Reminiescing- East Coast road trip (part i)
Finally! finished up my bucketload of assignments. It seemed like a long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away (hehehhe) that I've managed to get a good night's sleep. Hooray - sleep deprived Diana is no more (Yoda, anyone?)
Anyways, blogsurfing lately has brought me to a few people's postings on their trips eg TienSoon and JasonMumbles. Which makes me think some.. about past road trips which I miss terribly now, and which I've never blogged on before (bcos I didn't own a blog then). So for old time's sake...
Year - 2003
Time - sometime in April
Mates - LiKai (our very reliable/adventurous/good sense of direction/ "add own adjective" driver), Samuel ("he who loves his tv"), Jocelyn and Aik Ming. With the exception of myself, all from MMU.
Trip destinations: KL - Kuantan - Kijal (Terengganu) - Kuala Terengganu - Tasik Kenyir - Kota Bharu - Penang - KL (8d/7n)
Distance covered: approximately 2000km.
Usually when we're on road trips, unless it coincides with the school holidays, we don't book accomodation in advance. Same on this trip. Having been on previous trips with LK and Sam and always making it back in one piece, this time around, just told my parents - "going on road trip, prob for 5 days" (but of course, that was just a "probably") hehe
A lot of people would be unused to our way of travelling, but having concrete plans for trips can often be ruined due to changes in weather etc.. Some parents are the sort who'd want to know "where're you going to stay every night, at which town, where you all going, when coming back etc etc etc". But if you travel with us, the answer'll be "er not sure la".. However, this time around, I DID bring a map (map of Peninsula).. =)
Day 1:
Set out from PJ, rather late if I remember correctly. By mid afternoon, passed the Karak Highway, lunched at Temerloh. Reached Kuantan by 4 plus and headed to the Teluk Chempedak beach. Initially wanted to stay at Cherating but it was kinda late so we ended up staying at this small hotel (don't remember the name) opposite the state mosque. Newly refurbished, and it cost us a measly RM80 a night (cheapest room I've ever stayed in)..
Day 2:
Since we were at the East Coast, how can we miss witnessing sunrise?? So off we went, in the early morning, to Teluk Chempedak again. Glorious sunrise it was.. and of course, loads of photos.. Alotof people say the Teluk Chempedak area's haunted, but I haven't "felt" anything amiss at the various times we were there..
Stopped by the Cherating beach (about half hour from town), lunched there and also dropped by Club Med Cherating to take a look at their beach. There's a turtle sanctuary next to it, but unfortunately - no turtles. "boh-liao". (personal opinion - with the amount of turtle eggs being collected to be sold, its of no surprise the turtles don't come back to nest anymore).
Following the coastal road along the East coast is very enjoyable. Picturesque with gorgeous views of the sea and sky (depending on time of the year) is what you get, all the way up north.. We next stopped by at Awana Kijal.
Funny incident - since we didn't make bookings in advance, we called up the Awana office in KL to try to book for that night. They told us "you must book at least one day in advance" so we couldn't make a reservation. But thought "oh well since we're passing by the place, might as well stop by and take a look inside".
We went in, and for curiosity's sake, asked them whether they had a room available. There're LOTS of empty rooms. It was going to cost RM 250 a night, which we thought was okay (its five-star so price's ok). So we decided to stay one night there. Just when I took my wallet out to pay, the receptionist said "Oh, if you don't want breakfast for 2, the room's RM 150" Whaddaya think?? Of course don't want breakfast la! This teaches us a lesson - walk-in rates are sometimes cheaper than if you book ahead.
But really, I'd recommend Awana Kijal for people travelling up the East Coast. Its very near the Pahang-T'ganu border. Has awesome views (get a room in the centre facing the sea, so when you walk in, you'll go wowww) and great facilities plus its own private stretch of beach. It was unfortunate we couldn't stay another night.. but hopefully there's a next time!
Day 3:
Early morning, woke up to catch sunrise again. This time we wanted to take photos of the sunrise with the Kerteh (Petronas) petroleum refineries in the background. A very pretty sight, light reflecting onto metal structures.. Along the way back to the hotel, stopped by this public beach called Pantai Kemasik which is just off the road, between Kerteh and Kijal. A quite stretch of beach, pounding waves and some nice rocky formations (more photo opps hehe).. there's some stalls there selling breakfast as well.
