Kelong Acheh..... off Johore coast.....

On 12th Sept 2009, my family (and of course with my wife, mother, brother and his gf), my sister and her in-law and me set our journey to East Coast. We have planned this for quite some time, and finally we were able to set our journey early on the morning. Though this is our first trip, we only depends on the instruction available from the Kelong Acheh website.

Excited for the journey, we departed in 2 cars. We had chicken rice early in the morning, before planning for our next "pit stop" to have morning tea time.... hehehe..... We travelled all the way... Federal Highway... LDP....Karak Highway.... Exit Gambang.... heading to Pekan.... and this is our first stop... Royal town of Pahang, we trying to get our nice tea break. We found out an old looking restaurant and decided to have our break there. We ordered coffee (of course), toast bread and wan tan mee.... We decided this is the best available options, as we did not go to discover more on this small royale town of Pahang.

We continue our journey to Pulau Tioman jetty, driving along the coastal road throughout the journey. I am always excited to travel along east coast, as we can see the beaches along the way. Half way thru, my brother whom we suppose to meet at Jetty Penyabong (the jetty where we will depart to K Acheh) called us. Of course, we were lying to him that we waited for him at the jetty. Poor boy... he rushing to the jetty after arriving from his long journey from Singapore by bus, taking a cab straight away to jetty. Hahaha.... he called us, and of course we felt sorry for him. So we decided to buy him lunch since it was almost lunch hour. We stopped at our next pit stop, buying some KFC to bring in to the kelong as our lunch.

Finally, we reached at the jetty, parked our car. Here we are, at our destination. Unpack the thing, we heading to the kelong straight away. Once we reached the kelong, we waste no time. My brother, bro-in-law and me setting up our equipment and ready for our first catch. Guess what, I manage to catch a todak soon after I casting my rod. Definitely everyone was very excited about the first catch.

While we setting up the gears, the rest went to have tea time prepared by the kelong. My wife prepared the water melon and tea. Hmmm.... very tasty by default.

When night falls, we have bells on each rod. Soon, we feels tired after a day journey, sun burn while fishing... and I spent some time watching football with my wife.... Man City vs Arsenal... sien lor... Arsenal was losing the match... trailing at 3-2 when suddenly my brother shouted... "oooiii come come... got fish liao... got fish liao".... the fish ate my bait, and it's as long as my arm... after fighting for a while, the fish near the kelong... Ah Yong (the kelong's helper) help us to hook the fish up, but the fish manage to release itself and goes down beneath the kelong. We tried to bring the fish out, but too bad,.... the string not that strong... oppsss.... here the slogan came about "now you see, now you don't" :(

Suddenly everyone so energetic, setting again the rod, make sure it has bait... but for a while only... too tired we were, all of us went to sleep.

The next morning, suddenly I woke up from my sweet dream once i heard my sister shouted "i catch it liao, i catch it liao".... then only I know they already started fishing. Very soon, I joined them for it.... and manage to play around with few more todak.... But my sad feeling still there, how we lose the fish the previous night.

After the lunch, we start packing our belongings. We sent my brother to Mersing's bus station, before start our journey back to KL. Rain heavily along the way, I was too tired for my role as Ahmad. My wife took the turn to drive once we reach Karak Highway....

We decided to stop at Restoran Bukit Tinggi BBQ, but "si beh sui"... the restaurant closing when we reached there. A simple dinner was taken and heading back to our respective destination. Though very tired, but this memory will remains forever, as this is our first trip for most of us. And now, we are planning for second kelong trip this coming November with other kaki fishing member.....

For more information for Kelong Acheh, you may visit http://www.kelongacheh.com/

Man Utd Asia Tour 2009

Location: Bukit Jalil Stadium

We managed to get the ticket to watch the re-match between Malaysia XI vs Man Utd due to the hotel bombing incident in Jakarta, including the one the MU team supposed to stay in. Since MU is here, they are capitalizing the tour in Asia to have the pre-season practice over here.

We managed to buy RM58 free-seating ticket in time and was a bit rushing to the stadium after the office hour. Once we entered the stadium, it was not as packed as the first match, which was full house. However, we still able to get a good seat as our colleague has arrived earlier to book a place for us.

We saw banner which carrying a request to sign the so called local hero, Mohd Amri Yahya who scored 2 goals against MU during the previous match, ended MU won the match 3-2. Besides that, the best part we loved to watch was Rooney became temporary goalkeeper during the warm-up session.

As we watch the match, our colleague told us the match was not as exciting as the first match. We were a bit bored half way through the match. The match ended with MU winning the game 2-0, thanks to MU young star Macheda and Michael Owen.

Kedai Kopi Hai Peng

Location:

3753 Jalan Sulaimani

Chukai

24000 Kemaman

Terengganu

Tel: 09-859 7810

Operation: 6.45am - 6.00pm

We were on the trip to Kuantan when we passing this small town called Kemaman. Of course before we embarked on our journey, we already planned to stop by on this famous coffee shop. When we reached the shop, it was packed with its customer, either locals or tourist.

Definitely, we ordered our drinks first. Coffee is a must here. We decided to order their signature drink, hot coffee-o. When the drink is hot, the aroma is more intense compared with the cold coffee. Also, we ordered charcoal toasted bun filled with kaya and butter.

Another item that we tried out is the Tapai, sort of glutinous rice wrapped in fresh leaf. We tried this out of our curiosity as we seldom have this in KL.

