KT and Kuantan

So, I managed to get some sun and sea over the weekend. It wasn't really planned, but come Friday morning, MrNordin said, "We are going, right?" "Go where?" "East Coast lah... you kata nak pegi T'ganu?"

Hee.. hee... so he answered my prayer!

We left quite late on Friday. My parents decided to drop by after sembahyang Jumaat because they had brought something for Nadira ~ a cake and a bouquet of roses for her good results. After sembang2 sekejap, we pushed off at 4pm, in the heavy rain.

We didn't make any hotel reservation because we didn't know where we were heading. But I remembered my friend Dada was also going to T'ganu on the same day and her family was putting up one night at the Residence Hotel in Paka. So I asked her if she could get two more rooms for us and she said, yes. So, Paka became our destination, then.

The trip was nice & relaxing (well, I can't speak much for the driver, though..). I sat at the back so I could entertain the little boy. Nadim sat infront with MrNordin. The little boy watched his Ultraman CDs most of the time but he did let his Mummy and sisters watched "Vicky, Christina & Barcelona" when he got tired of watching his CDs. It was a good act by Penelope Cruz ~ she deserved the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

We reached Paka at almost 9pm. Dada and her family were already waiting for us to have dinner together. We checked into our rooms, freshen up a bit, and off we went to look for food. Not much choices at that time of hour, in Paka pulak tu, but we managed to find a decent restaurant that served nasi and ikan bakar.

It was quite a heavy meal and by the time we got back to our rooms, we were completely knackered except for the little boy, who was still running around and jumping up and down at 2 o'clock in the morning. He just couldn't sleep! I think, hotels have that kind of effect on little children. Just when I was about to doze off, he'd come to my bedside and said, "Mummy, budak ni nak susu." Or, he would put his face very close to mine and whispered, "Mummy, budak ni nak Ultraman..." All this in the dark.

The next day, after breakfast, I had a little swim in the pool with Nizzar. The beach was nothing to shout about. Ok lah... but it's too dangerous to swim in anyway. So we packed our stuff and checked out. My friends had already left by that time as they had to send their daughter back to her school in Kelantan.

We headed north towards Tg Jara. The beach was beautiful but deserted. Tak de orang pun, except for one couple yang tengah berasmaradana under one of the gazebos. Strange, I thought, considering it was still a school holiday. But I guess, kat situ memang tak sesuai untuk ber'picnic' because the beach sloped down quite steeply and the sea is pretty rough to swim in. We passed by Tg Jara Resort but we didn't stop by.

From Tg Jara, we decided to go back to Cherating so that it would be easier for us to return to KL the next day. Since we didn't make any reservations for Cherating as well, so we thought we'd just go by the flow and see which hotel is available for the night. So, we hopped from one hotel to another.

We checked out Impiana, Legend, Holiday Villa, Eastern Pavillion, Bay View, Mermaid Inn, Black Stone and one or two more, but we couldn't find one that we really liked or suited our budget. Ada room ok, tapi beach tak ok. Ada beach ok, tapi room tak ok ~ was not facing the sea, too small etc.

Ada satu hotel tu, sebelah kubur. Eeee... no way jose! Bagi free pun I tak nak tinggal kat situ! But surprisingly, I saw quite a number of Chinese in the swimming pool. I guess, they were simply not bothered with ghosts!

We had fun scouting for rooms along Cherating beach. The kids said, "This has never been done before!" Now we know which one to avoid and which one to consider staying in. We also dropped by at Swiss Garden, a familiar hotel since we've stayed there many times before but that weekend ada pulak Khanazah's Family Day. Oppss... not a place where MrNordin wanted to be! So we left Swiss Garden and continued driving towards Kuantan.

Checked out Hyatt ~ too expensive for a night's stay. RM590++ for one room. Two rooms? Dah more than RM1k. Just for one night? Tak payah lah. Actually, I was quite adamant to checked into Hyatt becoz I was very exhausted by that time, but pikir2 balik, buat apa rugi duit kan? In the end, we ended up in Kuantan town itself and got two big rooms at M.S Garden for RM319 nett (with breakfast) each. That was a very good deal.

Sunday afternoon, we checked out almost noon. Singgah at Temerloh rest area to savour the delicious ikan patin masak tempoyak! Huuu.... sedapnya!! Kawan kan dengan siput sedut masak lemak and gulai rebung, memang terangkat, babe! Sehingga menjilat jari lah, kata orang! Hee.. hee... I was so happy dapat makan masak tempoyak ikan patin!

We reached home just after 5pm. Budak kecik tu decided to throw up in the car, just as MrNordin pulled over in the porch. Kesian dia... habis terkeluar semua isi perut! Actually, dia ni selalu mabuk bila naik kereta. Masa kecik dulu, everytime we travelled on a long journey, sure dia akan muntah punya. But this time, he managed to control it until we reached the house. Keshian dia... at least he knew not to mess up the car until we reached home.

So, that was it. The journey was tiring but it was nice indeed to get away, even for a while...