Usually we're on the road in the afternoons, due to road conditions etc (no lights means probability of missing roadsigns're higher), overtaking's more dangerous etc.. so in the afternoon we continued on to Kuala Terengganu, continuously stopping by the roadside to take pictures of scenic kampung life and also the emerald green/blue sea..
An photo of a photo taken then (currently pasted on my wall). Who says Msia has no blue skies?? Go to Terengganu and you'll see more than enough...
Reaching Kuala Terengganu, someone brought us to a little-known beach (unknown to tourists that is) just before the bridge entering the town, Pantai Chendering i think (goes thru a stretch of kampung road which looks like its heading nowhere).. That beach - even nicer than Langkawi's Pantai Cenang imho. We all enjoyed some quiet time there, with long walks, feeling the ocean lapping at our feets (OMIGOSH i SOOO miss that now sobbbb)...
Erm due to us failing to make any plans beforehand, we almost ended up with no accomodation for the night. It wasn't the school hols, but we had not planned on some political party's convention being held in town. Most hotels (and there weren't many) were full. Fortunately we got the last room in Seri Malaysia. Oh well there's always the option of sleeping in the car =)
Day 4:
Nasi dagang! (yupp we were introduced to Terengganu's specialty for breakfast). After that was travelling on to Kuala Berang and Tasik Kenyir, Malaysia's largest man-made lake. This time we DID make arrangements. Nah not that crazy to wait till we get to the lake to find accomodation. This time, we were gonna stay at Musang Kenyir Resort, at the north end of the lake. They had a boatman meet us at the jetty. Journey in took about an hour. Price was reasonable (very), considering it was all-inclusive of meals/boat transportation/activities/guide etc. I think it was only RM 230 or RM 260 all in, for 3 days 2 nights.
Accomodation was on a floating structure. Room's nothing fancy, looks more like a hostel than a resort, electricity only at night (when the generator's on la) with no access to the outside world. Being out of touch with the world for 3 days - WONDERFUL. Really, I often think people're way-too attached to their mobiles/ connectivity / electronic devices.
Days 4 & 5:
Activities included visiting 3 waterfalls. One of which we had to trek abit. Being the ONLY visitors at the resort at that time basically meant we had full access to the guides etc. The pakcik who led us to the waterfall conveniently forget to mention that the trek (only one hour la) was over a slippery trail up a hill and then down, clambering over big boulders and some "swimming". My friends usually know I'm not such a big "nature" person. The idea of swimming across pools of dark water and where I can't see the "bottom"/depth of the water gives me dark thoughts. But what to do? it was either I went across or get left behind.. so across I went.. but up till now I still don't like the idea of getting into water with "unknown" things lurking beneath the surface..
Besides waterfalls, the rest went canoeing in their free time, we all did some fishing (catch and release le), filled ourselves up with good food, feed the many fishes in the lake with sodden musty bread and had lengthy conversations with the owner at night.. Entertainment there - a karaoke set was basically all we had.
While we were there, funny thing was witnessing them trying to install Astro - futile exercise it was. I was watching on with great interest, since on the 2nd night there, there was going to be a MUtd-Real Madrid Champions League clash. After 3 days of trying to get a satellite signal and involving much boat-rowing and the connecting of wires and more exasperation, the boss gave up i think. poof - no match for me to watch of course..
Before we left, they told us they spotted wild elephants at one of the small islands nearby. True enough, there was a herd of 'em. First time I'd seen wild elephants, but we daren't go too near. Only got some photos from a distance out.
Many "first-time-experiences" there.. the many leeches which freaked me out (city girl I am. no leeches please), masses of cacing-cacing which resembles a very large plate of slimy spaghetti, swimming with the fishes (yes they loveeee eating banana skins)...seeing tongkat ali "harvested" from the wild..
Day 6:
Left Kenyir after breakfast, headed up the road to the Kenyir dam. View's again - awesome. It looks like the sea, stretching as far as the eye can see. Widely contrasting, on one side of the dam its like the sea, and on the other its just another narrow river.
After that we decided to head to Kota Bharu (no point turning back and spending hours and hours thru the Kuantan-KL "highway" to get back).
Erm I realise by now the post's stretching on and on and on. So I'll leave the rest for part (ii)..
# I've been thinking how fast time passes by while I'm here in Melb.. abit reluctant to be leaving so soon. But thinking abt what I left behind in Msia's indeed makes me miss our beautiful beaches, good food and lazy nights with nary a worrying thought..
