Makantrip.com

On the third day of the trip, after departing from Chinatown in Kuala Terengganu it finally rained (drizzled) for the first time during the trip. It was a 2 hours plus coastal road drive down through Merchang, Rantau Abang, Dungun, Kertih before stopping in Chukai for dinner. Along the way its the usual overtaking, tonnes of stalls by the roadside selling keropok, lemang and most interestingly satar. Oh ya, one interesting thing about all these stalls along the main road, each of them have been given a number systematically, these helps identify the stalls and if you do search online, reference to best keropok and satar would refer to their stall’s number, interesting concept.

Satar is a kind of fish with coconut milk marinated with herbs, wrapped with banana leaves then grill over charcoal. We stopped along the way to try satar, which cost RM1 for a pack of 5 pieces. Its fragrant from the banana leaves and taste a little sweet, not bad but won’t be something to die for though. Still its interesting to try some along the way especially since all of us are already screaming hungry.

We ran a little late arriving to our hotel in Cherating, so we have decided to ditched our plans of eating at Pak Su in Kuantan and instead stopped by at Tong Juan Seafood (N4 13.890 E103 25.687) in Chukai which also served the infamous stuff crabs. We arrived at 7.54:00pm and the place is already packed, there are plenty of parking in an open air public car park opposite the road. There are a few other restaurants next to it selling the same thing but Tong Juan seems to be the only one attracting the crowds.

The only problem is the queue for toilet is really long and urgent me had to walked to the Shell station 2 blocks away to use the toilet. Guess what, the guy in the toilet before in Shell, turns out to be sitting on the next table in Tong Juan as well, so next time, pee before you go :P.

We ordered the stuff crab which sells at Rm7.50 per piece, its basically a crab shell, filled with crab meats then covered with eggs white then deep fried. The is supposed to be the infamous stuff which a lot of us have high expectations on, maybe too high that we thought it was just ok when we finally got to tried it. Just quite plain I have to say, you have to add the chili sauce provided which is spicy and sour to make it nice. We also ordered some garlic fried prawns, steam siakap, taufu and a vegetables dish. Total of 5 dishes for 2 tables of 7 each cost about RM350 in total, not cheap but when is seafood cheap anymore nowadays?

Anyhow, right after dinner, Micol and myself sneaked out and made a quick tour around town trying to find a bakery. We finally came across Sg. Wang Bakery near The Store and got our dear friend Wai Pei her birthday cake! Just as we are leaving Chukai I made announced an emergency and made everyone stopped. Then announced that we need to have durian on the stall next to where we stopped :P. Since its not really season for local durians yet, we got 2.5kg of thai durians at RM4 per kg, its not bad and just for fun anyway.

We spent the night in Cherating at Cherating Bayview Resort (N4 07.344 E103 23.347), finding the place was a challenge, firstly the road leading from Chukai to Cherating is dark, minimal street lights, thank god we had GPS. The resort is a bit deep in, we have to turn into a small road, passed a graveyard before arriving at a small turning to find the signboard to the resort. We hurried to check in and just as everyone got their bags out, we found out that we still have to drive further in to our chalets, hehe. But its quite cool, you actually drive in and park next to your chalet unit. That night we celebrated Wai Pei’s birthday as there’s a nice open field in front of our chalets before the beach with a nice little hut that we had lighted with our mini torches with a little bit too much to drink for some of us, opps!

Photos compliments of Law Tien Soon

Peninsula Makan Trip Part 2 Intro

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 1, Update 1, Kuala Lipis

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 1, Update 2, Gua Musang

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 1, Update 3, Kota Bharu

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 2, Update 1, Kota Bharu

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 2, Update 2, Merang, Terengganu

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 3, Update 1, Kuala Terengganu

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 3, Update 2, Chukai, Terengganu

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 4, Last Day, Kuantan, Pahang

From Merang, it took us within an hour to reach Kuala Terengganu, we first visited Pulau Duyung (N5 20.042 E103 07.352) which was once well known for its world-class hand crafted ship building skills. We did a short tour here and took a group photo by a jetty for the local fishing boat before heading into the city.

In Kuala Terengganu, we headed to Mak Ngah (N5 16.476 E103 10.452) shop for their well known Nasi Dagang as well as Nasi Kerabu. This is just an ordinary malay shop selling food and here we came this bunch of KL folks, grabbing every last packet of nasi dagang and nasi kerabu available. The nasi dagang here is a lot more better than the one I had in Kelantan, the rice are softer, serve with a piece of firm fish meat and light curry gravy. The nasi kerabu is blue in color, served with dried small fishes, quite tasty I must say. Next we helped ourselves to the varieties of local Malay kueh available and the other thing I liked here is their tapai, which is a lot stronger in taste than those in KL. Our friend Micol, got a bit “drunk” in the trip after finishing most of the tapai e.g. knocking herself on my truck’s window, saying things that don’t make sense, etc. :P. Anyhow the food is good and very reasonable, cost about RM3 plus per person for food plus drinks.

