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When you have a new camera with you, you just couldn’t stop shooting pictures! More night shots of my humble city…

Alor Star’s primary roundabout which is situated just next to the city’s most celebrated Buddhist temple, Wat Nikrodharam

Another version of the picture shown in the previous blog entry

Located at the entrance of my residential area, the Wisma Darul Aman is Kedah’s state secretariat building complex

Wisma Darul Aman with its vast square against the moonlit sky

Istana Anak Bukit, the Sultan’s royal palace in the royal town of Anak Bukit, 7km from Alor Star city centre

Built by the country’s wealthiest Muslim corporate figure, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Shah bin Syed Nor Al-Bukhary, the Masjid Albukhary is one of the city’s newest and most stunning landmarks

The mosque with its bluish Persian-inspired domes by day

c a t e g o r y | alor star . my ville
f l u f f e r p u f f | alor star . kedah . malaysia . mosques & minarets . palaces . religions & spirituality

12 sOleiLians

After returning from my trip to Malacca, I rested for half a day at home before joining my course mates in Penang for a study trip to the East Coast state of Kelantan (or as they call it in Kelantanese Malay, Kelate). It was my first time visiting 2 Malaysian states that I’ve never been before in a mere 3 days.

I’d never really thought of visiting Kelantan prior to this. Thanks to the endless Federal Government-endorsed negative reports on Kelantan, my impression of the Thai-border state had always been those of a culturally and economically-backward society, with all kinds of ridiculous laws being imposed on the people by the state’s ruling Islamist opposition party, which has made Kelantan its unswayable stronghold for almost 2 decades.

We passed through the beautiful Temenggor Lake, Malaysia’s 2nd largest man-made lake on our way to Kelantan

And boy, was I wrong. Though Kelantan is undoubtedly Malaysia’s most socially conservative state, life in its state capital, Kota Bharu is not very much different from the prosperous cities on the West Coast.

Kota Bharu is essentially an Islamic city. As opposed to the rest of Malaysia, signs bearing the Jawi script جوي (an adapted Arabic alphabet for written Malay) could be seen everywhere, from American fast food outlets like McDonald’s to the quaint lil’ kopitiams (coffeeshops) run by the local Chinese. I even saw a large billboard expressing gratitude to the Muslim women for not exposing their aurat by dressing modestly and appropriately in accordance to the Islamic principles. Even in multinational hypermarkets like Tesco, gender segregation is imposed on the check-out counters. Yet womenfolk were spotted queueing in lines reserved for men and vice versa, so I guess the rule is never stringently enforced.

Jahar Palace; Sultan Ismail Petra Arch; Palace with the Great Hall (Istana Balai Besar)

After checking into our hotel, we went for some sightseeing in the city. A stone’s throw away from our strategically-located hotel stand the old palaces of Kelantan’s past sultans. One is now a museum while the other is used for official state functions. Despite being off-limits to the public, we somehow managed to sneak into the latter. Since the security officers were nowhere to be seen, we quickly took some photographs of the palace complex even though we were warned by an attention-seeking bright red sign placed in front of the main building.

A typical street scene in Kota Bharu

The heat was so unbearable that we walked to a nearby market to rest and have some lunch. Meanwhile, I took the chance to observe the people and their unique Kelantanese speech. One of my course mates is from Kota Bharu so he was of immense help in introducing us to the local culture that’s so distinct from the rest of the country. Many Kelantanese Malays have some Thai ancestry, and most of them are rather fair in complexion. Some even have relatives across the border in Southern Thailand.

Handicraft Village and Craft Museum

Kelantan is renowned as the cradle of Malay culture. One of the best places to experience this is at the Handicraft Village and Craft Museum. Beautiful Malay village houses were erected to showcase the splendour of traditional Kelantanese architecture. And oh, did you know that the Malay architecture of each state in Malaysia is different and distinct from one another?

Masjid Kampung Laut

In the next morning, we went to visit Malaysia’s oldest surviving wooden mosque, Masjid Kampung Laut. Built in the 1730s, the mosque was partially damaged in a huge flood 4 decades ago and had since relocated to the town of Tumpat, approximately 15km from the state capital. Non-Muslims were not allowed in the main prayer hall, but we were still able to catch a glimpse of the mosque interiors through its many windows and doors.

This Malay restaurant was reputed to have taken 20 years for its construction

The place where we stayed is on the banks of the Kelantan River. Though the river is murky, the views ain’t that bad at all…

The pole which the Brits hung the dead body of the Malay warrior, Tok Janggut; views of the Kelantan River

to be continued…

c a t e g o r y | life as a student . passport to nowhere
f l u f f e r p u f f | kelantan . malaysia . mosques & minarets . museums . palaces . travel . university life

42 sOleiLians

In fact, it was so great that the Portuguese came from afar to conquer it, before being ceded to the Dutch and the British in the subsequent centuries. It was not until the year 1957, when this former centre of the mighty Sultanate of Malacca was ultimately returned to the people of the newly independent nation of Malaya (now Malaysia) after 446 years of European dominion.

Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Malacca/Melaka features some of the oldest surviving European architectural remains in the Far East, a legacy that it inherited from its European colonial masters since its fateful fall to the Afonso de Albuquerque-led Portuguese invaders in the year 1511. As a result of this, Malacca has always been one of Malaysia’s premier tourist destinations.

Believe it or not, I’ve never set foot on this piece of land before. Well… Not until quite recently. I’ve longed to visit this place for many years now and you wouldn’t know how thrilled I was when I knew I was gonna make a trip there. Actually, my purpose of having this trip was to conduct a study on the design of a selected building in Malacca for one of my never-ending assignments. Since a friend of mine had also picked a site from there, we both agreed to go together by bus. Night tickets were bought so that we would reach there in the morning. It was an 8-hour bus ride from my hometown to Malacca, and luckily the bus seat was spacious and comfortable enough for me to endure through the long journey.

Upon arrival, we were immediately blown away by the fine state of Malacca’s ultra-modern bus terminal. Thinking of the ones in Penang and back at home, I couldn’t help feeling sorry for them. And from there, we took a bus ride to our 1st destination, the Dutch Square. Surrounded by the Stadthuys (the Dutch municipal town hall) and the 18th-century Christ Church, the beautiful square was the administrative heart of Malacca during the Dutch colonial era. The Stadthuys was built shortly after the Dutch captured the area from the Portuguese, while the Christ Church was erected to commemorate their centennial occupation of Malacca. Initially painted white as with other Dutch buildings in the region, both the Stadthuys and the Christ Church were given a fresh coat of salmon-red paint after it became a British colony.

A stone’s throw away from the Dutch Square is the ruins of St. Paul’s Church, which perched majestically on the peak of St. Paul’s Hill. Originally built as a small Roman Catholic chapel by the Portuguese, it was later enlarged by the Society of Jesus. When the Dutch came, they changed its name to the current one and used it as their primary place of worship for over a century until their own church, the Christ Church was completed in the year 1753. Under the British rule, the church was turned into a storage for gunpowder and a lighthouse was added in front of it.

Old tombstones of Portuguese and Dutch lineage can be found leaning against the church wall inside. The rooftop of the church has now long gone, leaving the church interiors exposed to the temper tantrums of Mother Nature.

View of Malacca Town and the Strait of Malacca from the peak of St. Paul’s Hill

St. Francis Xavier, the renowned 16th-century Jesuit missionary who helped to spread Christianity to the far-flung regions of the Orient, was temporarily interred here before being exhumed and shipped to his final resting place at the Basilica of Bom Jesus in the then Portuguese-ruled city of Goa, India. An open grave at the church now marks the place of his burial. In addition to that, a statue of him was erected in front of the church to commemorate this particular event.

At the foot of the hill stands the old Portuguese fortress of A Famosa (The Famous), possibly the most recognizable icon of Malacca. What remains today is the Porta de Santiago (Gate of St. James), the famous fortress gate that you see on postcards and travel brochures. The gate underwent renovation under the Dutch and it was the British who ordered the destruction of the fort in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of Napoleonic France, whose expanding empire was Britain’s greatest rival at the time. The surviving gate was spared from destruction on the timely intervention of Singapore’s founder, Sir Stamford Raffles on his visit to Malacca in the year 1810.

And no, it’s not read as ei Famosa as it’s often mispronounced as such, but rather a Famosa due to its Portuguese origin.

Malacca Sultanate Palace Museum, the modern replica of the now-defunct palace of the Malaccan sultans is home to Malacca’s Cultural Museum

Luckily, we had a friend in Malacca who was more than willing to drive us to other famous sites located beyond the city’s historic quarter.

We went to visit some of the country’s oldest and most architecturally-unique mosques…

Featuring pagoda-like minarets and traditional Javanese pyramidal roofs, both Masjid Kampung Hulu (top) and Masjid Kampung Keling (bottom) were built in the 1700s during the Dutch colonial era

… ascended the stairs leading to the St. John’s Fort…

Built on the site of a former Portuguese chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist, this Dutch fortress was used to guard against landward attacks from the restive Malays who sought to reclaim Malacca from the European invaders

… and back to the historic quarter for more sightseeing…

Replica of the sunken Portuguese galleon of Flor de la Mar (Flower of the Sea), now a maritime museum; view of the European colonial remnants from the Menara Taming Sari revolving observation tower; Jonker Street’s quaint little archway

I found the small alleys at the historic quarter reminiscent of the ones in George Town, Penang. Perhaps it’s a colonial thing? Regrettably, we didn’t get to visit the famed Portuguese Settlement where many of the Portuguese Eurasian descendants (the Kristang/Serani community) are still living. Malacca, I’ll be back!

And oh, did I tell you guys that it was just a 1-day trip? :P

c a t e g o r y | life as a student . passport to nowhere
f l u f f e r p u f f | churches & cathedrals . malacca . malaysia . mosques & minarets . museums . palaces . travel . university life

21 sOleiLians