Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
273
long time since this old building served as the colonial land office, but it now houses the
Kelantan Art Gallery, including ceramics, traditional musical instr uments, and cultural
pastimes exhibits.
For great local handicrafts shopping, visitors to K elantan need go no far ther than
Jalan PCB,
the r oad that leads to P .C.B. beach fr om Kota Bharu's Chinatown area.
Hire a taxi through your hotel's concierge—it's best to hire by the hour; it should cost
only about RM15 ($4.35/£2.70) per hour. Your driver will stop at every roadside fac-
tory, showroom, shop, and crafts house (the place crawls with them!), and you'll satisfy
every shopping itch that needs scratching.These are all small cottage industries run out
of folks' homes, so while some places actually have shops, many are very informal “look
sees.” You can watch women weaving
songket
cloth (fine cotton cloth with inter woven
patterns in bright colors and gold or silv er threads) on enormous wooden looms, see
how kites are made by hand, and learn techniques for painting and dyeing
batik
cloth,
along with many other crafts activities that go on in this area. Your driver can also take
you to other shopping places in to wn for local crafts. The prices ar e very good—far
cheaper than in KL.
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