Visit Trengganu Year 2008...

My daughter who originally planned to return home after her graduation in Scotland had requested a tropical island holiday where she hoped to take up a lesson in scuba diving. I engaged Doc Ben Haron to help. Ben is an old buddy from our days in medical school who is now a heart surgeon. He is an avid diver and sailor who has explored the underworld of Australasian waters, the Maldives and even the Galapagos. He recommended that we start with our own Redang Island in Trengganu.

Unfortunately my daughter had a change of plan and was unable to return for the holidays. As our hotel bookings were non-refundable, we invited Eddie Yap, a batik textile artist and his son Nick, to join us. Nick happened to just have returned home for a holiday. He is a chemist/geologist who is now a teacher in London. Apart from scuba-diving, Nick is also a 'kite-runner'.

Nick, Sandra, Pakdokter, Ben and Eddie

We left KL early Sunday morning. Ben, being schooled at the Royal Military College, was always punctual for time, and knowing this we waited for him 5 minutes before pick-up as he had offerred to drive us in his 4-wheeled-drive. The drive up to Kuantan was a breeze. The highway was quiet with few cars and occasional express buses and no heavy trucks! I guess with the high petrol prices these days, people no longer 'balik-kampong' for the weekend.

We decided to take a break in Kuchai and asked a pump attendant at a petrol station for the famed kopitiam of Kemaman. Of course, being a Mat Bangla, he did not know! The manager came to our aid and directed us to Hai Peng Kopitiam. My oh my, it was packed with kiasu Singaporeans. Starbucks should send someone to learn the tricks of this kopitiam. We sampled Hai Peng's 'nasi dagang', toast with butter and kaya, and a toast with peanut butter and banana slices. With a cup of the local coffee brew each and a packet of coffee-mix to take away, the bill for the four of us came to $52! No wonder there were so few locals.

Hai Peng Kopitiam in Kemaman

Hmm...'nasi dagang'

It took us another two and a half hours to reach Kuala Trengganu. Although the distance was not far but the drive was slow because there were many stretches of highway construction with few workers in sight. I hope these projects are not going to be abandoned because of of escalating prices. As it was almost two in the afternoon, we decided to stop for lunch and found a 'nasi kukus' hut just outside of Kuala Trengganu. It was a delicious lunch especially the 'kerabu perut' - a salad dish of slices of boiled intestines in a mix of lime juice, ground chillies,fried coconut gratings, salt and coconut milk. The hut was crowded even at that late lunch hour, mostly with locals, a testimony to its good food and very reasonable price.

Grilled fish, fried chiken, fried sotong, kerabu perut and lots more to go with the 'nasi kukus' in Kuala Trengganu

We reached Merang within an hour and looked out for the Aryani for our over-night stop. We drove up and down the coastal highway near the Merang jetty thrice and could not find the Aryani! Asking a boy who ran a little grocery shop by the roadside, we were directed further south towards Kuala Trengganu. Hmm, even a local boy did not know where the Aryani is.....unless he thought I was looking for his sister whose name happens to be Aryani...

The pool at Aryani from the reception balcony

The Aryani looks better in the pages of the Malaysian Airlines in-flight magazine. It has seen better times and is in need of maintenance. The beach was littered with rubbish....bottles, plastic bags, slippers and what not. The dinner was good though, but they should keep up to their published time for breakfast. Most of the guests had put up there for the night because the Merang jetty is only 5 minutes away by road from the resort. Most of us were waiting at the restaurant for breakfast at 7 but the kitchen and restaurant did not open until past 7.30. And all of us were rushing to catch the early morning ferry to Redang.....

One of the twenty boutique villas at the Aryani