Carpacker 2015 – East Coast – #8 Chinatown Kuala Terengganu and Graffiti

Continuing from the entry Carpacker 2015 – East Coast – #7 Warung Nasi Dagang Kak Pah and Surrounding Pantai Batu Burok. For pre-travel, refer here.

Chinatown Kuala Terengganu (CKT) has been shared a lot in local blogs. Even though there are many reviews, I noticed that not many people come here. What makes CKT interesting compared to other Chinatowns? It is full of art, sculptures, and interesting graffiti. Indeed, it’s one of the must-visit spots when in Kuala Terengganu.

From the beach, we continue our journey to CKT. Not far, only about 4 km. The city of Kuala Terengganu is not very congested even though it was Thursday and many people were still working. The weather was hot but different because the humidity was ‘sprinkled’ with sea air.

In Google Maps, you can find the location of CKT, but for the exact entry of the road location, I’ll give you an easy coordinate which is “5.334890, 103.135024“. What’s the advantage if you enter through this road? You will get an easy housing financing scheme with the lowest annual interest of 1.5%. Just kidding….

Okay, seriously, entering from that direction is actually the start of CKT and just right to enjoy a lot of art in that area. It’s a one-way road, so make sure you enter Jalan Kampung Cina and find a parking spot immediately. Don’t go all the way to the end. This road filled with art is only 200 meters long, no need to walk too far.

Gosh, how am I going to sort and choose all the photos taken here? There are too many photos to be shared. Never mind, I’ll start with a picture of an old man’s shop selling love locks. What are love locks? Hehe…

Boom!! There are many love locks. Everyone wants to ‘seal’ pure sincere love with their girlfriends, boyfriends, sweethearts, lovers, and partners. But we didn’t buy any because we have long sealed it with a marriage certificate that is sealed until the afterlife, insyaAllah.

Tatie posing and Aqif looking puzzled, why are so many locks here?

But among all, what I like the most is this one. A steering lock… quite rare. Do you have one?

Okay, this is the view of the alley. It’s small, but did you know, there are many more of this such alleys, each with different artworks? Interesting, right?

Let’s go to another alley, there is graffiti of the Taj Mahal, Petra in Jordan, and more.

Information sign at CKT. Do you see the alley at the end? That’s also an alley with various artworks.

We went to another alley. Eh.. looks like London, with a red telephone booth. I think this is an old telephone booth from the past in Malaysia but painted red.

Next to the telephone booth is a wall painting, also interesting. It refers to the lifestyle and culture of the Chinese community in Terengganu.

In the next alley, there is a creative use of zinc roofs painted in various colors.

Above there are also cloths of various colors.

The zinc roofs extend to the back of the shop areas. Actually, the back area leads to the River Cruise area. So, if you drive through the back road, you can see these roofs. Do you see the colorful bricks?

Here it is… beautiful, right?

I saw an old antique door, probably from before the Independence era.

Since we were already at the back facing the River Cruise, we took pictures with graffiti. Let’s enjoy more pictures… the youth of Terengganu are very creative.

So much, right? If I were the Mayor, I would definitely encourage more tourist hotspots to have more graffiti art.

Okay, we went back to the earlier alley to CKT and finished the other alleys. Eh, there’s a painting of a Malay woman on the wall of this small hut. So many pictures I want to show you.

Stairway to heaven…..

Tired and resting for a while at the chicken coop hut…

An old house still standing behind CKT and in front of the chicken coop hut.

Not sure what he’s doing, maybe plucking nose hair.

There’s also an old well here. It even has a built-up wall around it.

A tourist following us for a while from behind, maybe he wanted to see what we know about CKT. We then entered the alley behind him.

This alley has many colorful umbrellas. For those of you who have been to Floria Putrajaya or Empire Damansara, you might have seen umbrellas like this.

This umbrella alley has many portraits and brief biographies of Chinese representatives who have served in Terengganu.

This door looks ordinary but I like the painting of children crawling and running on it. Did you notice? At first glance, you might miss it.

Done visiting all the alleys. That’s it. We checked thoroughly till the end, there’s no more. For me, that’s already a lot. Okay, here are pictures of Jalan Kampung Cina.

Everyone is thirsty because of the scorching heat. I bought a drink each for them. There’s also an old custom-made motorcycle at the Chinese grocery store.

Aqif was relieved to get a juice box just for him.

After recharging our bodies, we walked further to see what else was in CKT.

There is an open area here, you can see the River Cruise.

There was a rickshaw parked but the owner wasn’t there. We took pictures immediately. Excited because the rickshaw was a bit unique.

Next to the rickshaw is a stage, I think this open space is reserved for shows or Chinese opera.

This cute small house next to the stage. Maybe a changing room..

We then continue our journey to the next destination while driving through the CKT archway. Actually, for me, there are many more interesting things to explore in CKT. If you get here, try walking to the end to see what else is there.

Where to next? It’s only 11:30 AM. Let’s go to Noor Arfa Craft Complex! You ladies would love that… right????

Costs at CKT (current prices, except food/drink):

• Car fuel: Depending on your car.
• CKT: Free

Continuing to the next entry… Carpacker 2015 – East Coast – #9 Noor Arfa Craft Complex.