Hello again,
To continue where we left off last time, I received an e-mail in the morning that my second flight was moved to 7:55pm instead of 3:50pm, pff. I asked them at the airport if they could put me on an earlier flight, but that was the earliest flight. So that meant I would have 7hours at the KL airport.. I landed and flew from KLIA2, very new, very modern. There was lots of shopping, cafes, restaurants, etc. I Googled long layovers at that airport and found a blog which stated there was a movie lounge and also an AirAsia lounge (for a pretty low fee). And so I decided to go through customs. It turned out both were on the international part of the airport and not accessible for me, darnit... There was nothing near where I flew from, but luckily I found a computer with free wifi and so I got a few snacks and water an stationed myself there. It's where I wrote the blog I posted a few weeks ago (The big 3-0). And so it was actually a good thing because I finally had time to write again.
I then flew to Kuala Terrenganu where I arrived around 9pm. When they announced we were about to land, they said "And have a happy journey". After a 7hr layover for a 55min flight, all that came to mind was "f u Air Asia", which also made me laugh a bit.
I took a Grab car to my hostel, Grab took over Uber here (last May is what I heard) and is huge here. It saves a lot of money compared to taxis and is advertised everywhere. Upon arrival at my hostel, I walked up the stairs until it was blocked by a gate and a sign that said: Call this number for pin code and a basic mobile phone hanging on the side. It almost felt like the beginning of a Saw movie ^_^. The hostel was very nice, but again, there was nobody. Just signs and labels everywhere to tell what to do or what it was for (like Lamp, Fan, etc). The bed was very comfortable and the hostel was super clean, a big plus as I got ready for bed!
I set out to explore the city for a bit the next day. It's very conservative (muslim city) and apart from the Chinese, I was the only one not wearing a headskarf and I got quite a lot of stares. This isn't a place tourists stay long for, most people go here just as a stop before or after going to the islands. I decided not to. I walked through the city to check out some highlights and markets but it seemed as if I was walking through a 'fallen' city or a ghost town at times. A lot was closed or under construction. And what is funny, is that there are a lot of wifi spots throughout the city (not in bars or cafes, but just anywhere). So I was able to get a Grab again to go to Taman Tamadan Islam, a theme park full of down sized mosques from all over the world. However it soon turned out, I was the biggest attraction of all. There were lots of school kids visiting the park that day, looking, talking, saying hi, waving, asking to take pictures. There was one group of school girls that followed me to the back of one mosques, kind of creepy and asking for a photo, ok, thank you, bye bye.
I then made my way back, had dinner and bought an online bus ticket to go to Kota Bharu the next day. I had breakfast at a chinese place to have 'famous' chicken rice, because the other restaurants were full of people staring at me as I walked by. I then grabbed my stuff and took another Grab to the busstation. A local young guy from KL started talking to me, asking me questions, telling me about his family and two brothers who lived in America and told me I had an American face when I told him I was from The Netherlands.
The bus journey was great, might have been just what I needed. It was a 3:45hr busride and I was at ease. Listening to music while looking outside, doing my sudoku puzzles and let some of my thoughts wonder. I did feel a bit bad though. I was in this bus, which costs a few euros, to stay in a 5* hotel. And people getting off this bus in the middle of nowhere to go home or visit their families in pretty basic 'huts'. Just like when I once took a bus to Orlando to stay with my family, who left a day earlier, to stay in a pretty fancy hotel and I was in the bus with people that traveled for up to 24hrs to visit family.
I saw lots of things on the way to Kota Bharu but what caught my eyes the most were the signs/stalls for satay and cendol, two things I wanted but hadn't found in the places I stayed in and again, did not find in Kota Bharu later that day.
I decided after all the alarms I'd set, I needed a break, a pool, a room to myself (even though the other hostels hardly had any people checking in). And so, for the first time ever I stayed in a 5* hotel, with a pool and a batthub! The guy I met earlier had told me while we were waiting for the bus that an appartment near KL was really expensive, around 1200RM (which is about €240) and so I didn't dare tell him that I was about to stay in a hotel that would roughly cost me 500RM for two nights (about €100).
It was nice and relaxing, but again very conservative and so the women swim with all their clothing and headscarfs on. I have a tankini with shorts and so it doesn't show a lot but still. It took me a while before I felt comfortable enough to go in for a swim. But there weren't really any stares or anything and so I was glad that it seemed that it wasn't that unusual to them. I also noticed there were hardly any men at the pool, mostly women and children and after about 11am there was almost nobody there and I pretty much had the pool to myself :).
I had a book with me, Mans search for meaning, which is about nazi camps. And before I left Kuala Terrenganu, I remember being in the bed, covering myself with a blanket cause I was a bit chilly from the a/c, and read a passage on 9man having to lay sideways so they'd fit and only had 2blankets to share amongst them. And then thinking about myself and that I was about to take a 4hr bustrip to chill at a 5* hotel, that really put things in perspective. I also wanted to read it at the pool or when taking a bath, but it didn't seem like the right setting nor was I able to get into it with kids playing around.
I did notice that there was hardly any men, mostly women with kids. And the Jacuzzi had seperate times for women (10am-4pm) and men (7-10am and 4-7pm). One of the men that was there on the day I checked out, but stayed at the pool because my flight wasn't until 630pm, made me very uncomfortable. I was laying on a chair on the other side of the pool opposite to him, reading my book and when I looked up, this guy was sitting there, just staring my way. At first I didn't think much of it, but when I looked again and some time had passed, he was still staring, smoking, looking seriously. It gave me the creeps, I did stare back a few times, but he didn't flinch, and so eventually I decided to leave and sit in the lobby. I've never felt so uncomfortable, and because I didn't know if I'd insulted him or his culture or whatever the reason was. While I sat in the lobby, I saw him walk outside in the distance and walk to a car and leave. I felt relieved and I went back outside and not much later, other women and kids joined me. I was again able to relax before heading to the airport (by Grab of course) to fly to Penang :).
Byebye,
T.
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