Kelantan - Place in Malaysia You Shouldn't Miss

If you are looking for local gastronomical delights with a difference, then Kelantan is the place that you should head to.

Located in the east coast, Kelantan boasts for a cultural potpourri when comes to food. The combination of Malay, Chinese, Indian and Thai influence has given rise to unique Malaysian cuisine.
Malaysians will recall the tempting Nasi Kerabu, Nasi Berlauk, Nasi Tumpang, Laksam or Solok Lada that is synonymous with Kelantan and can satisfy even the most difficult to please palate.
Then there are the Malay cakes and sweetmeats, some with unsavoury or strange names like the Tahi Itik, Kuih Kartun, Badak Berendam, Abang Balik Gelisah, Che Abang Guling, Lompat Tikam, Lidah Buaya and many more. Despite their unappetizing names, they taste great.
RICH IN TRADITIONAL FARE
According to the Kelantan State Tourism Director Muhammad Zaki Talib, Kelantan is rich in cuisines that cannot be found elsewhere.
The traditional Kelantan fare serves as a major crowd puller to Kelantan, especially the tourists.
Added with a rich cultural heritage and unparalleled hospitality of the locals, Kelantan is ever ready to receive visitors from within and outside the country, he said.
To showcase Kelantan's culinary offerings the 2009 Kelantan Food Fair, a four day event that began on March 12, was held.
The event organised by the Kelantan State Tourism Action Council was held at the grounds of the Sultan Muhammed IV Stadium and saw the participation of 24 agencies and culinary masters from Kelantan, Terengganu, Perak, Sabah, Sarawak and Thailand.
UNENDING MENU
The food festival served as an important avenue to highlight Kelantan's unique gastronomy with more than 200 type of food to be sampled by visitors. Among others are the Kelantan traditional cakes and sweetmeats, Sarawak layered cake, rendang tok, lemang periuk kera, ayam percik, lauk-pauk and numerous types of rice dishes and pengat.
One of the specialties dished out at the event is the nasi uduk ayam solor, a typical Kelantanese delight with the chicken grilled with sugar cane and this makes the chicken to taste sweet. Initially ducks were used, but later changed to chicken which is much preferred by the locals.
The list seems to be never ending added with appetizers like cek mek molek, jala mas, akok, puteri mandi, pulut bakar, buah tanjung and ketupat sotong.
Not only the visitors were awed by the vast spread but also the colour, shapes and their alluring presentation that are bound to make anyone drool.
One thing for sure, the food fest was well received by visitors who were all too eager to witness and savour Kelantan's fare.
GREAT TASTE TO SAVOUR
The tourism authority in Kelantan also took the opportunity to invite members of the media to join the fest.
The media members were taken for a three day visit to Kelantan and given the opportunity to savour numerous delights like kerabu jantung pisang, sambal pauh, serunding, kelapa jeli and all the appetizers.
In Kota Baharu alone, there are many locations where one can enjoy the local delights at cheap prices.
Head to the Buluh Kubu food court here and the old market of Majlis Perbandaran Kota Baharu (MPKB) to sample some of the best offerings.
Visitors can also try 'the special steamboat' at Food Village, that provides a different gastronomy experience as they not only get to dip the seafood and tofu in the boiling sup but also grille the meat.
A PLACE TO SHOP
A visit to Kelantan is incomplete without a stopover at Pasar Besar Siti Khadijah, a famous shopping area in Kelantan. For those who love to bargain, it is the place that you should not miss.
The three-storey complex is the clear testament of Kelantan women's dominance in entrepreneurship and here visitors can find a myriad of keropok (fish crackers), handicraft and batik, cloth and clothing, and key chains apart from the traditional delicacies.
This market operates daily from 6am to 7 pm and all business activities will cease for 15 minutes during prayer times.
Another place of interest in Kota Baharu is Wakaf Che Yeh. This market is open after Maghrib and offers merchandise, food, clothing and others at cheap prices.
In a nutshell, Kelantan is a well recognised gastronomical destination that offers its own unique spread and is a value for money shopping destination.

Big Blue Whale is Coming to Town

THE blue whale may be the largest animal on our planet, but it enjoys feasting on one of the smallest animals – shrimp-like crustaceans called krill.
However, it needs about 3,500kg of krill a day, which is equivalent to 64,000 hamburgers.
This interesting fact was disclosed at the Big Blue Multimedia Exhibition at Mid Valley Megamall, which runs until April 13.
A life-size sculpture of a two-month-old, 9m-long, female blue whale calf graces the East Atrium, while a low-frequency sound reverberates in the background.
“It’s to give you a feel of the sound made by a whale, but in reality, the frequency is so low that we can’t hear it,” whale expert and Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute director Dr Bruce Mate said.

