Kijal and Cherating - 3D/2N

3D/2N Kijal/Cherating

Day 1
We planned to leave KL last Friday (26/2/2010) at 9am, I reached my sis’s house and my 2 nieces yet to arrive n my sis was still feeding her son breakfast n my sis in law was cooking breakfast.

After everything was done, we left at about 10am. We drove straight to Kijal, along the way we stopped at Warung Otak-Otak Che Wan at Kuala Kemaman for satar & otak-otak at about 1.30pm. Too early n they were not selling anything yet. So, we decided to drive around Chukai town n perhaps stop by at Hai Peng, it was closed! We drove further to check out other shops, Tong Juan was open (they are famous for stuffed crab) but my sis looked at the shop and was not keen to eat there.

We turned back to Warung Otak-Otak Che Wan Kuala Kemaman n waited awhile (they open at 2.00pm) and enjoyed satar, otak-otak, pais and keropok lekor. The food was nice but the weather was really really hot.

After lunch we drove straight to Awana Kijal n checked in at about 3pm. I stayed here before as my previous employer had a plant at Teluk Kalung. To me this is the most decent hotel around Kijal/Cherating.

Since it was hot outside the room, we decided to laze about inside our room n at 5.30pm decided to try out their fitness centre (my sis n her son swam). We worked out for an hour n after that we went for a walk on the beach (we walked until we reached Star Cruise jetty n turned back to hotel).

Really good work out n we were sore all over..then returned to our room to shower n got ready for dinner. We had our dinner at Grandview in front of the hotel. Everyone was hungry but my sis didn’t finish her rice as she felt bloated (she was too hungry n her stomach felt like it was filled with air n she could’t eat) and I thought the food was not to her liking. Anyway, the others enjoyed their food. We ordered stuffed crabs, butter prawns, kailan with garlic, lemon chicken and garoupa cooked with soy sauce.

After dinner we drove to Kerteh to view lights from oil & gas plants there. Reached hotel n we were all tired. Tried to watch dvd but all of us fell asleep before the movie ended.

Day 2
We planned to wake up early, go to the gym at 7am, then at 8am walk on the beach and have our breakfast at 9am. We woke up at 9am! Would not have woken up if my bf didn’t call. My 2 nieces decided to sleep in, so my sis n I went down for breakfast by ourselves. Same spread as per my previous visits.

We returned to our room and it was time to check out. We packed our stuffs n my 2 nieces decided that they wanted to go for a swim. So we loaded our stuffs into our car n waited for them n lounged about by the pool.

We left Awana n went to Warung Otak-Otak Che Wan again for our lunch. This time we had satar, otak-otak, mee calong (different version of mee soup) and nasi air, ABC, jelly kelapa and kelapa laut. Mee calong n nasi air were actually quite nice.

After lunch we drove straight to Holiday Villa Cherating. After checking in, again it was hot n we just stayed indoor. Went to the gym at 5.30pm n went to the beach for a walk. Took my nephew along as my sis wanted to go for massage.

After our walk, went back to our room and prepared to go out for dinner. This time we went to Duyong Restaurant at Kampung Cherating. The waitress recommended Ikan Barat (cooked with dried chillies), Kam Heong crabs, my niece ordered kalian cooked with oyster sauce n the other niece ordered tom yam.

After dinner, my niece needed to look for areas where she can have wifi access as she needed some info to finish her assignment, we found a café with ‘free wifi’ signboard. No other customers there n the owner was more interested in listening to music on his pc rather than serving his customers. His moody son acted as a waiter, the internet connection was very slow n we decided to leave n asked the boy to pack our drinks. Guess what he said? Sorry we have no plastic bag to pack your drinks! I asked for ice n I guess they ran out of ice too :-(
2 cans of cokes (no ice) and a mug of hot milo cost us RM8.00. Will never go to this place ever again. This place is called Payung Café.

