Markets of Kota Bharu

From Kuala Besut, we caught a share taxi RM 5 each (4 people) with a Canadian couple to Kota Bharu, a large city an hour away from the Thai border. We got dropped off at Zeck's Guesthouse, and we were happy we did. It was clean, had hot water, and attached bathroom doubles for RM 20 and Zeck was a really nice guy with loads of info. He drove people into town (a 10-minute walk) and showed pirated DVD movies on his personal system to anyone who wanted to watch.

Kota Bharu was really just a jumping off point for travelers (for this reason you could get great advice from people coming from Malaysia from the south, or Thailand from the north), but there were also a few things to do - particularly seeing the day and night markets.

The central market, opened during the day, was in a huge domed two-story building. In the middle of the building, the 2^nd floor opened up, and the domed roof allowed yellowish light to shine down on the first floor. This was by far the most picturesque market I saw in Asia - the rows upon rows of vegetables, meats, and fruit and yes, even turtle eggs were so colourful and nicely arranged. It was a must see for anyone who liked Asian markets - and who doesn't.

At night, the parking lot next to the bus station turned into the "night market", one of the best feasts of hawker and stall food we ever saw - and dirt-cheap. Unfortunately, our first night there, it started pouring, and all the stalls shut down because the high winds were destroying the tarp covers. Suddenly the power went out and we were plunged into absolute darkness. We ended up going into the nearby A&W to the ^nd floor, where we crashed a huge birthday party featuring forty screaming kids and the A&W bear - fortunately we scored some free birthday cake!

We managed to find two German guys to get a share taxi to the Thai border for RM 4 each, and our time in Malaysia had quickly come to an end. We were feeling a little down, knowing, based on our short experience in Thailand two years prior, how tough Thailand was compared to Malaysia, and expecting the worse in the next couple of days. After blowing all our Ringgit on snacks, we walked across the border….

Malaysian Totals (7/21-8/5, 8/12-8/24) 27 1/2 days - 2 people

RM 260 = $100

	Total	Daily Average
Travel	RM 466.20/$179.31	$6.52
Accommodation	RM 656/$252.31	$9.17
Meals/Snacks	RM 1,112.86/$428.02	$15.56
Miscellaneous	RM 494.05/$190.02	$6.91