The last one we tried was Nasi Lemak. A so called must have when having coffee at coffee shop.

From the setting in the shop, we feels that this coffee shop has been operating for long time based on the setup and decorations. Before we leaving, we bought few box of the famous coffee here. Coffee over here uses imported Columbian beans, which has greater aroma compared to robusta. Maybe this make the coffee here stand out compared with others competitor in town.

Pantai Kemasik

Location: Between the town of Kijal and Kerteh

Along the driving from Kerteh to Kuantan, we were stumbled upon a nice beach. Though we have passed this area few times, but we never make an effort to stop for a while to take a look. By the time we came here, we are pleasantly surprise to see such a beautiful beach that is right in front of us.

Pantai Kemasik (or Kemasik Beach) is facing South China Sea. It is actually located in between Kijal and Kerteh. Because the beach facing South China Sea, this beach is clean and has crystal clear water. There are rocks at the beach, where you can either climb it or take some photo shots.

This clean and picturesque beach is popular among the locals especially during the weekend. It is great for picnic, camping, flying kites or just lounging around the golden sand beach. We saw a big family having their weekend outing over here and setting up the tent as well.

There is a small hut where fishermen will rest and sell some of their catch over here once they are back from the sea. Nearby, one can also view the rustic fishing village at the river mouth.

Fisherman Jetty... Kuala Dungun

Location: Dungun, Terengganu

We stoppped by at the this fisherman's jetty after our breakfast in Dungun. We just wanted to do some photography shooting as part of our memory towards the journey to east coast. Though it was not the peak time where fishermen are back from the sea, we still managed to see some of the fishermen unloading their catch to the jetty.

The jetty is under the care of Lembaga Kemajuan Ikan Malaysia (known as Fisheries Development Authority of Malaysia). During our photo shooting, there was an uncle that allowed us to jump into his boat to snap few photos.

We managed to see some fishing equipments looks like an iron net, which meant to be thrown into the sea during the fishing trip. However, we didn't ask in details from the fishermen around the jetty.

Crystal Mosque

Location: Wan Man Island, Kuala Terengganu

Crystal Mosque, also known as Masjid Kristal located at Islamic Heritage Park, first of its kind in the world. The mosque was constructed between 2006 - 2008, and officially opened on 8th February 2008 by 13th Yang Di Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu.

This Islamic Heritage Park was the brain child of our then PM of Malaysia, Tun Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi. Built on 22.3 ha site of an uninhibited Pulau Wan Man, the Terengganu River estuary, this new landmark is expected to lure visitors around the world, to let one understand better of Islamic world. This park is also known as first Islamic edutainment theme park in the world to showcase the glorious era of Islamic science and technology achievements, arts, architecture, engineering and heritage.

The construction of the RM240 million Islamic Civilisation also house replicas of world famous mosque around the world. Among the replicas are the Dome of Rock (Jerusalem), Taj Mahal (India), Samarra Grand Mosque (Iraq) and many more. However, we didn't enter the Islamic Civilisation Park (Taman Tamadun Islam) as we don't have enough time. Besides that, one need to pay for the entrance fee to enter the park.

It is considered unique as it is the first and only mosque built from steel and glass, hence the crystal-like image.

Pulau Duyung...Traditional Boat Maker Village...

Location: Kg Duyung Besar, 20100 Kuala Terengganu. It is very near to the Sultan Mahmud bridge.

Pulau Duyung, translated as Mermaid Island. However, it is not an island, but instead this place consists of Pulau Duyung Besar and Pulau Duyung Kecil. These 2 peninsulars extend from the mainland and river towards the sea. Particularly, Pulau Duyung is well known for boat-building, not only in Malaysia, but also towards the whole world.

We were told during our visit that the craftmen have been building traditional boats without using masterplans or blueprints. Even that, the orders have been coming in around the world, especially from Europe. The craftmen even told us that it takes years to complete to build a nice boat, especially they really need to make sure that the cengal trees (a hardwood timber also knowns as ironwood) is completely dry up. They will put the hardwood under the hot sun to make sure it is dried up.

During our tour, the craftmen told us that there are 2 orders from KRU Studio (Malaysia local film production). The orders meant for the filming purposes.

However, nowadays it is hard to get the timber as nearby primary jungle is gone. If there were any cengal tree left, it is protected by the law. If one to buy the cengal tree, one need to pay a heavy price for the timber, and subsequently increase the cost of the boat.

Pantai Kelulut

Location: Marang, Terengganu

Pantai Kelulut is located between Marang and Rantau Abang. We managed to discover this beach while on the way from Terengganu to Kuantan. This beach is well known for its natural beauty and serenity. Besides that, there are lot of pine trees along the beach.

This beach is also a preferred weekend destination by locals. Kelulut Beach is unique for its alluring powdery sands that form a remarkable stretch of sand dune.

It is also a picturesque fishing village, welcomes her visitors with tall swaying coconut trees, cool fresh air, an incredibly beautiful lagoon and a fleet of fishing trawlers. Any visitor to the beach will be easily captivated by its natural beauty and simplistic ambience.

Besides the beach, there are stalls around the area. We did stop by and tried out few dishes. Since it was sunny and hot, we decided to order coconut drink. Another dish that caught our attention was the fried ikan kembung (slimy mackerel or rastrelliger kanagurta). This dish really tasty, most probably it was freshly caught by the fishermen.