Around Tumpat – Tumpat KTM Station & Nasi Kerabu Mek Bunga

Tumpat KTM station was built in 1948 and is the last station for the east coast. One could connect to KL or to Singapore via this station. The Ekspres Wau runs between Gemas in Negeri Sembilan and Tumpat . details of the train schedule and stations and other services offered by Keretapi Tanah Melayu  can be found here 

This is the main entrance of the station . [notice the ‘beca’ ( or what we call ‘taxi’ in Kelantan) caught in the picture, these are still available around Tumpat)

 

And this is the absolute END of the KTM east coast line

 

 This is one section of the waiting area

 

 The ticket counter

 

And on that particular day of our visit ( 28^th March), there was a film crew there as well. So we decided to linger around (just in case they  need some extras), one of the crew member was pretty friendly and we started to chat, ( I am sorry but I forgot to ask his name), turns out that he is one of the actors in the telenovela that they are shooting – he is playing the part of a Tok Penghulu. The name of the telenovela is ‘Nasi Kerabu Mek Bunga’, in brief the story is about a successful nasi kerabu owner and how he tries ( I am not sure did he succeed or not lah) to win the heart of a lady – Mek Bunga. The main actress who plays Mek Bunga  is Mandy Chong, who has acted  in quite a number of locally produced dramas. According to Tok Penghulu, they also did some shots at various parts of Tumpat including Pantai Seri Tujuh .

The crew was waiting for the train to come in, to take a shot of our  Hero disembarking  from the train

 

 Camera, Action… ( main lead -that guy in the stripped polo)

 

The show will be aired on TV2 on Mothers Day, so don’t forget horr..keep a date with Nasi Kerabu Mek Bunga !

 

 And from the KTM station, you will see the lighthouse… 

 

 If you have read the previous posting ( here ) , Tumpat used to be a (busy) port, hence the lighthouse , the lighthouse is ~ 70 ft tall. This is no longer operational , but if it’s a working day ( which exclude Fri and Sat) you can go to the office and  asked for the key from the Person in Charge  and get to go up the lighthouse. How Cool horrr..it was a pity that as it was a Saturday, the PIC wasn’t around, so the staff didn’t have access to the keys to let us go up.

 More info on Tumpat including historical sights and statistics, pls go to :

http://mdt.kelantan.gov.my/

Around Tumpat –Pantai Dor

According to some, the name Tumpat originate from the fact that this was a densely populated area ( Tumpat = dense / solid), I remember when I was studying geography back in the good old days, Dalam Rhu (in Tumpat)  was in the top 10 of the highly populated area in South East Asia. This used to be a bustling and happening place ,  with a port as well as a railway station, casino also got one !!

A bit about the history of  Tumpat,  extracted from http://www.tumpat.com/about.php
According to old inhabitants, Tumpat came into existence about a hundred and ninety years ago. Owing to the lack of roads and rail communications then, goods brought in by trading vessels were transported up the Kelantan River to Kota Bharu and beyond. Goods for export were conveyed to Tumpat by the same boats. The port became so busy that in the early 20th century the British authorities carried out improvements to enable larger vessels to use it. Before that, only vessels between 300 to 400 tons could come in, but with dredging and other improvements ships up to 700 tons could call before going on to Singapore. The first harbour-master was the late William Kerr, who came from Bangkok and he was appointed by the late Sultan Mahmud IV in 1926. His portrait hanged on the wall of the Tumpat Club. Tumpat has five small islands; Tanjong Dato, Tanjong Pak Jah, Tanjong Che Mas, Tanjong Che Tahir and Tanjong Rulah which are situated at the mouth of the Kelantan River. They were so closely situated that through constant silting Tanjong Dato became part of the mainland. The port has silted up in the present and only small shallow boats can be seen in the sand-filled harbour. 

 And this is what the olden days busy port looks like now..

 

To the locals, this area is called ‘Pantai Dor’ which is short for ‘Ndor’ ( pronounced en-dur) which means ’swing’ as there is a playground at the pantai ( there weren’t that many playground in Tumpat mahh) , the playground is still around.

 

 Some beautification project is taking place..pretty scenic horr ?

