Cuti-cuti "Half" Peninsular Malaysia - Day3

2nd June 2013:  
Driving route: Kota Bharu --> Bachok --> Kuala Terengganu --> Sungai Lembing


Mama prepared lots of "bak chang" for our trip. So, on our last night at Kelantan, we were ordered to finish all these "bak chang" as breakfast on the next morning. However, I did notice that little Sonia doesn't like "bak chang" so I promised her I'll order breakfast for her from Pasir Belanda Resort.

Platform by the river

On the next morning, after we finished our bak chang, we all came to the platform by the river to accompany Sonia for her American breakfast. After days of spicy local food, I bet she missed American food :)

While Wei Wei and I chit chat with Sonia, my mum and her siblings were having their "math class" at this beautiful platform. Though we had great fun, my mum couldn't stop complaining about the "ugly river".

Well, to be fair, I did see some real nice photos from Tripadvisor of this river besides Pasir Belanda Resort. I guess it must be the season for these floating plants to conquer the river when we were there. Though not as beautiful as I imagined, still, I think it is still nice to sit by the river, enjoying the green, where buffaloes and geese wandering afar.

After breakfast, we packed and started our long journey to Sungai Lembing.

From Pasir Belanda to Bachok is a long, boring drive. There are endless traffic lights and it took almost forever to reach our destinition.

So, by the time we reached Wat Phothikyan (Double Dragon Temple), I was quite glad that I finally can stretch my limbs.

Wat Phothikyan used to be famous for the double dragon at the entrance. Now it is famous for the relatively new standing Buddha statue, and this is also the tallest standing Buddha statue in the South East Asia.

My personal favorite is the huge "wishing tree". You can buy the "wishing apparatus" from the temple, write down your wishes and throw it to the huge rain tree. If your apparatus stays on the tree, your wishes will come true. :)
Though none of us made any wishes there, Wei and I took a lot of photos of the colourfully decorated wishing tree.

After the brief stop at Double Dragon Temple, we finally actually started our journey to Sungai Lembing through the beautiful Malaysia Federal Route D11, T3 & T1.

The weather was excellent that day. South China Sea was more beautiful than ever. I couldn't resist the endless shades of blue and we kept having pit stops for the sea breeze. (How I wished I had a few more days off so that we could spend a few days in the islands)

After a few stops, I knew we wouldn't be able to make it to Sungai Lembing before dark if I keep on stopping. So, I changed the strategy. Instead of stopping at the beach, we drove extremely slow on the scenic roads by the beach.

Since I was the driver, I didn't take as many photos as I wish. However, I have decided that I should plan for a photography trip on Malaysia Federal Route T1 in near future.

Yacht Competition

This scenic route ends at Kuala Terengganu. When we drove cross Terengganu River through the bridge of Jalan Tengku Mizan, we can see Kuala Terengganu City standing beautifully under the sun, surrounded by South China Sea and Terengganu River. The white Floating Mosque stood out from the background (deep blue river) and shines from afar.

Perhaps due to my marvelous mood after driving along Federal Route T1, Kuala Terengganu seemed much more beautiful than I could remember. I'm glad that I planned for lunch here.

We were delighted. The China Town is nicely paved, clean and vivid. We settled for a decent yet cozy restaurant "On The Way". It's a 2 stories prewar building that oversee the Waterfront.









While the rest waiting for their food (and had "Math Class" again!! In the public!!!), Wei Wei and I went to explore the lovely Chinatown.

I was too lazy to carry my DSLR so I explored with my iPad. Wei Wei carried her "weapon" so I naturally became her model. Most of the time, I was in the photo because she needed some "perspective" or "the beautiful yellow door needed an object to "photograph".

Besides being colourful and interesting, there were also a few restaurants in Chinatown that look authentic and we really wished to try. Maybe next time.












There's also a new tourist attraction in town. A small alley was converted to "Turtle Alley". It's decorated with mosaic of turtles along and walkway and on the wall. It's definitely an artful way to create awareness on turtle conservation.

 

After lunch, I decided not to take the coastal Federal Route since it is more time consuming. We gave the South China Sea a sweet farewell and then took the highway and headed to Sungai Lembing.