Once we got our tummy filled up, we then dropped by the Floating Mosque (N5 17.082 E103 10.226) for some photography opportunity before heading to Chinatown or known as Kampung Cina (N5 19.960 E103 07.958) here. In Chinatown we visited the Loy Tiew’s Well (N5 19.960 E103 07.958) before taking a break with ice cold chinese desserts at the hawker’s center (N5 19.935 E103 08.020) next to it.

Chinatown here preserved some old and still very good condition buildings with rich chinese architecture. As for the well, ermm… well, its just an old well that is not functioning anymore, but its interesting to known its story which Micol gladly broadcasted it to all of us via walkie talkie on the way there. As we were there on Wesak Day, all the Chinese restaurants and food stalls were closed except for one selling mixed rice and another one selling desserts. We got down to enjoyed some drinks on that hot afternoon anyway, do try their taufu fah and ching poh leong, its good, RM1.30 for those in bowl and RM1.20 for those that comes in cup, a simple system and a friendly but busy uncle selling them :).

We almost got fined for not putting enough coins at the parking meters but lucky alert Johnson ran to our rescue by beating the enforcement officer with his 10 cents coin ;), thanks Johnson!

Photos compliments of Law Tien Soon

Peninsula Makan Trip Part 2 Intro

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 1, Update 1, Kuala Lipis

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 1, Update 2, Gua Musang

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 1, Update 3, Kota Bharu

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 2, Update 1, Kota Bharu

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 2, Update 2, Merang, Terengganu

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 3, Update 1, Kuala Terengganu

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 3, Update 2, Chukai, Terengganu

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 4, Last Day, Kuantan, Pahang

After a good morning and lunch of makan in Kota Bharu we made our way down to Merang, Terengganu from Kota Bharu at 2.39:50pm. Getting out of Kota Bharu took a while, as it was quite congested on the main road out of town plus there were loads of traffic lights to pass.

The drive out was really sleepy as the sky is cloudy but still hot and warm. We went passed Pasir Putih, then Besut and Setiu before reaching our next stop, Kembara Resort (N5 31.945 E102 57.524) in Merang, Terengganu. Kembara is this budget and superbly laid back kampung style chalets by the beach in Merang. The chalets are quite old and indeed budget (plus water problem) but the beach is still nice for photography, game of volleyball and not forgetting throwing unexpected people into the sea :P.

That night, we went out hunting for dinner in this remote part of Terengganu, finding waypoints for food here is fruitless as most of them are closed at night. We ended up at Kampung Gong Dato, which is in between Kuala Terengganu and Merang. Here we dined at Restoran Gong Dato Seafood (N5 24.625 E103 04.530) which is a small local Malay eatery and gosh, did we made a bad choice, but I think all the places here are the same, we should have settled for burger ramlee :(. Firstly the service is slowly and then when the food came, the portions are superbly small, not sure if its because we are from out of town that they decided to sharpen their knife or that is just their style. Anyhow, food here is just so-so, and I think next time if I had to stayed in Merang again, I will bring my own food or do my own bbq, a lot safer!

Anyhow, the next morning, we got some buns going around and the smart ones followed me out for breakfast at the local stalls for some nasi lemak. Since the jetty to Lang Tengah is just nearby, there are tonnes of tour buses stopping their passengers for breakfast here.

We spent the rest of the morning lepaking at the beach, some of them even got up wee morning to catch the sunrise and moved out before noon heading to Kuala Terengganu. Btw, if you happened to be there next time, walk up to the Charcoal factory outside the kampung house next to Kembara, looks interesting and a better alternative is to stay at Aryani Resort (beautiful place) next to it ;).

Photos compliments of Law Tien Soon

Peninsula Makan Trip Part 2 Intro

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 1, Update 1, Kuala Lipis

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 1, Update 2, Gua Musang

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 1, Update 3, Kota Bharu

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 2, Update 1, Kota Bharu

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 2, Update 2, Merang, Terengganu

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 3, Update 1, Kuala Terengganu

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 3, Update 2, Chukai, Terengganu

Peninsula Malaysia Makan Trip Part 2 - Day 4, Last Day, Kuantan, Pahang