New trip to the East Coast - Muhammadi mosque revisited and some views of Kota Bahru

Peace be upon you all. After making the piece titled New trip to the East Coast - Tomb and mosque of Tok Ku Paloh revisited last Friday, let's have another 'revisited' piece. Here it is...

This is the Muhammadi mosque in Kota Bahru, Kelantan, one of the places I would visit whenever I'm at the predominantly Malay city...

As I've made an article showing some pictures in and around the mosque at the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) (titled Masjid (mosque of) Muhammadi, Kota Bahru, Kelantan... ) half a year ago, it's good to put the pictures taken from my most recent trip to the East Coast into this blogspot.

The lates visit made two weeks ago had one extra feature compared to previous visits. For the first time, I took some aerial pictures of this mosque... at least you can call this an aerial picture as it is taken at some measure above ground level...

For the first ever, I actually climbed up one of the four towers there. Which is quite strange when I think again about it. How come all this while I never felt like going up there?



So here's a look at the city's main historical square from the mosque...

A look of the tower's top from inside. I could have climbed up these stairs but what's the point? There's not enough opening for me to take a decent look at the outside from up there...





And this is the spiral staircase leading up the tower...

I then went down and had a look around. It just occured to me that normally historical mosque like this one would have an information plaque somewhere. So I went looking for it and found it at one corner just outside the compound. Strange, all this while I never even bothered to look for it...

Time to leave the mosque...

OK. I might be more particular during this trip as this time I was not only visiting the mosque. I must have a good look at it from as many angles as this visit was made to include the Muhammadi mosque in a coffee-table book on mosques in Malaysia I'm working on.

My photographer Shamsul Yunos wanted to take an aerial picture of the mosque. So we went to a hotel nearby and asked permission to get on top. For the record, the pictures here were all taken by me using an automatic digital camera. Shamsul took his using a professional SLR camera with big lenses...

From up there, we also got a good look of the mosque and the historical surroundings in relation to the mighty Kelantan river...

A look at the main historical square in front of two palaces now turned into museums...

And a look at the skyline. Cheers! :]

Views from Pulau Duyung, Terengganu...

Today, I'd like to share some pictures taken off a jetty at Pulau Duyung in Terengganu. Come...

OK. Pulau Duyung is an island which sits inside the Terengganu river near to the estuary. The words Pulau Duyung literally means "island of the mermaid".

Actually there's two islands there going by that name, a big and small one hence the name Pulau Duyung Besar (big mermaid island) and Pulau Duyung Kecil (kecil means small in Malay). Seen here is a view of the main bridge from the city of Kuala Terengganu crossing to the other side of the Terengganu river, passing through the Duyung islands. The city centre could be seen behind the bridge.

Here is a closer look of the hill near the city, known as Bukit Besar (the big hill). On it are the words Allah (in Jawi writing) peliharankanlah Terengganu (God preserve Terengganu).

From the same jetty, one could also see the crystal mosque and some buildings forming the Taman Tamadun Islam (Islamic Civilisation Park ) on Pulau (island of) Wan Man.


A closer look at the crystal mosque, a new pride of Terengganu completed and officiated early this year.



A look towards inland Terengganu river.

The river extends some 50km inland until the parts where a dam is in place creating a huge man-made lake called Tasik (lake of) Kenyir. That's all...

New trip to the East Coast - Tomb and mosque of Tok Ku Paloh revisited

Peace be upon you all. Following my latest visit to the East Coast where I revisited some places, I'd like to present a series of articles starting with this...

OK. This is the mosque of Tok Ku Paloh, a very prominent 19th Century religious man said to be of saintly status, situated some 3 km outside the city of Kuala Terengganu. The full official name of the mosque is Masjid (mosque of) Almarhum (the deceased) Engku Saiyid Abdul Rahman Tok Ku Paloh.

His real name is Saiyid Abdul Rahman, Saiyid being an inherited title signifying him as from the lineage of prophet Muhammad SAW. The title Engku is a calling attributed to some members of the royal family... and in some countries like Terengganu, a descendant of the prophet is considered a royalty.

Tok is short form for Datuk or Datok (in normal usage a calling for a grandfather, also for a respected elder) and Ku being a short form for Engku. As he was based mainly in Kampung (village) of Paloh where this mosque is situated at, thus Saiyid Abdul Rahman is known as Tok Ku Paloh.

I've been to this mosque quite a few times and have slept here nearly as many times. Everytime, I would make a point to at least take a wash if not a bath using the water from this well.

A unique feature of this well is the lever system for taking out water using a metal pail. In the picture is my friend Shamsul Yunos having a closer look and taking some pictures.

Oh! This latest trip to the East Coast was actually made to visit and take pictures of some chosen mosques. It is for a coffee-table book project we're working on for a certain publication.

We also visited Tok Ku Paloh's tomb some 300 metres from the mosque.

The tomb is situated inside this building. For some more pictures on the subject do have a look at the articles Gambar bersejarah Kuala Terengganu (Historical pictures of Kuala Terengganu) and Gambar berkaitan Tokku Paloh (Pictures to do with Tokku Paloh) made in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) end of 2006. Malay readers can also refer to the article Keluarga besar Tokku Paloh, wali agung Terengganu abad ke 19 Masihi... made in the blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU half a year ago.

