An 'Incursion' to Besut

From Pulau Manis, I got the bus to Kuala Terengganu. Walked around to have a final look at the town before heading for Kelantan. Saw this rather interesting building on the round...

All this walking about looking at things made me miss the express bus to Kota Bahru, the capital of Kelantan. Never mind, I take this as a signal I might have too stop at other places before going there. But first, must make the move to get out of Kuala Terengganu...

So I took the non-express bus to Kerteh... Or was it Jerteh? It sounds almost the same but the places are two different places far away from each other. Whatever, one is at the south of Kuala Terengganu, another at the north. I went to the northern one to get a connecting service to Kota Bahru. Then suddenly the words Tok Bali, the name of a place which I've passed through one night some years ago came to mind...

I found out that to get to Tok Bali, one must take the bus through or to Besut. It happens that the last bus heading that way that day stops at Besut. So I just follow 'the winds' and go there!

There... I found the streets of Besut quite endearing... Should be worth it to stop for a night...

The Besut bus-stop. Most outsiders know Besut as the embarkation point to get to the resort island of Pulau Perhentian, nothing more... Today (as in 22 December 2006), I intend to find out more that meet's the eye, God willing!


One of the cute buildings which caught my eye...

The old surau (small praying hall) of Besut... Felt a slight spiritual pull coming out from it but decided to walk one... Feels like there a place somewhere with a stronger spiritual pull but don't know where.

As it turn out, 10 minutes later I came across this old mosque. Immediately I knew this is where I should spent the night. Suffice to say, I did get some spiritual lessons there but no need to elaborate... :]

Perhaps, one of the reason there's a strong pull there is the amount of old graves beside the mosque... One or two might belong to a saintly person who might have long left this world but still leaves a certain spiritual aura that can be detected by some!

Look at the design, the positioning of the door... There's certain something more than meets the eye... Ah.. The description of the eye as the door to the soul suddenly came to mind...

This picture taken in the brightness of the following day should tell a story or two about the mosque...

Hmm... Flowery motifs inside. Makes one wonder the philosophy behind the building of the mosque... Peace? Make love not war? After all, the word Islam came from the Arabic root word Salam which means peace. One only wage war in order to bring peace, that is trying to patch things up after the order is disturbed. Otherwise, one would avoid any form of conflict and concentrate only on God and doing peaceful things and such...

Now I'm beginning to sound like the Buddha. Then again, some say the Buddha is a Muslim, an adherent of Islam... That is, Islam in its real sense not the perverted one which we often see as practised today!

The Asmaul Husna, 99 beautiful of God inscribed on a wood panel in gold-colour lettering. Need I say more?

The surau seen under the bright daylight. Still I find myself just moving along without stopping by, my mind thinking out what is it at Tok Bali, Kelantan which 'forced' me to alter my route and make this 'incursion' to Besut...

A last look at the activities in Besut. It is after all a fishing town, a place of fishermen... Cheerio! :]

Enter Tok Pulau Manis

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!

A look at Kuala Berang...

Greetings dear readers. Today, I've decided to start updating this blogspot using material unused since last year. For information, I've done plenty of travelling all my life but it's only since September 2006 that I've decided to record some of the places I've been at on camera.
All this while, I'd rather keep all the memories good and bad to myself as I don't feel the need to show to anyone or prove where I've been. But September 9th 2006 changed this when the remains of my great-great-great grandfather, Laksamana (Royal Admiral) Muhammad Amin was brought back to Perak's royal mausoleum after languishing for some time in Singapore due to a ban by the British colonialist on some 19th century Perak freedom fighters from returning to this land.

It was a rare historical moment of national, even internatiol proportion and I'll be a fool if I don't record a bit of the proceedings for posterity at least for family members to view. For information, click The return of Admiral Muhammad Amin's remains... .
This particular posting can be said to be a continuation of some pictorial stories about Terengganu made sometime ago. Chronologically, you can see this article picks up from where Gambar bersejarah Kuala Terengganu (Historical pictures of Kuala Terengganu) in my bilingual blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) left off... So go on, hope you enjoy it! Cheers! :]

Somewhere in the district of Kuala Berang towards the rural parts of the state of Terengganu, there is a place called Jenagor at the far reaches of the Terengganu river. One fine day December 20th of 2006 I went there to visit a rather mysterious and historical site nearby...

