Just before afternoon 21th December 2006, I left Kuala Berang. After walking for some distance and hitchiking two lorries, I managed to get to the point seen above...
From there I walked and reached the fringe of Kampung (village of) Pulau Manis.
I passed the mosque of Pulau Manis. Normally went travelling, I would stop by at the main mosque in the area where I intend to spend the night. But my target was somewhere else...
There. The signpost pointing to where I want to go, the tomb of Tok Pulau Manis... Literally translated the elder of Pulau Manis. The title Tok is also used to denote a grandfather. In this case, it is for a respected elder, a very respected one at that! So who is he? A village headman, a prince? Be patient ya...
There... See the blue coloured building? It is the surau (small praying hall) of Tok Pulau Manis...
Right in front of the surau is an old cemetery perhaps in the region of 400 years old or so! Spooky for some but very peaceful for spiritual travellers like me.
There's a roofed pathway leading to the tomb... There's even a building housing the remains of Tok Pulau Manis. Must be a person of high standing isn't he? So again, who is he?
Hmm... Graves here and there. Again, scary for some but perfect solitude for me...
Look at this one. A friend who followed me once here commented: "It looks like water tumblers!"... Indeed it does. But bear in mind, this is an ancient type of tombstone and from the looks of it, it belongs to someone of high standing too!
The door leading to the main tomb inside. Suddenly the words Tomb Raider came to mind. Would the real Lara Croft step up and join? For a round of.... Um... Err....
Here it is, the tomb of Tok Pulau Manis. Or as the Jawi inscriptions say, Tok Sheikh Pulau Manis, Sheikh as in a religious teacher... Beginning to get the idea?
And up there a description of the life of Tok Pulau Manis, who is he and such in Malay... Suffice to say, he was a famous Muslim saint of 17th century Terengganu, the teacher, also a father-in-law to Sultan Zainal Abidin I, the first ruler of Terengganu from the current dynasty!
Oh... His real name is actually Sharif Abdul Malik. He was called Tok Pulau Manis in respect of the village he came from, that is Pulau Manis! Then again some, said the village got its name because of him! Because more than 300 years ago, the area is a pulau, an island... And the name Manis which is Malay for sweet came about when Tok Pulau Manis did a miracle by dipping his feet into the salt water around (they say it was salty then) and turned it into sweet freshwater fit for drinking!
After a night there, it's time to go. So off I went through this meandering path...
Then only I reached this cute bus-stop... The travel must go on. Cheers!
Pulau manis was named after a large island which in the middle of Trengganu River. Back then, it was quite spacey and width enough, even villager used to cattle cow there. My late grandmother told me, when she was small, the island used to be agricultural land, planting peanuts and vegetable.
ReplyDeleteToday, the island was totally diappear, after extensive and uncontrolled sand extraction project.