As we had parked near the wrong market, we had a long hot walk via Chinatown to find the largest market in the city. It was noticable that colour was the theme here, so there was much to distract us on this walk.
And although this street bench (so rare in Malaysia!) said this was a ‘Healthy Walkable City’, many times we were at a disadvantage to the road vehicles which took priority everywhere.
We came across this lovely white mosque (Masjid Abidin) squashed between blocks of shops.
In Chinatown we came across Lorong Kenangan Payang, Kg. Cina which means “Payang” Memory Lane, Chinatown. Along the wall on the left were busts of famous Chinese but their names did not register in my memory. The coming out of the lane was another group of portraits, but I have still to learn their significance too.
After visitng the market, we came across this mighty gate structure which leads up to the Istana Maziah, home of the Sultan of Terengganu. This is a strategic location because the Terengganu River runs across the road from the palace, and of course the main post offices in Malaysia (POS) are still located on sites relevant to the historical loading and unloading of cargo from the rivers and/or coast.
To the left of the Istana Maziah was the structure below, but I am unclear what it is called. It was housed in beautiful gardens which were a pleasant relief after visiting the crowded market.
If you look closely in the photo above, you should be able to see a flag pole and lighthouse beacon on top of a hill. This small hill is the historically important Bukit Puteri and was used as a lookout point and a stronghold during the 19th century civil wars. Apparently there are a number of important historical artefacts located on the top of Bukit Puteri, but I was unaware of this at the time, so only viewed it from a distance.
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