The Resort

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After spending a few days in a nice hotel in Kuantan, we've been herded to a resort an hour and a half away, down in Chini, right on the lake. It's a lovely, wooded location and I hate it. I've been living out of suitcases for a while now and I would have greatly preferred to stay in the nice place with the good location, where I've finally been sleeping, rather than be stuck deep in the woods with no wifi and poor mobile service. The scenic winding road to get it here is a deathtrap waiting to happen. But I also understand why we're here: this location is much closer to our schools than Kuantan—our driving time is under an hour instead of over.

We left Kuantan around noon and headed south. Driving was much more comfortable this time, thankfully. While I'm comfortable on the left side of the road, I still feel like I'm on the wrong side of the car.

My friend and colleague bought a GPS and it worked great. Turn here, turn there, cross that bridge, no, really, you want to go right onto the tiny road. We avoided getting lost and even saw some wild monkeys!

After checking in, I was directed to my room down a little path. A gravel path. This is not the kind of location you want to visit while lugging a heavy suitcase. My room is clean and new-ish. I have a TV with one fuzzy channel, a table just big enough for my laptop, one wooden chair, a leaky toilet and three tiny beds. The deck looks nicer.

I went to the front desk to ask about internet (“It's not working right now”) and about getting some more drinking water. They seemed baffled that I'd want more than the airplane tray table sized mini cups they've provided me with. The restaurant opens for dinner at six... and they neglected to mention that it's actually open all the time. There is a laundry service, but at this point I'm not sure how much I'd trust it. I went back to my room, hungry and tired.

After a nap, I explored a bit more. There are bugs. There are ants. There's a restaurant with a very limited menu and the smell of my dinner made my stomach turn. As I mentioned, resort itself is down a long and winding road that's barely a car wide, causing several near collisions en route, and most certainly will nearly cause a few more each day when I head out. While the view from my deck is nice (I can see tall trees and the lake) I really prefer a less natural environment if I'm not on holiday. These next five days cannot fly by fast enough.

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Photos

She Likes to Meow While You Eat
Incessently

Birds of Paradise
The only bit of paradise in my opinion.

This Ferocious Beast Liked to Nap on My Porch
It really wasn't that scary. It's just not photogenic.