We walked towards a shop where my sis n the other niece was browsing for souvenirs n along the way we stumbled onto a cyber café. Lucky break for my niece. They charge RM2.50 per hour. She downloaded her work (by borrowing thumb drive from the owner before downloading them into her laptop), took her less than 15min n the owner didn’t charge her a single cent. The cyber café is next to Little Bali.

Then back to our room n zzz…..

Day 3
We woke up early today n went down for breakfast early ie around 8am. After breakfast my nieces wanted to go for a walk on the beach but it was too hot for me n I lounged about on the hammock, very relaxing – just swaying, feeling the sea breeze n enjoying the clear sky…

They came searching for me after their walk, sweating n we went to the gym. We worked out for an hour and then went for a swim. Then time to pack n go home.

We stopped by at Turtle Sanctuary – small displays but they have both live turtles n turtle replicas……my 3 year old nephew loves the displays.

We returned to Kuala Kemaman to buy keropok to bring back to KL but since it was still early we decided to go to Hai Peng for light lunch. Then back to Che Wan to tapau keropok n stuffs.

Earlier plan was for us to have our lunch at Pak Su Beserah but we already had our lunch at Hai Peng so decided to drive straight to KL.

We stopped by at Gambang rest area to pray n later stopped at Termerloh rest area for drinks. We reached KL at about 7.30pm.

Good holiday but I was offended by my niece n sis at the end of the trip, we were having a conversation and they said something vague implying they talked about me behind my back. I was tired n the weather was super hot n I found their remarks to be extremely rude. To me if you want to talk behind my back be my guest but keep it behind my back (whatever it is, that was not my concern) but if you want to hint to me that you talked behind my back, you better tell me what was the issue. Hiding it by saying it’s nothing is plain rude. Anyway, I was fuming n was ready to scream if anyone bothered me. Thank God they left me alone to simmer or everyone’s holiday n good mood will be spoilt……but then again I guess that's family, we quarreled n we made up....

Day 4
Good holiday, I was expecting to be too lazy to wake up, feeling tired to go to work. But I woke up early n feeling very fresh………

Hotels Review
I prefer Awana than Holiday Villa.

Holiday Villa a bit run down, you can see blood on the bed sheet (from smashed up mosquitos, was wondering whether they changed the sheet or not before we checked in or rhe blood was old stains). The compound, walkways not spotlessly clean, the gym had little to offer n the breakfast spread was very small n taste wise they were awful.

My sis left her sunglasses in Awana, she called them n they said they’ll keep for her..

But then again, we paid RM230 for Awana n RM160 for Holiday Villa so I guess you can’t expect much.

Beach? I prefer Kijal as it was cleaner. Cherating beach was dirty n at some part of the beach, dirty n smelly water (sewer?) was drained to sea……eew!!

But the beach at turtle sanctuary was very beautiful n clean……. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/5/15/southneast/14226065&sec=southneast

Expenses
Petrol – RM140 (return)
Tol – RM58 (return)

Awana Kijal - RM230 x 1 room x 1 night (normal rates view here http://www.awana.com.my/en/ak/accommodation/roomrates.htm )

Holiday Villa - RM160 x 2 rooms x 1 night = RM320/night (normal rates view here http://www.holidayvillacherating.com/accomodation.html )

Lunch 26/2/010 - Warung Otak-Otak Che Wan Kuala Kemaman RM24
Dinner - Grandview Kijal RM162

Lunch 27/2/010 - Warung Otak-Otak Che Wan Kuala Kemaman RM34
Dinner - Duyong RM110

Lunch - Hai Peng Chukai RM58

Tapau satar+otak-otak+lekor at Warung Otak-Otak Che Wan Kuala Kemaman RM3.50x4 + RM 7x4 + RM5x4 = RM62
Tapau keropok+ikan bilis + etc at tenggiri = RM100
Pineapples - RM10 x 2 = RM20

GRAND TOTAL: RM1,138 for 4pax

What others said about:

