Interesting Kuantan.

I is back!

The Kuantan trip was a peaceful and relaxing one, spent with my beloved. It was my fourth trip to Kuantan. First two times was spent lazing in the sun at Swiss Garden Resort at Pantai Beserah, and third time was when I had to give some work related talk at Hotel Vistana.

Interesting things in Kuantan...

1. Walk walk at this pasar malam that is probably only 100 meters long. It was kinda like a Ramadan bazaar, with lots of food and drinks offered. I didn't find anything that I cannot get in a pasar malam in KL, but I did try the ayam percik stick. Only RM 1 per stick. I chose two sticks from the bottom of the ayam percik stack because there were at least 100 flies hovering around it. I was hoping that the ones at the bottom are still relatively clean. I ate the two sticks of ayam percik was I was driving to Kuantan town and it was a really messy affair, me, the ayam percik sticks, tons of tissue, and maneuvering the steering wheel. Oh, I also bought this coconut jelly from this one old makcik. It reminded me of the ones I could only find at the Thursday flea market at Plaza Sunrise. I bought two (RM 2 for 2 small tubs), and kept them in the hotel fridge so that we could enjoy them later. We did, but it was not enjoyable. Too soft and too yucky. Bad buy.
   
2. I had dinner with a bunch of people in this chinese tai chao restaurant which is somewhere in between Beserah and Kuantan town. We had this ginseng chinese herb chicken soup thing, this pork in yam ring dish, prawn cooked in my mom's style (mom's better), some boring vege and something else that I cannot remember at the moment. It was a nice tasty dinner. It was only RM 85 for 5 dishes, 2 drinks and a big bottle of beer. Cheap. I needed to pee, so off I went to the loo. On the way back to the table, I stopped by the counter and bought a pack of cigarette. Suddenly it hit me that those at the table might think that I'm settling the bill. Whatever. I walked back, had a cigarette, and when another guy asked for the bill, the aunty-captain-waitress claimed that I have already settled it. See, I'm psychic. Anyhow, luckily I'm an honest person, and I said I only went to buy ciggies. So too bad, the guy had to get the bill. His turn to belanja ma.
3. There's this shopping mall smacked right in the middle of Kuantan town. I think it's called Berjaya Megamall. The building is green, but has crackline motives all over the building. It looks so bloody weird. My bf thinks that it was probably cracklines, but Berjaya decided to just make the whole building uniform. Make sense also what. I think that may be the most happening place to shop in Kuantan, they even got KFC, McDonalds and Pizza Hut. Ok I'm being nasty. Truth is, the place really does give you the kampung feel. The place is huge, but I feel that it's even worse than Atria in DJ. There's a GSC there, and you can bring outside food into the cinemas! Cool or what. My guess is, not everyone can afford GSC priced popcorns and fizzies...
   
4. Had a walk at Teluk Cempedak at night. We parked right outside of Hyatt, and walked through the resort to get to the beach. Sand was rough(?) and it was very dark. I think both the state and federal government have done a very bad job at developing beaches for tourism. Hell with tourism, why can't they just develop it for their own people's R&R? We have such a long coastline = lots of potential, yet we have nothing to show. Look at Phuket. Massive crowds at the beach, and tons of local vendors carting food, drinks, souvenirs etc to be sold to the suntanning tourists. Why haven't anyone done that in Malaysia? I didn't like to pay to use the deck chairs in Phuket, but it's a legal exchange of money for services/goods.
   
5. Watched 2 dvds back to back on laptop with bf. We saw this hongkie movie and another one by M Night Shyamalan(?) called Lady Under the Water. Or maybe it was called Lady from the Water. We hardly ever watch dvd when we are in KL. Anyways, both the movies were good. M Night is very good at building up the story line. Then we walap the nasi lemak + sambal sotong + telor goreng that I tarpaoed from a coffee shop. Yummy. It was really really pedas, and not too sweet. Okay I forgot that I also had two pairs of chicken wings. There's this really funny thing about ordering chicken wings. I can't explain it in English. It has to be done in Chinese.
   
6. There's this place called Kemaman Kopitiam that's supposed to be a place to sight celebrities, politicians, VIP. It's funny that our local 'tourguide' told us that this is a famous place for Pahang coffee, when Kemaman is really in Terengganu. It turned out that there is a Kemaman Kopitiam in Kemaman, and this is another chain of branches owned by the sister of the original chain owner of the original Kemaman Kopitiam. Whatever. I quite like the place, it has a clean feel to it. It's kinda like a high class mamak, brightly lit with the right type of lighting, definitely no fluorescent lighting here. The coffee was nice and strong, I had the kopi ais that the 'guide' recommended, and I quite liked it. RM 4.90, and it came in a disposable plastic cup that can be sealed (like those taiwanese bubble tea). I didn't spot any celebrities, vips or politicians, but there were a lot of photos displayed. I only recognised our DPM, DS Najib. Oh I forgot they got free wifi here.
   
7. Searched for a quiet bar to start off the night. This was on a Friday night. The first one we went to had 0 people aside from those working there. About 50 meters away was this pub. Opened the door and there was really loud music, but it was so dark we couldn't see anything at all. And they played dangdut music. We concluded it must be some place for dangdut orgy parties and decided to just go straight to Swing, supposedly the best club in Kuantan. It was just after 10 pm, and although relatively empty still, the place looked okay and more importantly, it looked decent. The band was just starting and they were good. Plus they sang my request for Mungkin Nanti because I said I was leaving very soon. Doesn't matter that I stayed on 2 hours after that. The dj played pretty hip music too. It was a mostly Malay crowd at Swing, maybe 90%. Where are the Chinese? Are they at home studying for SPM or what. That reminds me, it's kinda funny to see guys shuffling to R&B and hiphop.
   
8. Had the most awesome 'lor' pig intestines. It was super yummy, and super bloody cheap. RM 3 for a bloody huge portion that my bf and I couldn't even finish. The chicken rice was okay. We also ordered this... pork balls in curry soup, as in those in curry mee. My god it was bloody fantastic. Pedas enough, and the right amount of santan. I even tarpaoed two packets for my sisters who are forever asking for food...
9. I have this thing about going to restaurants with lots of people with the theory that so many people can't be wrong, right. Anyways, I was driving around looking for a place to have my dinner, and I saw one with lots and people, so I parked my car. It turned out to be the same place that I ate at the last time I was in Kuantan for work (alone). I employed the same method of finding a place to eat too, the last time that I was there. Love driving around exploring new places. They even have the extra peppery pork stomach soup that I love. Ahhh life!

Kuantan was nice, except for the fact that I got lost getting into town, and got lost trying to get onto the highway. They really do need help with the signboards. Desperate help.

Nice and peaceful now, just the way I like it. Classes starting this week. Can't wait. :)