Big Hill

In Kuala Terengganu there are two hills - "Big Hill" (Bukit Besar) and "Small Hill" (Bukit Kecil).

Bukit Besar is not particularly big, but it does dominate the landscape around the main big shop ('Giant' supermarket) - it's obviously calling us, maybe even taunting ... you know how it is! "I'm here so you have to climb me!"

Friends told us that you can't drive up it, you have to walk. So one cool, quiet (weekend) morning we donned shoes and headed over to the hill to climb it.

There is a road off the main road at the bottom, and so we turned in there to find somewhere to park so we could start climbing. We didn't find a car park (or even a wider section of road) so we just kept going up, and up. The road was rather narrow, steep, and winding - we were very scared that we would meet another car - but other than backing all the way down there was nowhere else to go!

 Suddenly, there we were at the top by those 'Telekom Malaysia' (phone) towers. (At least here the road was a bit wider.)

And, yes, there were some great views - when we could see past the trees.

That's the 'Giant' supermarket down there - closest thing to a shopping centre that we have, and the source of many good (western style) foods and stuff. Bunch of really tall buildings going up behind it, trying to develop that 'city' feeling in a place that really is not (a city).

You can see the river, and the distant hills that surround the city. The little black knob (bottom right) is the planetarium ... well, it used to be!

Then we had to drive all the way back down hoping we wouldn't meet some other silly person driving all the way up. There must have been a sign somewhere (in Malay) that we missed!