A visit to Templer's Park

Peace be upon you all. Two weeks ago, I made a visit to the Templer's Park recreational area north of Kuala Lumpur. Tonight, I felt like make a posting on it. Here goes...

Actually I was on the way from Rawang to Kuala Lumpur and haven't had lunch. As I was approaching Templer's Park, I thought, why not have lunch there...

And so I was at the recreational area one weekend...

The last time I was here was probably more than three months ago...

Then, I felt like taking a quick dip at the nice stream here. At first I just wanted to dip my feet. But I ended up dipping my whole body, many many times.

Some 20 years ago, this area used to be my favourite haunt. As far as I could remember, there's at least 7 waterfalls inside up to 200 metres above sea level and I always made it a point to climb up until the furthest stream accesible.

Since then, I hardly paid a visit. The latest visit two weeks ago was probably the first time in 20 years I ventured beyond the gates seen above, the main gate at the foot of the hill containing the waterfalls!

But I have no intention of going in far. I just decided to wade across the nearest stream inside... after all I wanted to get to KL soon.

Oh, for the record, although Klang Valley folks call this area as the Templer's Park, the fact is its official name is the Kanching recreational park and forest reserve. The actual Templer's Park, named after a British officer from the colonial era is about 2-3km a bit down south. But it is not so popular as there's only one or two waterfalls there and even then, it's quite deep inside the jungle.

Instead, this area is already accesible from the roadside with the streams looking (and feeling) much nicer. As it is not far from the real Templer's Park, visitors tend to call it by that name and it sticks until today.

So there I was wading across this parts...


I only went up to the first waterfall seen here. Of course I felt like going further and furthermore, I haven't had a dip yet. After all I always liked waterfalls... looking at the sight in front is enough to give me the jitters. The jitters of wanting to at least stand under the waterfall that is. But I got things to do in Kuala Lumpur. So I had to go. That's all! :]

In Putrajaya to look for the seat of an ancient kingdom

Monday, 27th October, the Indian holy day of Deepavali, a national holiday in Malaysia. While most people would celebrate by visiting folks and friends (as it turned out, it was also the last few days of the Muslim festive month of Syawal), I felt like going to the federal capital of Putrajaya to look for the seat of an ancient kingdom...

I first learned about the kingdom after watching a segment on the night-news on TV3 sometime half a year ago, if I remember correctly. Since then, I thought I would have a look but it's only that day that I actually tried to look for the place said to be somewhere in Presint 4.

That's when I arrived at this parts of Putrajaya for the first time ever. For the record, I've been to the new federal administrative capital several times including from its physical inception more than 10 years ago, when I was first invited as a journalist to have a look at its progress...

Hmm... Now I know there's some sort of waterfall down there...

This is the hill nearby which fits the picture and description about the existence of the seat of an ancient kingdom as seen on TV3 sometime ago.

This is a picture of parts of central Putrajaya as seen from in front of the hill. So is this really the seat (or site? both words could be used but the word seat is more specific implying it as the centre) of an ancient kingdom? Do have a look at the article Tapak kerajaan lama di Putrajaya? (Site of an old kingdom in Putrajaya?) posted in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) yesterday. Good night! :]

Pulau Besar, Melaka again... After almost getting stucked there!

OK... Over the last weekend, I also made my latest visit to Pulau Besar, Melaka and spent a night there. Here are some pictures as me and friend Shamsul head towards the jetty to get back to mainland the following day, on Sunday...

As usual, I like to take the coastal route to and fro the jetty...

The jetty is already in sight here... Shamsul is in the picture dragging along his wheeled rucksack...

Normally at this juncture approaching the jetty, I would stick on to the coastal route. But as there's some rocky path ahead while Shamsul preferred to drag along the rucksack rather than having to carry it up the rocky path, we reverted to the higher path alongside the island's biggest resort (now abandoned again for the umpteenth time it seems...)


And finally we're on the jetty. A look back...


Only to realise that the 12.30pm boat we're chasing have left... 15 minutes early than the scheduled time. While the next boat should arrive at 3.30pm, so they say!

Anyway, this is a look towards the west while the mainland is to the east...

So how? We have a few other places to stop at in Muar some 25km away while we intend to head back to Kuala Lumpur before dusk. What if it's true the next boat would only be available at 3.30pm? Should we wait here and cross our fingers or should we go back to the more interesting parts of the island at least to kill time? What if we head there only to find the boat coming back to jetty out of schedule again?

So instead we decided to take pictures and hope a miracle would happen soon. That's Shamsul trying to squeeze a good picture from a position that looks like he's almost under the van, hehe!

Thank God, some 15 minutes later the boat appeared. As it turned out, the number of passengers then was quite high... after all it was a weekend. So the boat after picking up a full-load decided to leave earlier for the mainland. From the mainland it ferried another full-load of passengers before me, Shamsul and some waiting passengers could get onboard.

Anyway, what a relief. And here's a picture of Pulau Besar as the boat head towards mainland. Cheers! :]

From Lipis to Raub... just some nice views

Here are some pictures I feel like sharing from Kuala Lipis on the way to Raub...

The bridge across the Jelai river in Kuala Lipis...

The river then was overflowing at both banks...

Somewhere between Kuala Lipis to Raub...

I was trying to catch a nice picture of the 6,000-feet plus high Benom mountain range while driving at the same time...

And this, a stop at the tourists rest area of Jeram (rapids of) Besu, known as a favourite river-rafting location by some. Cheers! :]