Tag: east coast

Tioman Island

Sharon Teo (https://www.facebook.com/seaDevilyn) who shared her Fraser’s Hill pics for my feature recently has some great pics of Pulau Tioman too. I have covered all the three highland resorts of Genting, Fraser’s and Cameron’s. Use Site Search or Hotel Search at http://www.mycen.my/. Let’s go to the ocean.

Sharon works for a dive centre and dive shop in KL and as such is no stranger to Tioman. Tioman Island has many dive and snorkeling sites including those with shipwrecks. I remember the airport was scary with the turboprop plane banking dramatically to land. You can also travel by ferry from Mersing, Johor.

There are jungles, nature attractions and kampung life on the island to explore when not diving.

See hotels here: http://www.mycen.my/tioman-island-deals-finder/

#tioman #island #pulau #mersing #johor #malaysia #diving #sea #ocean #underwater #dive #resorts #mycenhotels

Exploring Kuala Terengganu

Exploring Kuala Terengganu.

Nor Huda Mohd Izam was talking about hotels in Kuala Terengganu. I told her I’ll put together a page on KT as I have not done a dedicated page as yet. Creating the page was wonderful as the images brought back so many fond memories.

Kuala Terengganu was a quirky and bizarre place, for me, especially the Chinatown area. Loved it very much. No doubt the beaches and rustic fishing villages were awesome but the food and many curious artifacts around Chinatown were worth exploring. Do visit when you get the chance. Chinatown dates back to the time of Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho) from the 14th century. Only odd thing was, me and friend could find no teh tarik or mamak stall near the hotel.

Find a hotel in KT here:
http://www.mycen.my/kuala-terengganu-hotel-deals-finder/

Memories Of Labour

Memories Of Labour. I wrote recently about Kota Kinabalu being the sunset capital of the world, particularly from the beaches of Tanjung Aru. On peninsular Malaysia, we have what may be the Sunrise Capital. The sunrise are consistently glorious.

I am talking about the beaches of Cheating near Kuantan city. It faces the east and the South China Sea. I used to stay at the Hyatt Regency Kuantan which was on the Teluk Cempedak beach. Loved the sea facing dining terrace at the Hyatt Kuantan, The sunrise view from there was great too. Many Malaysians know Cherating from Club Med located there.

One day on this same day, around 13 years ago, and it was also Workers Day or Labour Day, also a public holiday then, I took an impulse drive to Kuantan. Every hotel from luxury beach resorts to budget hotels were fully booked. Was grateful for the thoughtful hotels that placed a sign showing “full house” visible from the car. Grateful also for budget hotels that have their phone numbers on their lighted signboards. You will appreciative that too when you parked and ran in/out of lobbies like a million times.

See over 92 hotels and homestays in Kuantan, Cherating and Beserah area.

Many hotel less people ended up sleeping in the car which presented two challenges. Option 1: Die of carbon monoxide poisoning if the car engine and air conditioning were kept running, Lower the windows and the car will host a buzzing mosquito party. Option 2: You will die of Dengue and other mozzie carried diseases. Moral of the story: Book your hotel in advance as everyone has the same idea to visit a popular tourist destination on a public holiday.

Google was so primitive then and it even suggested Genting Highlands Resort as an alternative nearby hotel. I called up and expectedly they were full house too. Is like that all over the world. I recently wrote about the overcrowding at Yellowstone National Park in the US.

Check availability ahead for hotels in Cherating, Kuantan and anywhere in the world via MyCen Hotels http://www.mycen.my/ Anyway, I parked and slept at the very dark car park of an unknown beach hotel in Cherating. With the full occupancy, the open air park was full too. Was lucky to get a space. Luckily my then travel partner and camera assistant Pooi-San PS was quite a tough and hardy girl.

I walked groggily to the beach at around 6 am and soon saw the most beautiful sunrise. A just reward for all the hardship.

See Hotels in Kuantan and Cherating at MyCen Hotels.

Photographed handheld with the excellent Olympus C8080 bridge cam,

#kuantan #cherating #sunrise #eastcoast

Finding Food

People caught without food were spared from looking at the lavish and sumptuous meals posted continuously by some unaffected west coast Instagrammers.

In my years of covering the monsoonal floods, I have come to admire how resilient the kampung folk are. They are used to the annual calamity and they adapt as best as they can.

In the countryside, those who are skilled at cast net fishing can find food in the flood waters outside their kampung house. This man told me I should have come a day earlier to see him catch a tilapia as long as his outstretched arms. I doubt it was the usual angler’s exaggeration. He said it can feed a hungry family.

Others wait for supplies or are fed where they are temporary housed at relief centers. Salute to the aid workers, uniformed personnel, volunteers and everybody in the chain for providing help to the affected. I brought my own Penang White Curry Mee instant ramen; the hipster fad or flavour of 2014.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 400, f4, 1/1000 sec.

#floods #banjir #fishing #aftermath #landscape #temerloh #pahang #malaysia #sonyalpha #a7r #zess #tbt