Travelog for: Iago

While imajica and her family is still eating, I rush back to see the water.. I have to enjoy my last views of Perhentian Island coz I dont know when I will be able to come here again!



Hmmm... can I have a swim for the one last time? Please?



OK, bye bye Perhentian Island.. see you again!

Hi, and these days at imajica's house there have been nothing much happening, since she's busy. Imajica is going to move to Penang end of this month, so I just sit in her room watching her preparing and packing.. yeah, not fun



But she says she'll bring me to Penang as well!! 

Guess where I am now? Notice that cruise ship at my back! I am in PENANG!



Penang is a state in West Malaysia that consists of an island and a part in the main land. It has many touristic places to visit! I am right now in Georgetown, one of the earliest cities ever opened in Malaysia.. and it's now been listed as a UNESCO Heritage site! It has a lot of old buildings from the British colonization era like this museum:



and I'm right now sitting in a public square where there are many people sitting and relaxing.. this square is near the water front of the strait (where you can see the ships in the port from afar)



and in this square there is this monument from the World War time.



well, that's all of the photos of me in Penang! We didnt visit many places actually. imajica came to here to go to her new university, and she will be living here for the next 1.5 years! but unfortunately, it's not in this Penang city.. but about 1 hour to the mainland.. and in a rural place!  I can imagine that my life will be boring as soon as I move with imajica to her new campus hostel soon...

Hmmmmmm! So I have been kept in imajica's boring campus hostel for more than 2 months without going anywhere!! it was a nightmare! the internet was hopeless there as well so thats why there's no point to take photos there and show to my friends here through this travelog.

But finally, imajica had a bit long holiday for the Eid which she spent in her hometown! In fact, I didnt have time to go and see Kota Bharu town last time when I first arrived here, so it's now the right time for imajica to show me around her place!

so we're driving to the town! it's about 15 minute from imajica's house.

OK.. so we reach here... what????? A post office!! Knowing imajica as a crazy Postcrosser, I shouldnt have been surprised to know that our first sightseeing destination is a post office!

But anyway, here's the Kota Bharu main Post Office! Hmm the sign is also spelled in Jawi, an old script of Malay that look like arabic alphabet.. it says 'Pejabat Pos Besar Kota Bharu'



so here's the place imajica sends most of her postcards and mail and buys stamps! This is the mailboxes! Oh, and on the banner is the 'wishing message' upon the Highness of the Sultan and Queen of Kelantan state!

We continue our trip to the town.. and I can see Kota Bharu has many old buildings from the early of 20th century with timber architecture like these..



In fact the oldest buildings in this town are shophouses date from early 1900's.. and most of them have been either renovated or replaced by new buildings.

Finally we reach at the town square! Here is the center of the town.. and tourists usually stop here since there are many historical buildings and landmark around here.



This is the Jahar Palace, and old palace with timber architecture which is now a museum of Malay Royal Custom and Traditions.



And from another side of the square.. with the bazar building seen from afar.. as well as the wooden fence of another old palace.



A closer view of the gate of the palace.. though the royals are no longer living in this palace, it still serves as as place of royals function sometimes. I dont know if we can enter the palace.. but I'll just take a peek 

Near the square is the Handicraft village. This place has several timber-architectured buildings like old palaces which are home to a handicraft museum, souvenir shops, art gallery, art class and food court. Imajica buys her postcards from here too!





In front of the Handicraft village is this area with many small village houses replicas - they are like kiosks for foot massages, etc.





And this is the gateway to the Handicraft village!



In front of the Handicraft museum.

We move further to see more of the town.. and we stop at this area with this familiar kind of architecture again.. I have come to understant that the roof design of this building is originated from the Southern Thailand. And this is the Islamic Historical Museum. Seen at the back is the minaret of the Kelantan State Mosque.



And this is the closer view of the mosque! It's rather huge but within a small area so we can't take a picture of the whole building. It's one of the oldest mosques around here.

Hi there! imajica brings me to a trip to Kuala Terengganu, a coastal town about 2.5 hours from Kota Bharu. The town is located very near to the beach, and we stay at this hotel of Batu Buruk beach resort.

It's night and we can't swim in the pool.. though I can't resist it! Have to wait for tomorrow!

YAY, it's morning! How cool to breath fresh breezing air at the beach!



Though nobody really swims at the beach anymore..



Our hotel from the beach



Well, at least we have a pool, remember?



And this resort hostel looks very nice with its foresty design.. here's the cafetaria where we have our breakfast!



Oh, and inside the lobby, I found a traditional house right for my size!!  Welcome to my house!

Hi everyone! Guess what? I am in TAJ MAHAL, INDIA!!!! 



HAHAHA.. of course not! Actually, we're visiting this monument park.. it has 21 replicas of famous monuments from all over the world, especially mosques!



Do you notice the Dome of the Rock at my back? And Badhashi mosque of Pakistan. These built the replicas to look exactly as the original building, only the size is smaller. But it's still exciting, as if I'm really visiting these famous buildings!!

Well, here I am at the Dome of the Rock. The original building is located in Jerusalem and is one of sacred buildings in Islam.



Let's go inside!



It does look like real one, huh?

Then we visited this Grand Mosque, which original building is located in Saudi Arabia. It's the holiest mosque and one of the largest mosques in the world!



And another mosque called Prophet Mosque, which original building is also located in Saudi Arabia. Imajica has visited these two mosques in there last year, and she told me the real mosques were hundreds times bigger than these replicas! Anyway, I'm glad that I can at least visit these buildings in Malaysia!

OK, and we also proceed to many other monument replicas in this park.. such as...

Aleppo citadel of Syria



Suleyman Mosque of Turkey



Mohd Ali Mosque of Egypt



Alhambra citadel of Spain



Kalyan Minaret of Uzbekistan (it's so tall!! I bet the original building in Uzbekistan is much taller!)



Agadez of Niger



and Kul Sharif Mosque of Russia



Wow, it's like visiting a lot of countries in one place!!