Well not exactly a cruise, but somewhere near it if you can overlook the absence of a purposely built luxury vessel with captains in smart uniforms at the helm. River cruises are the hall marks of cities sited near large bodies of water, it comes to the mind of idling on the boats along the great rivers of the western countries such as the Thames and the Seine. Kota Bharu is smacked on the Kelantan river near the estuary and if wants to qualify as a modern city it ought to take advantage of its position as a riverine settlement. Sadly the people here do not love their god given watery asset very much. What should have been esplanades are now hideous looking buildings that completely blot out the river view and also restrict the access of the public to the water edge. There used to be a public padang overlooking the bank called Padang Lido where one used to stroll waiting for the sunset but it was turned into a private use and a structure of a distinctly ugly proportion is occupying the spot. There was no defence of the taking away of the open space, the people not objecting even when the reason given by the powers that was, was that the space was used by courting couples and thus an affront to morality, the quicker it is shut down the better for the prospect of entering heaven in after life.
Coming back to the title of this posting, one hot blazing day I felt a cool breeze coming from the river. I stopped at the new clock tower near the Sultan's Pier, an old land mark, and saw a kind of vessel chugging lazily under power on the river and it came to dock at a platform discharging people. I am surprised these river taxis still exist. River traffic was in its heyday before the construction of the bridge, when there was a lively use of the river as the only mean of getting across was by use of vessels. The rail station for Kota Bharu was on the opposite side of the bank at Palekbang and rail passengers and goods were transported by special ferries. After the bridge opened, the river traffic grew less and less and as a specimen of transport it is in the danger of extinction.
So before the whole thing wraps up you can still catch the vestiges of a dying mode of transportation besides really enjoying the secret of the the town that had been hidden from public view. When you arrive at the Clock Tower on the river bank on the left of the Sultan's Pier, there is a staircase on the left side which leads to the edge of the water. You will see two floating platform, there are no sign boards but you cannot miss this platform as the other one is a marine police docking station which is closed to the public. There is a rickety bridge connecting the platform to the bank and you get down through the bridge onto the platform and purchase the ticket from a man, there is no ticket counter but you cannot miss the man because as soon as you step on the platform he will be asking whether you are going across. The fare is cheap, RM1 one way. You can buy return so that you do not have to make another purchase when when coming back.
The boat is powered by diesel engine which sits in the middle partitioning the cabin into two. The ride is slow and sluggish but the breeze is constant as the boat makes its way to the opposite bank to a riverside village of Kampong Laut which is well known for sending out its people to seek employment in other parts of Malaysia, the most famous is claimed to be the previous chief minister of Sarawak. On reaching the village the boat stops for half an hour and you can have a short tour of the village enterprise which is mainly shredded beef production before returning to the boat again for another ride back to Kota Bharu. Bring along a camera as the shot possibilities are endless.
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| A magnificent view of the newly constructed clock tower on the bank of Kelantan River taken from the boat. |
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| Inside the cool deck of the boat, pretty ladies commuting from town to their home village at Kampong Laut |
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| We pass another boat of similar trade mid river |
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| Faris trying to start the diesel engine by hand crank. Its a hard job he tells us. |
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| We are really enjoying the boat ride, pretending its a luxury cruise |
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| The hull is so low you can dip your hand in the river |
