Missing King

Most tourists pass through Kota Bharu on their way to the Perhentian Islands. We durian tourists go where there’s durian, which means staying on the mainland.

Kota Bharu is the capitol of Kelantan, the northeastern province of Malaysia which borders Thailand. For a town without a major touristic draw, there are a surprising number of tiny museums. Most seemed to celebrate Kota Bharu’s celebrity status as the ex-royal city of the Kelantan Sultanate, including the Royal Museum, the Museum of Royal Traditions, and the Royal Palace. However, even wikitravel doesn’t suggest visiting any of the museums, probably because none offer English translations.

Rob and I like museums well enough (and prefer them in English), but it was Musang King that drew us to Kota Bharu on our way to the jungle to search for the Elephant Drop Durian. Musang King hit the durian wall of fame when Stanley Ho, the Hong Kong gambling billionaire, sent his private jet to Singapore to pick up 88 Musang King durians, paying 4,800 RM ($1,529) for the load. In Penang, Rob and I held off on the Musang King, and held on to our wallets, in order to try this king of durians in its home province.

The bus from Penang to Kota Bharu runs only twice a day. We arrived at 4 AM to quiet streets. Around 4:30 AM we climbed a dark narrow stairway leading to KB Backpacker’s, a laid back, modern hostel replete with funky murals, reggae-style decorations, bright colored posters of jungles and beaches, and European hippies smoking cigarettes. “Good morning,” I murmured sleepily before passing out.

Love the colors!

When we woke up, it was so late we feared the morning market might already be over. Luckily for us, the Central Market is a major event, and there was still plenty of activity. The market is set in a huge octagonal building, which wikitravel deemed, “Arguably the most amazing building” in Kota Bharu. This really isn’t saying much.

What are they doing up there?

We got distracted on our way to find the durian. Giant hunting knives and curved machetes kept getting a hold of Rob’s man brain. “It’s only five dollars!” he exclaimed, stroking the long black blade. “We are flying out of Singapore, not Indonesia,” I reminded him. As we exited the the vegetable and knives region, we heard plaintive meowing. Looking up, I saw two extremely emaciated kittens staring down at us from a green roof covering. I wondered how long they had been trapped there.

Rob and I went up the stairs to a large, bustling restaurant area. The kittens were in plain sight, trapped on an overhang below the building. One was so weak it couldn’t stand up, never mind leap up to freedom. Rob scoped out the overhang, but decided it was too rickety to put weight on. When one of the kittens wandered close to the side of the building, he climbed out along the ledge and put a hand down to for the rescue.

The kitten hissed and bared its teeth, looking mangy and ferocious at once. Some local people had stopped to watch. One man spoke some broken English, and told us not to worry about them. “Here tomorrow same,” he said. I found a cardboard box, and handed it to Rob. He tried to scoop the kitten up, but it ran to the far corner of the ledge, out of reach and rescue. I wished I could just call the Fire Department, or anyone with a ladder. Not being able to help those kittens nearly broke my heart. It was one of the few times I’ve said, “This would never happen at home.”

We said goodbye to the kitties and walked into the fruit area, just in time to see the durian walk past. There were two ladies selling D24 durians for 8RM/kilo. D24 were all the rage before Musang King, and we felt it was appropriate to try one. In Indonesia we met a Malaysian guy who remembered fondly buying D24 out of the trunk of someone’s car when it was still really new and not yet sold commercially. He said it was so good he didn’t buy another durian for 10 years, until the D24 was available. We thought it was good, but nothing special. The stem was withered and dry, and it the husk had split open. No durian will be its best in those conditions.

The ladies told us that all the durians were coming from Perak, the province west of Kelantan. It wouldn’t be durian season on the eastern side until August. Duh. If only I had paid attention to this durian blogger’s very handy map of durian seasons in Malaysia, I would have known that the east and west coasts have different monsoon seasons, which effects the durian season. This means that while it’s peak season in Penang, there won’t be durian falling in Kota Bharu for a couple months.

So we went for an afternoon adventure jog to the beach. It was 11-12 km to Pantai Cahaya Bulan (PCB beach). Apparently it used to be called “Pantai Cinta Berah,” which means “beach of passionate love,” but the ruling Islamic party found that name too scandalous and changed it to the tamer yet still suggestive “moonlight beach.” Traveling by foot is my favorite way to go sight-seeing!

Along the way we passed two stalls loaded with durians. These durians were also from Perak. I kind of wanted to try running on a durian belly, but thought better of it.

As we ran, we saw vendors selling the most gigantic coconuts ever! These were coconuts on steroids, obese giants that would clobber anyone standing below the tree. I wondered how many people die from coconuts around here. We arrived at PCB beach hot and thirsty. Thankfully, just across the street we spotted those super sized cocos.

This coconut’s as big as Rob’s head! And that’s saying something 😛

We sipped on our soup bowl sized coconuts and watched as families played fully clothed in the water. The sun began to set, creating a gorgeous scene of people and kites silhouetted against the oranges and reds reflected in the water and the clouds. We’ll try to come back to Kelantan later in July, when we’ll have a better chance of trying the true Musang King. For now, we’re still on the hunt for the elusive Elephant durian! Hopefully its durian season in Taman Negara!

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