TERENGGANU TAKES #3

Kuala Terengganu in December might look gloomy. There are rain-clouds over the city.


On the ground, everyone is prepared for the rain, even the hardy usually waterproof "teksi" men. Trishaws are called teksi in Terengganu while what city folks taxis are called "kereta sewa". This particular guy made doubly sure he doesn't get wet.
Visibilty from my window is limited. The sea is misty but still gentle. It is still early in the morning. The sun is still not up.

Further inland as in this kampong in Darat Batu Rakit, the monsoon rain turned fields into lakes.
And the boats at Merang jetty take a rest from their daily runs to Pulau Redang and Pulau Lang Tengah.
The tourists instead flocked to Pulau Duyong. They saw a fiercer monsoon this time around.

Labels: monsoon, Terengganu

I AM BACK

Alhamdullillah I am able to update my blog. Pak Idrus would be happy.
There were letters in the papers recently unhappy with the announcement that no more "bed and breakfast" chalets would be built on Pulau Redang. Some of the writers thought that only the rich would be allowed on the island. I do not think that this is true. So I phoned a few people who earn a living from people visiting the island. They told me that they would not be affected by the announcement. It is just an announcement, not a pronouncement yet. What they know is that from now on, only NEW 5 star resorts would be allowed to be built on Redang. I guessed that these resorts would have to be built with anti-pollution and other measures to preserve the ecology of the island.
So, go ahead and plan to spend a few days on Redang. Try the resort where the old Redang Rest House was. The beaches there have no dead corals to irritate your bare feet.
If you want exclusivity, go to Pulau Gemia (next to Pulau Kapas). There is only one resort there and it is without karaoke. The owner does not want off-key renditions of Widuri or My Way driving away the turtles of which Terengganu is famous for.
Another thing that made Terenggany famous (or infamous, if you want to nitpick) is complexes falling down. It was debated in the State Assembly recently. My friends had a good laugh. A few phoned me and asked me what's Terengganu's Arabic name. I told them "Darul Iman". They said no, it is not. Iasked them what is ist now?
They told me it is "Darul Runtuh".
Ha ha.

Labels: Redang, Terengganu

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING BLUE

Last Thursday, while nibbling on Club Sandwiches at Renaissance's The Vogue, Mat Som told those present (Bloggers: Awang Goneng, Kak Teh, Puteri Kamaliah. Non-Bloggers: Pak Abu, Shamsuddin Jaafar, Kol. (B) Shafieq Ismail) that bloggers should be agitators for change. Although I personally think that bloggers should just highlight things like a highlighter and leave the opinion-making to the reader, there are times when agitation is necessary.
Take the case of the rows of pre-war buildings in Kuala Terengganu that the state government wanted to demolish. Read the blog here.

Apparently, the buildings were acquired by Lembaga Tabung Warisan Negeri Terengganu and the shopkeepers paid rent to carry on doing business in the building. To me, "warisan" means heritage. Things you pass on, intact, from generations to generations. I would like to believe that Lembaga Tabung Warisan Negeri Terengganu bought the old buildings to preserve them as heritage for the Terengganu people, present and future. Even after demolishing historical buildings like Mesjid Bukit Besar and Mesjid Chendering, it is still not too late for the state government to think about conservation. There are intrinsic values in old buildings which will never be replicated in vulgar modern malls.

I am not against progress if it means improving the life of Terengganu people. After all, that is what the government is for. Progress does not mean obliterating historical landmarks. Learn to work around these irreplaceable buildings. If other capitals in the world can do that, why can't Terengganu?

Read also Awang Goneng's piece here.

Labels: Heritage, Terengganu

MONSOON MOAN #0107

My latest trip to Terengganu gave me more grouches than the eunuchs at a sex orgy.
The weather was not good. It rained in KL when I was at the airport and it rained in Kuala Terengganu on Friday 5th as predicted by the weather people. The plane was late. It was late in KL on Thursday and it was late in Kuala Terengganu on Friday. Neither delay could be blamed on the rain.

The rain stopped long enough on Friday morning for Ramli and I to try a new nasi dagang place in the food court at Pantai Batu Burok. My spirit lifted a bit when I saw the size of the crowd at the stall. Service was prompt. Unlike Chendering, the banana leaf was dispensed with. Convenience overrode tradition. The rice looked right. There was a solitary halba (fenugreek seed) visible in the rice. Halba should be in the rice of an authentic nasi dagang. There should also be fine slices of shallots and ginger. There were none in this particular rice. Otherwise, the rice passed my muster. The kuoh (gravy) was another matter though. The ikan aya (tuna) was generously ample and there were whole chilis that would be squashed into the rice by real nasi dagang lovers. But the chilis were of the wrong kind. They were chili padi or chili api which are more at home in Negeri Sembilan than Terengganu. This is a sin easily forgiven. What I could not accept or forgive was the taste of the curry. It was sickeningly sweet. It was sweeter than my nescafe tarik. Never in my life have I eaten pengat ikan aya with nasi dagang. What a sacrilege. Daud, who suggested the place was spared bodily harm by the presence of his new wife. Maybe the crowd came for the nasi lemak or the other offerings on the menu.


The nasi dagang at the end of the road from Primula Resort did not upset me as much. Another thing did. Ramli pointed out the road sign in front of the shop:

Only a a non-Trengganu native would call our famous market "Pasar Payang". Natives would use Pasar Kedai Payang. I could not blame Majlis Perbandaran Kuala Terengganu for this abomination. If you see the official signboard at the famous market, the council got it right. Sadly, they do not seem to have any say over the wordings of the road signs.

Labels: nasi dagang, road signs, Terengganu

TERMINALS

This is the new terminal for buses in Kuala Terengganu. I can remember two previous stesen bah - the one where the present HSBC bank is and after that next to Rex cinema. Given my notorious porous memory, please remind me if there were other bus stations in Kuala Terengganu.

On the present bus terminal was the Kuala Terengganu badminton hall where my father tried very hard to hand down to me his considerable racquet skills and behind it was the Customs Quarters. In previous life, this site housed a prison.

If you look at the snapshot above closely, you can see some addition that was not in the blueprint. Why do the shopowners/tenants hang plastic sheets behind their shops? I can think of two valid reasons: Piah (rain coming in) and Panah (too much sun in the evening). For either reason, I have a question: Wasn't the weather taken into consideration when designing this building? Let me know the excuses, please. I hate to see a nice building made ugly.

Still on terminals, I have been asked by commentator xyz to draw your attention to yet another terminal for bloghoppers. Go here. It is a worthwhile effort and if you read the same blogs that the author reads, you will save a lot of time browsing your bookmarks. It is a boon to me because after my hd crashed, I lost all my bookmarks, email and adresses. For techie stuff, my good friend TV Smith came up with a good feed page. Have a look.

Enjoy!

Labels: blog portal, designing buildings, Terengganu