatile: I told my mates that they could use it as sarong, fold it as a skirt, a pareo, sling it across the shoulders and carry a baby... me, I bring it on my trips to line the bed (if I’m afraid of bed bugs) or wear it as sarong if I have to pop off to the shared bathroom in a hostel.

After the purchase, I walked around the market then left. It was nearing 1 p.m. so I headed to Parkson Kota Bharu Trade Centre for some air-conditioning relief and rest. I had some light snack and read my book. After an hour, I got up and went to the first gold shop and bought my anklet. I bargained of course and the kind man agreed to give a bit more discount. Alhamdulillah!

I then headed to Masjid Al-Baroah for prayers before turning back to Buluh Kubu food court. I had sighted nasi air before and I had it for my late lunch with warm lai chee kang. It was good, really good.

 Afternoon meal of nasi air (literally watery rice) and warm lai chee kang

Close-up of nasi air. It was very good!

After that, I returned to Kota Bharu Trade Centre. I wandered around before sitting down to read my book again. I left at 5 and bought some fish sausage from a stall before heading to the bus station. The bus arrived after 5 minutes and we were allowed to sit on the bus before the bus started its trip. a friendly middle-aged lady sat next to me and we chatted. It seemed like travelling alone for a day trip is a strange concept to the lady and those who asked me at the market. Day trip? Why not overnight? I explained that a day trip was enough and I needn’t have to bring an overnight case.

Back to the bus stop. That bloke was our driver

Just before reaching the airport, I saw a lot of cars parked along the opposite road. The lady told me the locals liked to go there, park their vehicles and watch planes landing and taking off. Hmm, I wonder if there’s a lot of air traffic. Sure MAS, Firefly, AirAsia and Malindo fly to Kota Bharu but I don’t think the flights are all that frequent. How many flights are there in a day? I guess those spectators know better as it’s their favourite past-time. It looked fun and there was also a van selling drinks to the spectators.

We took off before ETD (thank God the flight wasn’t cancelled, phew!) and we landed at hazy Subang at 2045. I would definitely do this again if there’re any more offers. And why not when it’s such a convenient city to visit.