Kota Bharu

We woke up and had a nice breakfast at home of cereal, eggs made to order (thanks Susa), and fruit.  We left the guesthouse and headed to a parking lot close to downtown.  First up today is a walking tour of Kota Bharu.

Because today is a national holiday, the streets weren't very busy, so we were easily able to navigate and cross streets as needed.  Of course, the holiday meant that most places were close, but that is OK.  It is fun just walking around and taking in the sites.

First sight was a traffic circle with nice palm trees.

We did manage to find a morning market.  Unfortunately it was late morning and most of the venders were closing up, but I was able to get a shot of this old woman selling medicinal herbs and such.

A pretty nice gate in the center of town.

This is the State Mosque with a nice gold dome.

Right next to the State Mosque was a WWII museum that was unfortunately closed.  Tim did get to see a Douglas A-4 Skylark on display.  Malaysia bought a bunch of these aircraft from the US Navy in the 1980's.

Closed WWII museum.

Even though everything was closed, we did manage to find a Chinese restaurant where we took a breather and had some cold beverages.  After cooling off, we decided to go back to the car.  On the way back, we came across a bunch of murals.  This one, of the local foods, is one of my favorite I have seen so far in Malaysia.

Cool local delicacies mural.

There was many murals spread across several alleyways behind the shops.

We made it back to the car after about 2 hours.  We are now ready to head north of town, towards the Thailand boarder, to visit a couple of Buddhist temples.

First up is ​Wat Machimmaram, known for its large sitting Buddha.  

Gate to Wat Machimmaram.

That is a large sitting Buddha.  In fact, it is almost 100 feet tall.  It is pretty impressive.

Inside the temple (under Buddha) the walls were covered with large paintings.  This one seemed especially gory.

This is a close up of a gory scene in another painting.  Ouch!!

Susan and Tim seemed to enjoy studying the paintings.

We were able to climb up to the roof of the building for a closer look at the giant sitting Buddha.

Back downstairs, we admired the 108 Buddhas circling the entire base of the temple.  The number 108 has spiritual meanings to Buddhists.

This guy made me smile.  Say hello to "Long Eyebrow Abhal".  He is one of the 18 original followers of Buddha.

One last shot with sitting Buddha before leaving.

Well...we thought we were going to leave and then we spotted these monkeys.  Tim loves monkeys because they make him laugh, so he had to take a photo with them.

Lucky us...I found a freezer of ice cream and tried to buy one, but they said they were free.  Of course we all partake...partook...we all had one.

Bye-bye sitting Buddha.

Next up, and under 15 minutes away is Wat Phothivihan, know for its large reclining Buddha.  Reclining Buddha measures in at over 130 feet long.

While looking around the grounds, Peter spotted a man selling coconuts.  Peter always wants a fresh coconut and is always looking for one.  Here they cracked open the coconut, poured the water into a bag with ice, shaved the fruit off the inside of the shell, and dumped it into the bag as well.  It was an awesome and refreshing snack.  I think from now on It will be Peter and I always looking for the coconut man.  By the way...the cost of the each coconut was 4 MYR => $0.90 USD.

Another day, and again the need to find food for dinner since it is still Ramadan,  We returned to our favorite mall that we visited yesterday.  Today it is even more crowded being it is the last day of Ramadan.

We headed straight to the seafood section of the supermarket and Peter picked out some squid and shrimp for dinner to go with all the produce Susan picked up from the market yesterday and a vender today at Wat Phothivihan.  The cost for the shrimp and squid to feed 4 for dinner: 45 MYR => $10 USD.

We headed home and Peter and Susan set off preparing dinner...Oh...I did help...I made the rice and helped Peter clean the shrimp.  He was on his own cleaning the squid...gross.

Here is the final product for our home cooked meal:  fresh salad, vegetable stir-fry, sautéed shrimp and squid, and rice.

And for dessert, Mango, guava, oranges that had a green rind, jambos (rose apples), and mata kucing (longan).

After dinner it was time for a quick shower, some laundry (just because there is a washing machine), some blogging, and then to sleep.  Tomorrow we have a 6 hour drive to go from the west coast to the east coast of Malaysia, so it will be a long day.  Time to get a good nights sleep.