Terengganu

 After not too long a drive (for a change) we arrived in Kuala Terengganu, which is situated on the East coast at the mouth of the Terengganu river. (All photos here) The first thing we saw was the Cristal Mosque when we crossed the bridge towards town. It looked rather nice in the light, with the river right in front of it. We found a good hotel, room with a water view, spacious, satellite TV and breakfast included in the price (what a treat) Terengganu has an old Chinese quarter with some really nice houses and is already recognised by the UNESCO. Apparently an American Credit Card firm supports Terengganu with $50.000 a year, helping with the upkeep of this picturesque part of town. Luckily this place was right on our doorstep, so no wonder we went out to explore the houses, streets and restaurants. We found a place to eat a freshly cooked Nasi Hainan costing all of 4RM, but the beer was 15RM (mind you it was a big bottle)

 The one thing we realised very quickly were the looks we received from a lot of the locals, not unfriendly, more.. kind of interested, but as soon as you caught their eyes there was this typical nice smile coming over, and sometimes even the question: "Where are you from?" It is understandable, because we were the only foreigners around, wherever we went. Even at breakfast in the hotel this happened on a couple of occasions.

When we looked out of our window we saw these lights at the waterfront and we found out, in the evenings there are artificial trees, all lit up in different colours and people gather on the square in front, chatting, eating something or go fishing in the Terengganu until late, all enjoying the coolness of the evening . A most picturesque scene, very peaceful and romantic, it just invited us to join them, so we did.
Because we really liked Terengganu we decided to stay here for 3 nights and went to see the Christal Mosque which is a very interesting building. The other place of interest was called the Monument, a collection of miniature buildings (mainly mosques) all of Islamic architectural interest. This was not as impressive as we thought it would be, but still worth a visit if you are in Terengganu. Most of the day we spent just walking around the town, looking at the markets and getting ready for the next part of our journey, more up the east coast, then close to the Thai boarder slowly towards home. We will have at least two more overnight stops and will keep you updated. If you do not want to miss any new posts, why not follow us?