Kuala Terrenganu, Malaysia (2006)

On Tuesday we set out on a 9-hour journey through the beautiful Malaysian mountains en route to Kuala Terengganu on the eastern coast of western Malaysia.  The coach (bus) was comfortable though the air conditioner was set too high (a recurring theme throughout Malaysia) and the bus driver had a CD with Celine Dion set on “repeat.”  The women were dropped off at the Hotel Grand Continental, while the men checked-in at the Hotel Seri Hoover.  The men, after viewing the horrendously decrepit state of their hotel quickly ran out to seek beer.  Everyone had something uniquely problematic with their room from broken showers to construction in an adjacent room.  For mine, the toilet was broken but I was able to fix the plumbing myself, the bathroom was completely covered in water, and I could see 5 layers of paint on the bathtub as it deteriorated paint chips into the drain before my very eyes.  The next night, 3 of us managed to book the last room at the Hotel Grand Continental, which was quite grand.  The taxi driver who transferred us to the hotel nearly kidnapped us, however, taking us on an un-metered, lengthy, roundabout rip-off route to “avoid the traffic”—at 10:30pm.  When he dropped us off we refused to pay what he demanded and instead gave him what we felt was fair, which was generous at that. 

 

Up until KT we had not been terribly pleased with the Malaysian food.  Half of the UK contingent suffered food poisoning and upset stomachs.  But the food turned around after KT.  After touring the Setiu wetland, where we inspected the water-entrenched mangrove trees and walked among the coconut-riddled grounds of a lost village, we stopped for a delicious snack of fresh battered calamari and squid, sweet bananas fried with sugar, and iced lemon tea.  Earlier the locals chopped the tops off of some coconuts and we drank the cool milk from within.  The dinner that night was a grand feast (at the Hotel Grand Continental) where the vice-chancellor of KUSTEM (College University of Science & Technology Malaysia) officially welcomed us with gifts and photos were taken.  The local media continued to follow us around Malaysia and report on our activities. 

Sleepy passengers.

 

The lovely Hotel Seri Hoover.

 

No durian allowed!

 

We were seeing ghosts that night.

 

Malaysian lunch!

 

More food.

 

Freshly chopped coconuts.

 

Exotic fruit.

 

On the way out to the Setiu wetland.

 

Happy sailors.

 

Walking along the fish farms.

 

Two of the workshop coordinators: Azhar and Neil.

 

On dryland in the wetland.

 

Setiu vegetation.

 

The spot of a lost village.

 

View from Setiu.

 

Say Setiu!