Siti Khadijah Market, Kota Bharu

The market in the centre of Kota Bharu is built as an octagonal hall with tiers of stalls rising around an open well, so that from the upper walkway you look straight down onto the vegetable sellers below in their bright headscarves. It is named after the Prophet's wife, herself a merchant, and Kelantanese women run most of the trade here, as they have long done across the state. The ground floor is produce, fish, herbs and salted goods; the upper floors hold cooked food, batik, songket and household stalls. Kelantanese cooking is sweeter and more Thai-influenced than elsewhere in the country, and this is the place to try nasi kerabu, nasi dagang and the local sweets.

What you actually see

• The tiered produce hall - vegetable sellers ranged in circles, seen from the upper gallery.
• Nasi kerabu - the blue rice dish coloured with butterfly pea flower, sold cooked upstairs.
• The dried fish and belacan - salted goods and fermented shrimp paste on the ground floor.
• The cloth stalls - batik and songket lengths on the upper floors.

When to go

Early morning is when the market works, from about seven; produce sellers pack up by early afternoon and the cooked-food stalls sell out. Friday is the quiet day in Kelantan, with a long midday closure. Cover shoulders and knees, which is the local norm. The craft villages outside town fit into the same morning.

Honest expectations

It is hot, wet underfoot and strong smelling, particularly around the fish and the belacan, and the upper walkways are narrow. English is limited and cloth prices are negotiable, which means visitors pay more. The famous photograph from the upper gallery involves leaning over a crowded rail. Kota Bharu is a long way from anywhere, and onward transport is limited.

Nearby

The Kelantan state museums, the royal buildings and the craft villages at Kampung Penambang are close.