Back on the Road

We had returned to KL for a brief stopover before heading north again, this time up the East coast. We would be catching up with Mum and Dad one last time before they would be flying home. They were staying in a resort called Tangon Jara which lay about half way up the coast between KL and KT (Kuala Terrenganu). There wasn't really anything around here for a backpacker and as such this part of the country is not really on the circuit anymore, unless you are staying in one of these luxury resorts. I say anymore, because this was one of the handful of coasts where the giant leather back turtles would come to lay their eggs. Whether it's a direct result of the interest these turtles brought with them or simply their fast declining numbers, they don't come here anymore. There are ghosts of tourist towns who failed to offer enough besides this spectacle for tourists and who's skeletons remain with a ramshackle guest house here or there but nothing else. This can be a problem for a tourist who might at some point during their stay decide that food would be a good idea. For your luxury resort guest though, this isn't a problem as they would have little need to venture far from their pools and restaurants and private beaches, combed every morning at dawn.

Faced with these impending problems Nic and I boarded the bus in KL and headed north for the last town of any size before my parent's resort, hoping we could investigate any guest houses within our budget somewhere near Mum and Dad. The town was called Dungun and it did not often get tourists. From the minute we stepped off the bus, laden with our bags, and into the intense mid-day heat, we were the focus of attention. We spied a hotel just down the road and made a bee-line for it, at least just to catch our breath and wits. We happened to have found the only hotel in town, and had the bus stop not been within sight of it, I don't know what we would have done. The room was sub standard and grimy with bare wires poking out the wall but the door locked, it had a hot (well, off-cold) shower and it even had air conditioning so in some ways it was more than could have been expected. Mum and Dad had done a bit of detective work at their end too and had given me the number for a guest house which was next door to their resort. They had rooms, we negotiated a price and all was sorted to go there the next day. In the meantime we had the rest of an afternoon and a night to spend in Dungun, and lucky us, it was market night.

First up though, Lunch and we were feeling particularly in need of a beer after the ordeal of the last few hours. It was at this moment it started to occur to us that for the first time in our travels, the ethnic balance had tipped into a heavily Muslim majority. In fact it was not so much a majority as an entirety. There was a Pizza Hut in town - one of those signs that are like a beacon of comfort when the surroundings all get a bit too much - and we thought we'd just pay over the odds this once and get a pizza and a beer. Even Pizza Hut though, adhered to the town's dry state policy, there wasn't a drop to be had anywhere. The AC was as good as a beer in the end and as the skies turned dark and the heavens opened with a rush of rain, we stretched out the meal for a good while, watching as the windows steamed up - on the outside, and the passing adolescents demonstrated their grasp of the English language, scribbling various expletives onto the glass as they dashed past, much to the amusement of their inamoratas.

The evening came, eventually, and we wandered down to the Market, where Mum and Dad had also caught the resort's excursion bus into. The typical market fare was cloth, in particular sarongs or bed cloths, various house holds items, several stalls with Muslim religious stuff and a tape machine blaring out an Imam deep in prayer, mobile phones and cheap toys,and other stalls selling food, some to take home, other food hot and ready to eat. This hot food was first seen in the Cameron Highlands, and now, having tried a little before, Dad was emboldened to buy various assortments of deep fried things to see what they were like. Despite varying in size and shape, most things tasted the same - fish.

Having sorted out our guest house, we got a taxi who was kind enough to overcharge us by probably as much as ten times the rate to take us ten minutes up the road to the guest house. There was nothing else we could do though and reluctantly had to take his terms. As I've said before, the thing about being ripped off over here is that at the end of the day, it's never a lot of money anyway when you look at it in pounds.

We found the guest house and in the garden were three boys about 9 or 10 years old watering the garden and raking away some leaves. One of the boys promptly lead us to our room and then gave us the key with a short note, written by the owner confirming the rate and saying to ask the boys if we needed anything - not really an option as the boys didn't speak English and our Malaysian was still not really beyond ordering food. A little odd we thought, but we would be spending most of the time gate crashing Mum and Dad's resort so we weren't too worried.

Once again we found ourselves lying beside an infinite pool with a fantastic beach beyond and all the trappings of a five star resort. We would spend about 4 days enjoying these services and in return we ate in the resort for all our meals with one exception when we ventured out and found an open air Chinese restaurant on the roadside.

It was only a five minute stroll between the Resort and our guest house so it was nothing to nip back and change and shower after a day at the pool before popping back round for dinner. Our shower was not working though, and still with no sign of the owner, we had to write a note to give to the boys in the hope that the owner would get it. This seemed to work and the next day the shower was working. This would be the last contact we would have with anyone at our guest house as eerily we became the only people around.

By the end of the few days, we had been on a river safari up to a traditional village to see a last echo of the traditional lifestyle, we had spent plenty of time at the pool side and the beach and had eaten a few dinners. The unique feature about one of the restaurants on the resort was that there was no menu. The head chef would discuss with you what you wanted and would then prepare it to your request. On one of our poolside languishes, we were offered the chance of trying out a bit of scuba diving, just in the pool and with the intent of luring you out onto a diving trip. We accepted the free trial and declined the less free trip but we both thought that maybe we should keep our eyes open for another opportunity, perhaps in Thailand.

Then it was time for Mum and Dad to get driven to the airport and for us to pack our bags and get back onto the road again. But first we had to try and find someone at our guest house to pay so we could check out. There had been no sign of anyone for days now, and we could have quite easily left without paying for anything. The guest house's office block had remained firmly locked up for all the time we were there. And there was no deposit box or anything we could drop the key into. In the end there was nothing to do except to leave the money in the room and leave the room unlocked in the hope that eventually the owner would return. There was a sad event here too when we discovered that round the back of the office was a pen with a couple of chihuahuas. One of the dogs had died, recently it seemed and the other dog was less than happy though very quiet. We did what we could, covering the body over and fed the other dog with some of our food, we then threw out it's bowl of dirty water and replaced it, leaving the garden hose dripping into it all the time so it would hopefully keep refreshed. We found a big tub of dried dog food, left more of this out, and then had to leave, hoping that the owner would be back soon. We tried to phone but his number just rang out, from within the office. Left a bit shaken and quite sad, we donned our bags and caught the bus heading further north to Kuala Terrenganu.