Kuala Terengganu, capital of Terengganu on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, is known best as a gateway to the State’s beautiful beaches and magnificent islands. But for tourists who seek a more in depth experience to north Malaysian culture the city itself has much to offer.

I started a one day tour at the lavish state museum which has as much to offer by wandering the gardens that surround it as the exhibits inside. It’s a vast complex which needs half day to fully explore but my tour guide pushed us on after an hour the Crystal Mosque along the Terengganu river. The Mosque marks the centre of a recent development project along the estuary bank. Opened in 2008 and made of steel, glass and crystal the Mosque can accommodate up to 1,500 worshippers at a time and is claimed to be one of Malaysia’s most impressive structures.

For lunch we drove back into the old city to the enclosed Kuala Terengganu market. I ate quickly to give me time to wander the colorful material shops and then out into China Town to take in some crumbling but all the same beautiful Chinese architecture just behind the water.

After a brief stop at the charming floating Mosque I finished the day in Palau Duyang, a small fishing village near the estuary where boat makers still craft wooden boats in a practice that stretches back as long as this community as existed.

Exhausted from a long wet and humid day, the sun broke through just in time for me to enjoy a sunset reflecting on a charming city well worth a visit on any Malaysian tour.