Blogs from Terengganu, Malaysia, Asia - page 2

Geo: 5.21678, 103.269Well, listen up, John Legan....By now we know everyone at the hotel who is staff, and they know we are keen snorkelers. Allen, the chef, sees us every morning for breakfast and has invited David out for drinks on night 2. Saw, the dive instructor, a Christian from Myanmar, by the way, has arranged by day 3 that we just wait near the jetty at 11:30 am today, and when the divers go off to the other side of the island to dive, we hop on and slip the boat man a few ringits. When we have a beer with Allen on night 3 he too says he has made private arrangements for us to hop onto the boat trip (package) to go snorkeling on the other side of the island at 2:30--for free. ... read more

Geo: 5.21678, 103.269What can we say? We snorkeled for at least 2 hours each day, sometimes twice a day. We did find that the mornings had clearer waters. Our 4 days settled into a routine: buffet breakfast: fascinating mixture of western (omelets, over-easy eggs, toast with marmalade) and Chinese (hot soup w/ noodles, strange vegetables), fruit, and Malay dishes (char kuah teow, nasi lemak), and the strongest coffee you can imagine.Then we would snorkel at least 2 hours. Download photos and try to identify them (we probably have 40 identified, any more not sure). Lunch at the snack bar - satay, nasi goreng, and a very strange dish from Kota Bharu that looked like pinkie fingers ! And many iced milky coffees - yum.We chatted with the staff, who were very nice and from many places, ... read more

Geo: 5.31679, 103.117Today was a mixture of interesting discoveries and trials.It seemed like we couldn't find anything - not the Tourist Bureau in Kuantan, nor the Turtle info center. Even having the GPS didn't help when we didn't have the exact address, so we kept pressing on after having a relaxing start and lovely breakfast buffet at the Ancasa, and walking outside by the large river to sight kingfishers.The further north we went the more decorative were the welcomes and the flowers in the center of the divided highways. We didn't include the photos but there were enormous refineries on the E. Coast and lots of pipelines (deep sea drilling). We stopped a few times at gas stations for snacks and potty breaks, but otherwise just pushed northward. Our longest stops: the floating mosque and the ... read more

One of the popular get-aways on the east coast is Kapas Island. It's a tiny little island with pristine white beaches and perfectly blue waters. (I never got around to going since I always seemed to have weekend plans.) But like many places on the east coast, it closes for the monsoon season. A friend suggested during my extended, unpaid vacation that I visit it anyway. We decided to go for it and see if perhaps the boat to the island was running; if the weather was clear, it might be, even though the island is closed. We awoke to perfect blue skies filled with fluffy white clouds and realized this might be our lucky day. We drove down to the pier and found we were in luck--the boat was running that day. We waited about ... read more

Kelab Golf Desa Dungun just like Mimpian Jadi Golf in Tuaran. Cow Grass, matured tree, narrow fairway, close to seaside although you barely can see the beach, but no noisy buggy. It uses electric motor which is more pleasant.... read more