Day 30 : Kota Bharu - Pantai Cahaya Bulan - Tumpat - Kota Bharu

Date : April 1st, 2009
Distance travelled : 48 km
Time taken : 2.40 hour

It was a beautiful morning today! Another day of bright sunshine and clear blue skies!! A nice day for sightseeing :o)

Our first aim was to go and visit the "Beach of Passionate Love!" up north. Apparently, while Mak was doing his research on interesting places to visit, this place caught his attention! To tell you the truth, underneath his tough exterior, he really is a true romantic at heart!! :o)

According to the staff at the PCB resort, the beach was named that way because there used to be lots of lovers hanging around the beach at night :o) Well, I'm sure there are still lots now!!

When we reached to the famous beach, we were expecting a sandy beach but what we saw was a beach of rocks! Imagine holding your lover's hand and groping your way in the dark on the rocks!! Not very romantic eh?? hehehe. Anyway, it did have its charms :o)

the way to the "beach of passionate lurve"!

Wow, such a romantic name but it's now changed to Pantai Cahaya Bulan!

Mr. "Macho Man"?? :o)

He said that my hair looked like a horse hair...so much for being a romantic at heart!! hahaha

According to my "lurve guru", the sign above is the symbol of love!! Did you all know this??

Interesting painting on a boat that caught his "artistic" eye :o)

Passage of lurve???

Hmm...has he gotten over his phobia about cows?? I meant, fake cows with horns!! hehehe

As we were leaving this interestingly named beach, we decided to stop by a foodstall to have a refreshing coconut drink as it was already hot by then :o) Mmm....the coconut drink was lovely, especially eating the young sweet tasting flesh!! Mak then said that he wanted to see whether we could find a batik factory to see how batik was being printed. So we went in search for one along the way back and finally found a one under a kampung house on stilts!

It was really interesting to see how batik was being painted from the start. In the beginning, a silk cloth will be stretched over a wooden frame where the artist will start drawing from his memory, using candle wax. After which, it will be transferred to another frame where the women will start painting while creating more patterns on the cloth. It was amazing to see how effortlessly they did this.

After the whole cloth was painted, it was then left to dry shortly before soaking in a special solution to maintain its colouring. After which, it will be dried in the hot sun before being packed and ready for shipment.

They told us that the batiks were actually Indonesian batiks and not local ones. Interesting eh?

Batik in the making...

the design drawn by the artist first...

These women effortlessly painting on the cloth free hand!!

the finished product.....

Batiks being dried in the sun...

Ahh...such vibrant colours!!

After our little discovery, we went to look for the famous sleeping buddha which was said to be the largest in South East Asia, 44 metres long, 11 metres high and 9 metres wide! We already had directions from friends but somehow, we seemed to have lost our way finding it!

In the end, we asked a local guy and he gave us directions (which we later found out was wrong!!) We went to the direction that the guy gave us and after cycling for about half an hour with no signs of anything, I decided to call it quits as it was going to rain and getting dark. I asked Mak whether he wanted to continue searching for it but he said it was alright. We could find it tomorrow. So we turned and headed back to Kota Bharu. On our way back, we decided to stop for some tea and try out some local delicacies which was pretty tasty :o)

That night, I called Razani to ask him for the exact directions to the sleeping Buddha and that was when we found out that the local guy gave us the wrong information! So it actually worked out to our favour that we didn't continue on in the end :o) Sometimes, things just work themselves out mysteriously!! hehehe

Next....Jeli??