 

 There used to be a jetty where my dad used to take me fishing when I was a kid, but the bridge had since deteriorated,  And when I was in my secondary school days, this used to be our ‘hangout area’ , and on Fridays we look forward to  the pasar malam ( actually more like a pasar petang) that sells all sort of food stuff, and probably the best ‘tepung malas’ and ‘onde-onde’

And this thingy is still around, I see the same structure in my brother’s black and white baby photos, so, this is really ancient ! hehe.. ( behind the structure, the other side of the wall (I think) is the District Officer’s residence)

 

 There is also an aviary housing some pigeons

 

We saw a fenced-up area with this signboard – which says Royal Project of Kelantan, Ketam Nipah ( Mud Crab) Breeding Centre, Tumpat District  , complete with the royal crest.

 

 

 We decided to be busybodies and walked through the gate ( it was open, honest !) and asked permission to enter from a young malay chap who was working on something on a floating platoon.

According to our kind host, they had just started about a month ago, and it will take ~ 5 months until the crabs will reach a suitable size for sale, and as for now, the baby crabs ,( I dunno what u call them, fries ah ? ) are bought all the way from Ipoh to Tumpat for this purpose.

Each plastic tray is divided into 2 compartments with a divider and will house 1 crab / each compartment. If u look closely as the picture below, you will probably see 1 fish ( food for the crabs) in each compartment, Mr Host  does the feeding once a day. ( u will probably also see holes on the top cover ( i named them ‘meal tunnel’ ) where the fishes are dropped into the compartment.

 

 The water in the ‘pond’ will circulate whenever  the tide rise

 

 All the best to Mr Host ( may the crabs grow fat and tip the scales  ) who has been more gracious and kind to entertain us and our questions.

Kau Jam @ Wat Pikulthong –Tumpat

When I am back in my kampong and want a change to the regular nasi lauk/nasi dagang for breakfast (which is frankly speaking -not that often,  since it’s not easy to get tired of eating nasi lauk/nasi dagang) I will head on to Kampung Terbak for Kau Jam ( salad/ vegetable rice – rice cooked in herbs ( which gives it a greenish colouration))

I used to have to cycle pass Terbak everyday to get to school , on the way-  you get to see familiar sights of monks going around the houses for alms, baby piggies and mama piggies , stray dogs, monitor lizards, the occasional snakes and  biawaks running around the place. Now the place is all modern with traffic lights and all that…( sorry, I do not have any jokes on why the piggies cross the road lah)

The Kau Jam is available in the compound of a Thai temple- Wat Pikulthong ( which is directly in front of the Terbak traffic light junction heading towards the town centre of Tumpat.

 

 In the midst of the foliage .. ( it was ~ 7:30am, it was still dark…) – spot the stall

 The Kau Jam makcik cutting vegetables.

 

i (always) try to practise some Thai words with Makcik during my visits , but i think she prefers to speak to me in malay in response to my broken Thai lah

(Notice the calendar with a picture of the Thai King in the background)

The normal vegetable ( all raw)  in  Kau Jam include : cucumber, long bean, onions, daun kelsom ( spicy and fragrant herb), lemongrass , ginger flower.

 

 Previously, Makcik  will have all the vege ready-mixed in a big basin , but she had since improvise and will ask the customer what they do not want , and she will then omit those and then mix up the portion according to the packets of rice. ( this sure beat having to pick out all the long beans pieces that I do not want in my rice).

The vege are packed separately from the rice .With the rice, Makcik  will pack – fish meat, grounded and fried coconut, pepper, chili paste, and also a packet of Budu ( fermented fish (sauce), for those who do not take budu, you can replace this with soy sauce.

 

Apart from kau jam, Auntie also sells porridge, these are the ingredients to be added to the porridge, I tried the porridge, it’s pretty good too ( very peppery and tasty)

 

 You can either pack the food ( tarpau) or  have it there, under the trees ( chair/table, eating utensils and drinks are available) , enjoy the serenity of the temple …. It’s a wonderful experience..(you should also try having  keropok (fish crackers) available from Makcik’s stall , with kau jam )   And after you enjoyed the healthy kau jam ( so many vege, sure very healthy one !) take a walk around the temple, the statue of the Standing / Walking Buddha is close by to makcik’s stall …

 

 

I did a search on Wat Pikulthong and found that in Nov 2008, the temple became the first Buddhist temple in Malaysia to be homoured with the Royal Kathin award from Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej. You can read the article by clicking here

how to get there :

From Kota Bharu – you head on to Tumpat ( which should be ~20 mins away on regular traffic), After passing Kg Sedar, you will come to Terbak and the  traffic light ,  The temple is one  the left of  the traffic light juntion ( It’s so prominent, you shouldn’t miss it !)