RANTAU PANJANG: The dry spell and hot weather which hit Kelantan since January has improved.
The water level at Sungai Golok at Pangkalan Pasir that had dried up recently, is slowly returning to normal.
Many locals especially petty traders, however, are not happy with the situation as there would be no more `water festival’ along the river bank, meaning an end to their lucrative income.
Trader Suriati Omar said she stopped operating her stall at the river bank two weeks ago.
“The water level at the river is slowly increasing and therefore fewer people come to swim or play on the sand.
“I earned little income last Friday and decided not to operate the stall there anymore,” said the 36-year-old who previously sold kerabu maggi, kerepok and fried fishballs at Pangkalan Pasir.
A visitor who only wanted to be known as Rozita said she and her friends were shocked to see only a few people at the river bank when they visited the place yesterday.
“We came from Kuala Lumpur just to see the water festival and were disappointed as there were only a few food stalls and people were not bathing in the river.
“We took some photographs and returned home,” she said when met at Pangkalan Pasir.
Pangkalan Pasir attracted hundreds of visitors over the last two weeks who were interested to join the `water festival’ after the river dried up following the hot weather.