Anyways, blogsurfing lately has brought me to a few people's postings on their trips eg TienSoon and JasonMumbles. Which makes me think some.. about past road trips which I miss terribly now, and which I've never blogged on before (bcos I didn't own a blog then). So for old time's sake...
Year - 2003
Time - sometime in April
Mates - LiKai (our very reliable/adventurous/good sense of direction/ "add own adjective" driver), Samuel ("he who loves his tv"), Jocelyn and Aik Ming. With the exception of myself, all from MMU.
Trip destinations: KL - Kuantan - Kijal (Terengganu) - Kuala Terengganu - Tasik Kenyir - Kota Bharu - Penang - KL (8d/7n)
Distance covered: approximately 2000km.
Usually when we're on road trips, unless it coincides with the school holidays, we don't book accomodation in advance. Same on this trip. Having been on previous trips with LK and Sam and always making it back in one piece, this time around, just told my parents - "going on road trip, prob for 5 days" (but of course, that was just a "probably") hehe
A lot of people would be unused to our way of travelling, but having concrete plans for trips can often be ruined due to changes in weather etc.. Some parents are the sort who'd want to know "where're you going to stay every night, at which town, where you all going, when coming back etc etc etc". But if you travel with us, the answer'll be "er not sure la".. However, this time around, I DID bring a map (map of Peninsula).. =)
Day 1:
Set out from PJ, rather late if I remember correctly. By mid afternoon, passed the Karak Highway, lunched at Temerloh. Reached Kuantan by 4 plus and headed to the Teluk Chempedak beach. Initially wanted to stay at Cherating but it was kinda late so we ended up staying at this small hotel (don't remember the name) opposite the state mosque. Newly refurbished, and it cost us a measly RM80 a night (cheapest room I've ever stayed in)..
Day 2:
Since we were at the East Coast, how can we miss witnessing sunrise?? So off we went, in the early morning, to Teluk Chempedak again. Glorious sunrise it was.. and of course, loads of photos.. Alotof people say the Teluk Chempedak area's haunted, but I haven't "felt" anything amiss at the various times we were there..
Stopped by the Cherating beach (about half hour from town), lunched there and also dropped by Club Med Cherating to take a look at their beach. There's a turtle sanctuary next to it, but unfortunately - no turtles. "boh-liao". (personal opinion - with the amount of turtle eggs being collected to be sold, its of no surprise the turtles don't come back to nest anymore).
Following the coastal road along the East coast is very enjoyable. Picturesque with gorgeous views of the sea and sky (depending on time of the year) is what you get, all the way up north.. We next stopped by at Awana Kijal.
Funny incident - since we didn't make bookings in advance, we called up the Awana office in KL to try to book for that night. They told us "you must book at least one day in advance" so we couldn't make a reservation. But thought "oh well since we're passing by the place, might as well stop by and take a look inside".
We went in, and for curiosity's sake, asked them whether they had a room available. There're LOTS of empty rooms. It was going to cost RM 250 a night, which we thought was okay (its five-star so price's ok). So we decided to stay one night there. Just when I took my wallet out to pay, the receptionist said "Oh, if you don't want breakfast for 2, the room's RM 150" Whaddaya think?? Of course don't want breakfast la! This teaches us a lesson - walk-in rates are sometimes cheaper than if you book ahead.
But really, I'd recommend Awana Kijal for people travelling up the East Coast. Its very near the Pahang-T'ganu border. Has awesome views (get a room in the centre facing the sea, so when you walk in, you'll go wowww) and great facilities plus its own private stretch of beach. It was unfortunate we couldn't stay another night.. but hopefully there's a next time!
Day 3:
Early morning, woke up to catch sunrise again. This time we wanted to take photos of the sunrise with the Kerteh (Petronas) petroleum refineries in the background. A very pretty sight, light reflecting onto metal structures.. Along the way back to the hotel, stopped by this public beach called Pantai Kemasik which is just off the road, between Kerteh and Kijal. A quite stretch of beach, pounding waves and some nice rocky formations (more photo opps hehe).. there's some stalls there selling breakfast as well.
Usually we're on the road in the afternoons, due to road conditions etc (no lights means probability of missing roadsigns're higher), overtaking's more dangerous etc.. so in the afternoon we continued on to Kuala Terengganu, continuously stopping by the roadside to take pictures of scenic kampung life and also the emerald green/blue sea..