The exhibition is presented by the National Geographic Channel and supported by Astro and Mid Valley Megamall to encourage Malaysians to care for this beautiful creature and to raise awareness of marine conservation in Malaysia.
Aside from the accurate replica of the calf crafted by a team of model makers in Australia, the exhibition also features expert sharing session, conservation and education activities and multimedia exhibits on Samsung LCD TV sets.
It also features footage from National Geographic’s documentary Big Blue, which will be aired on the National Geographic Channel 553 on Astro at 8pm on April 12.
From the footage, one will learn many fascinating facts about the blue whale, such as it having no teeth and being able to travel 160km in one day.
Mate, who has been conducting marine life research since 1973, is keen on up-close encounters with the marine mammal because it is mysterious.
“It spends 95% of its life in the sea and surfaces only to take a breath.
“The mystery makes a great detective story. I always say that if children love detective story, they will love science, too. It’s like trying to find out what’s real and getting closer to the truth,” the 63-year-old said.
His most amazing encounter with the blue whale happened in 2001, near San Miguel Island in Santa Barbara County in California.
“It was after a big storm and the waves were about 6m tall. A blue whale was going with the waves, body surfing.
“I sensed that this animal was doing that for fun. Maybe the blue whales have a sense of humour, too,” Mate said cheekily.
Mate pointed out that the blue whale was an endangered species, no thanks to whaling, global warming and ship strike.
“The depletion of the blue whales is because of us. The blue whale needs our help and so we need to find out more about its mysteries.
“We can’t change them, but we can change ourselves,” he said.
Conserving energy and reducing the use of plastic bags and fossil fuel are some of the small steps every one should take.

Beware! Oil Price is Rising Sharply

Oil prices rose sharply Thursday despite more hints that energy use is way down, with traders focusing instead on a rising stock market and surprising news from retailers that suggests Americans are spending money.
If registers at the mall are ringing, that likely means people are driving.
Benchmark crude for May delivery rose nearly 6 percent, or $2.86 to settle at $52.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Trading was very light on a shortened trading week.
Nymex is closed for Good Friday.
In London, Brent prices jumped $2.47 to settle at $54.06 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
"A lot of little things are giving investors hope that maybe the economy has seen the worst," said Andrew Lebow, senior vice president and broker at MF Global.
So far this week, home decor chain Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. and restaurant Ruby Tuesday Inc. have reported better-than-expected first quarter results.
Teen retailer Hot Topic Inc. said sales at stores open at least a year rose more than analysts' forecasts.
On Thursday, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said sales at stores open at least a year, excluding fuel, rose 1.4 percent, short of the 3.2 percent rise analysts were predicting.
However, the world's largest retailer said a later Easter was to blame and that April sales are likely to be boosted by the holiday.
The government on Thursday said new jobless claims fell more than expected.
The Labor Department's tally of initial jobless claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 654,000, down from a revised 674,000 the previous week.
Analysts expected claims to drop only to 660,000.
"People are buying oil when they see signs of economic hope," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading Corp.
Flynn said he'll know that global demand has returned - and higher crude prices justified - when he sees both a significant drop in petroleum supplies and a decision by refineries to crank up their operations.
"Right now, we're not seeing that," Flynn said.
The government reported Thursday that natural gas storage levels in the U.S. rose more than expected last week.
Natural gas is a key energy source for many power plants and factories.
Rising storage levels suggest that people are using less energy, and companies are making fewer products.
Workers in energy intense industries like metals or manufacturing have been hit especially hard in recent rounds of job cuts.
That is reflected in the growing stocks of oil and natural gas in U.S. storage facilities.
It is potential energy that is not being used, one side effect of a very bad recession.
The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas inventories held in underground storage in the lower 48 states rose by 20 billion cubic feet to about 1.67 trillion cubic feet for the week ended April 3.
Analysts had expected a boost of between 11 billion to 16 billion cubic feet, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
On Wednesday, the government reported crude supplies increased by 1.7 million barrels and gasoline inventories rose by 600,000 barrels,
OPEC countries continue to trim crude production in hopes of siphoning off a global surplus.
Tanker tracker Oil Movements reported Thursday that shipments from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are expected to drop another 280,000 barrels for the four-week period to April 25.
Meanwhile, with U.S. gas supplies well above average for this time of year, refiners have cut back on gasoline production, which has in turn helped boost prices.
The Energy Information Administration said 767,400 barrels of refining capacity will be offline this month, up 14.5 percent from the historical average of 670,000 barrels of offline capacity.
That could mean tighter supply and higher prices in some regions, particularly on the East Coast in the next couple of weeks.
This is the season when refineries shut down for repairs and switch over to summer blends.
That, along with more people hitting the road, usually means higher gasoline prices.
In other Nymex trading, gasoline for May delivery rose 4.14 cents to settle at $1.4810 a gallon and heating oil gained just over 3 cents to settle at $1.4288 a gallon.