First I must go through this area. For information, the site in question along with the embarkation points are guarded by a group of people who styled themselves as the guardians of some lost Malay history.

From there, one can go down the steps to Terengganu river...

As it turns out, it was bad timing for me. It was low tide while much of this part of Terengganu river is rendered not so navigable by boat because of heavy silting, they say due to some development upriver.

I looked around. The special and mysterious site which I intend to visit is located rather far away across the river. The only realistic way to get there is by boat, have to wait sometime till high tide... Even then one have to labour, step into the water and push the boat at some parts. And the boat have a rather limited capacity while there are those who claimed they have been waiting the last three days for the chance to get across. The weather was not so fine anymore...

After deliberating for some time, I decided to zoom off. Instead, I went to this old mosque at Kampung Buloh where I spent the night...

Not far from the mosque is this scene. See... The banks of the Berang river is starting to overflow because of heavy rain. The river feeds into the bigger Terengganu river. That's why the area is called Kuala (estuary of) Berang!

This is the main mosque of Kuala Berang. I once slept there during a previous visit. At the time, I managed to get across the Terengganu river by boat to get to the mysterious site of this story. Why is it myterious? Well, suffice to say, there is a tomb there said to belong to a saintly person know as Sharif Muhammad Al-Baghdadi, the man said to have inscribed the famous Batu Bersurat (inscribed stone of) Terengganu 700 years ago! That's all... Now my juice is starting to flow for the next writing... :]

Now, Danau Tok Uban...

Note: Another adaptation from CATATAN SI MERAH SILU. An almost direct translation of the Malay one made yesterday in a rush!

Time is running out while I still have 2-3 stories to let out before I can feel satisfied. Ah... Just do it...

After leaving Bukit Panau last Wednesday, I got a bus up to the junction to get to Tok Uban... Never thought Danau Tok Uban, the mysterious destination next on my list is rather far from there, almost or more than 10km away while I can't see any public transport coming in. So I have no choice but to walk far dragging all my goods... Quite a while later then I got to hitchike a lorry which is supposedly headed for Danau Tok Uban...

On the way, the lorry driver said he must stop at a village to pick-up some workers. He said, then they will go to Danau Tok Uban.

I just obliged. As it turns out, not only I have to wait long before the workers in question showed up. I was then taken to another village where they want to cut down an old rubber tree to be used as furniture wood. Don't know how long all these will take if I want to wait until the tree is cut into pieces small enough to be carried up the lorry... And so I had to walk far again...

Some time later, arrived at the small town of Tok Uban... The people there were amazed to see me walking alone carrying a big rucksack while dragging along the carriage which is part of "Berpetualang ke Aceh" book series promotion kit under the hot blazing sun...

Posing a minute in front of a school... After some time, someone took me up and drove me to Danau Tok Uban... From the school, I've walked almost 2 km before getting transport... As it turns out, there's another 3 km to go before I got there!

Look at the trees around Danau Tok Uban... Feels like somewhere overseas! They say because there's a lot of Tembusu tree. I just nodded... Not that I know which one is Tembusu which one is not... What I do know, the trees here do look different!

The first time I arrived here was in 2004, following a friend who was shooting a local drama there... The story-line involves scenes which are supposed to happen in England. And so Danau Tok Uban is chosen as one of the 'overseas' location...

There, the wide expanse of lake known as Danau Tok Uban... But maybe most people don't realise how big it is because of the kiambang (a kind of growth on water, sorry can't find the English word off-hand) covering most of the surface...

Apparent behind is Bukit (the hill of) Panau in the province of Tanah Merah. The Danau (lake) is situated in the region of Pasir Mas.

The white mosque built by the Sultan of Brunei across the lake leaves a lot of questions... Why built it there? Is there a secret behind it?

The lake seen from a different angle...

Part of the only restaurant in the area...

"Berpetualang ke Aceh" poster 'hanging-out' beside the jetty...

The restaurant seen from far...

A picture taken from a part of the restaurant floating on water, immediately after waking up from an afternoon nap...

Snap a pix of this tree... The promotion kit also wants to pose along, haha!

The picture above and below were taken from the Brunei mosque but that is another story...:]