For Want Of A 100 Metres, A Detour Of 100 Kilometres

Well I just got back from a real Cuti-Cuti Malaysia trip with a visit to my never heard before places on my way to Awana Kijal for my company trip. All because I had to take a detour from Bentong to Temerloh as the East Coast Highway was flooded in the Lancang area for what I heard was a 100 metres stretch. Thus I had to take the diversion route using the trunk road via Bentong ----> Raub ----> Benta ----> Jerantut ----> Temerloh that is about 100 kilometres longer as the other nearer possible trunk road routes were also washed out.So a trip that usually takes around three hours now took me 9 and a half hours via a mix of good dual carriageways and harrowing secondary hill roads. But still it was a good diversion despite a tiring journey as it gave me and the family an opportunity to run through places that has never crossed our minds. Too bad I could not take photos as we were not prepared to go through the areas and anyway I was too busy concentrating on the road to really take in so many beautiful scenic views of valleys tucked away from normal travels. Well it was the grand stupidity and bad luck of the trip organisers to organise a holiday to the east coast during this heavier than expected monsoon season. For sure there will be no swimming at the beach as the horses mane was very predominant on the incoming waves. There was intermittent drizzling also so it was lucky that it did not rain during the beach games activities otherwise the whole trip would have been a total washout. At least my kids managed to score some prizes in the games so at least there was something to gain from this trip.

As we were still too tired we basically lazed around the hotel but since we were not served lunch we took the chance to go into Chukai town and had lunch at Hai Peng Kopitiam that before this we only managed to pass through but never stop at. Overall the food menu was quite acceptable but the coffee was just ordinary to me. I had both the Vietnamese style and the Cham version but it was not really smooth and actually quite bitter. As for the food, the Asian Spaghetti was enormous and tasty as they used local sardines and we had to throw away a portion after tapauing back as we were too full to finish it at the hotel room. This was because we paid full attention to the serikaya toast which was really good and the half boiled eggs. Imagine that, it was nicer to have breakfast items for lunch. This time I took back three packs of kaya for eating at home so let's see if the packed item is the same as those served at the kopitiam. Well the next trip we will try the nasi dagang and other food items and also the other western menu food item that was not available that day.

On the way back to the hotel, we took a detour to Kuala Kemaman to stock up on satar and keropok lekor for snacking. Now you know why we could not finish the leftover spaghetti. This was the first time I was there as we usually buy from the main road side stalls, therefore we had no idea which stall was good so we tried some from a store that we picked at random. Their boiled keropok lekor was good but the fried version was fishy and their satar was smallish and just okay. Still they were polished off quickly by my kids so I had no chance to take pictures. Nonetheless they really pale in comparison to the ones we bought on the journey home after staying for an extra day in Cherating so that we can make a day trip to Pasar Payang in Kuala Terengganu. Well that story I will save for the next posting.