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Backpacking in Kota Bharu (Day 3) Part 1

On the third day in Kota Bharu, I took the bus to Pasir Mas to meet a friend from Backpackers Buddies Malaysia (BBM) and Female Backpackers Community (FBC) whose name is Abby. I had not met her in person. I happened to bump into her post inviting fellow backpackers to visit her hometown, Kelantan. I felt lucky as she had a rest day and spent the whole day with me.

Before I boarded the bus at the bus station, which was only 5 minutes walk from Sabrina Court, I had nasi kerabu for breakfast. Yes, the blue rice of Kelantan. Surprisingly, I developed a kind of allergic whereby my lips swell.

I reached Pasir Mas town almost at 12pm. Our plan was to cross border to Thailand’s Sungai Golok. When Abby parked her car nearby a small jetty, she turned to me and asked whether I wanted to go by boat or through the proper immigration channel. For the thirst of adventure, I told her I would like to do the 100metre boat crossing to Sg. Golok. All at the costs of RM1.00 per person.

According to Abby, there are many border crossings in Kelantan –  Pengkalan Kubur and Sungai Kolok

Sg Golok

Abby and I walked from the jetty to Sg Golok town. As it was a Sunday, the town was dead as many shops were closed. What I saw in Sg Golok that Sunday did not match public generalization of Sg Golok. I was told it was too early to watch the night life. The night butterflies must have been sleeping soundly that time.

We had our lunch at one of the stalls by the roadside.

Walking past the shops, Abby said most of the Kelantanese people come down to Sg Golok to shop for groceries as they are more cheaper here than in Malaysian soil. People come to Sg Golok to shop for comforters, steel cooking utensils, facial products, hair products, food and groceries. Abby brought me to one shop whereby I could buy toileteries in small packaging. Packets of shampoos, soaps, detergents, lotions, make-ups and etc. I came out the shop with one big plastic bag.

We then walked further to the train station. Sg. Kolok Railway Station. Since we were not boarding the train and there’s a lot of security issue in Thailand, we had to go through security check for which our passports were checked. Huh, and our passports were not stamped. Luckily, they did not pay much attention to the passports and let us walk pass the security check point.

Next to the train station, there is an abandoned park with an old train.

After taking pictures of the old train, we walked to the wet market only to find the market was about to close business for the day.

We took the motorcycle back to the jetty and rode the boat back to Rantau Panjang.