An photo of a photo taken then (currently pasted on my wall). Who says Msia has no blue skies?? Go to Terengganu and you'll see more than enough...
Reaching Kuala Terengganu, someone brought us to a little-known beach (unknown to tourists that is) just before the bridge entering the town, Pantai Chendering i think (goes thru a stretch of kampung road which looks like its heading nowhere).. That beach - even nicer than Langkawi's Pantai Cenang imho. We all enjoyed some quiet time there, with long walks, feeling the ocean lapping at our feets (OMIGOSH i SOOO miss that now sobbbb)...
Erm due to us failing to make any plans beforehand, we almost ended up with no accomodation for the night. It wasn't the school hols, but we had not planned on some political party's convention being held in town. Most hotels (and there weren't many) were full. Fortunately we got the last room in Seri Malaysia. Oh well there's always the option of sleeping in the car =)
Day 4:
Nasi dagang! (yupp we were introduced to Terengganu's specialty for breakfast). After that was travelling on to Kuala Berang and Tasik Kenyir, Malaysia's largest man-made lake. This time we DID make arrangements. Nah not that crazy to wait till we get to the lake to find accomodation. This time, we were gonna stay at Musang Kenyir Resort, at the north end of the lake. They had a boatman meet us at the jetty. Journey in took about an hour. Price was reasonable (very), considering it was all-inclusive of meals/boat transportation/activities/guide etc. I think it was only RM 230 or RM 260 all in, for 3 days 2 nights.
Accomodation was on a floating structure. Room's nothing fancy, looks more like a hostel than a resort, electricity only at night (when the generator's on la) with no access to the outside world. Being out of touch with the world for 3 days - WONDERFUL. Really, I often think people're way-too attached to their mobiles/ connectivity / electronic devices.
Days 4 & 5:
Activities included visiting 3 waterfalls. One of which we had to trek abit. Being the ONLY visitors at the resort at that time basically meant we had full access to the guides etc. The pakcik who led us to the waterfall conveniently forget to mention that the trek (only one hour la) was over a slippery trail up a hill and then down, clambering over big boulders and some "swimming". My friends usually know I'm not such a big "nature" person. The idea of swimming across pools of dark water and where I can't see the "bottom"/depth of the water gives me dark thoughts. But what to do? it was either I went across or get left behind.. so across I went.. but up till now I still don't like the idea of getting into water with "unknown" things lurking beneath the surface..
Besides waterfalls, the rest went canoeing in their free time, we all did some fishing (catch and release le), filled ourselves up with good food, feed the many fishes in the lake with sodden musty bread and had lengthy conversations with the owner at night.. Entertainment there - a karaoke set was basically all we had.
While we were there, funny thing was witnessing them trying to install Astro - futile exercise it was. I was watching on with great interest, since on the 2nd night there, there was going to be a MUtd-Real Madrid Champions League clash. After 3 days of trying to get a satellite signal and involving much boat-rowing and the connecting of wires and more exasperation, the boss gave up i think. poof - no match for me to watch of course..
Before we left, they told us they spotted wild elephants at one of the small islands nearby. True enough, there was a herd of 'em. First time I'd seen wild elephants, but we daren't go too near. Only got some photos from a distance out.
Many "first-time-experiences" there.. the many leeches which freaked me out (city girl I am. no leeches please), masses of cacing-cacing which resembles a very large plate of slimy spaghetti, swimming with the fishes (yes they loveeee eating banana skins)...seeing tongkat ali "harvested" from the wild..
Day 6:
Left Kenyir after breakfast, headed up the road to the Kenyir dam. View's again - awesome. It looks like the sea, stretching as far as the eye can see. Widely contrasting, on one side of the dam its like the sea, and on the other its just another narrow river.
After that we decided to head to Kota Bharu (no point turning back and spending hours and hours thru the Kuantan-KL "highway" to get back).
Erm I realise by now the post's stretching on and on and on. So I'll leave the rest for part (ii)..
# I've been thinking how fast time passes by while I'm here in Melb.. abit reluctant to be leaving so soon. But thinking abt what I left behind in Msia's indeed makes me miss our beautiful beaches, good food and lazy nights with nary a worrying thought..
posted by xaverri at 7:30 pm
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