Awana Kijal
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g303999-d455027-Reviews-Awana_Kijal_Resort-Kijal_Terengganu.html

http://dexxy.net/travelogue/treasure-hunt-awana-kijal-terengganu/

http://headsteadi.com/2009/02/03/room-review-awana-kijal-terengganu/

http://bacss.blogspot.com/2009/01/awana-kijal-terengganu.html

http://www.adiwong.com/sunrise-at-awana-kijal-terengganu/


Holiday Villa Cherating
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g298296-d631296-Reviews-Holiday_Villa_Cherating-Kuantan_Pahang.html

http://www.virtualtourist.com/hotels/Asia/Malaysia/Negeri_Pahang/Cherating_Beach-1294899/Hotels_and_Accommodations-Cherating_Beach-BR-2.html

Light shows at Kerteh
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=228342
http://kertehcommunity.blogspot.com/2009/03/evulusi-remaja-kini.html
http://razmahwata.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/travelling-around-kerteh-taxis/

Cherating Turtle sanctuary
http://www.paikia.com/2009/08/cherating-day-2-turtle-sanctuary/

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g666315-d1126914-Reviews-Cherating_Turtle_Sanctuary-Cherating_Pahang.html

http://journals.worldnomads.com/taroso/post/1134.aspx

Warung Otak-Otak Che Wan at Kuala Kemaman
http://sigilatv.blogspot.com/2010/02/travelog-to-kuala-kemamansatar-sedap-di.html

http://knizam.com/keropok-lekor-satar-pedas-jeli-kelapa-kat-kuala-kemaman-terengganu/

http://www.kosmo.com.my/kosmo/content.asp?y=2008&dt=0629&pub=Kosmo&sec=Rencana_Utama&pg=ru_01.htm

http://nouryssa.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/warung-che-wankuala-kemaman/
Kedai Kopi Hai Peng
http://bernsy.blogspot.com/2008/03/haipeng-kopitiam-kemaman-terengganu.html

http://headsteadi.com/2007/06/05/famous-hai-peng-kopitiam-in-terengganu/

http://masak-masak.blogspot.com/2006/07/hai-peng-kopitiam-kemaman-terengganu.html

http://bangsar-babe.blogspot.com/2009/08/hai-peng-kopitiam-kemaman-terengganu.html

http://yewhenry.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/east-coast-trip/

Tong Juan
http://jasonmumbles.com/2009/04/stuffed-crab-kemaman-restaurant-and-pak-su-seafood-restaurant
http://food.malaysiamostwanted.com/venues/tong-juan-stuffed-crab-chukai-kemaman

http://www.paikia.com/2009/10/terengganu-tong-juan-stuffed-crab/

Restoran Grandview Café Kijal
http://www.adriancjy.com/wordpress/2009/11/kl-kuantan-pahang-kijal-terengganu-day-1/

http://cherylzen.blogspot.com/2008/11/awana-kijal-3-where-to-eat.html

http://belacans.blogspot.com/2005/06/awana-kijal-11-june-2005-day-2.html

http://www.virtualtourist.com/hotels/Asia/Malaysia/Negeri_Terengganu/Kuala_Terengganu-1281769/Hotels_and_Accommodations-Kuala_Terengganu-Awana_Kijal_Resort_Terengganu-BR-1.html

Duyong Restaurant Kampung Cherating
http://elamic.blogspot.com/2009/08/duyong-seafood-restaurant-cherating.html

http://tzeemeng.com/what-to-eat/dinner-at-duyong-restaurant-cherating/

http://weiyein.blogspot.com/2008/05/cherating-in-nutshell.html

Payung Café Kampung Cherating
http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Pahang/Cherating/blog-279551.html
http://www.legendria.com/2009/01/26/surfer-paradise-cherating/

Restoran Pak Su Beserah
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g298296-d1132955-Reviews-Pak_Su_Restarant_Seaside-Kuantan_Pahang.html

http://food.malaysiamostwanted.com/venues/restoran-pak-su-jalan-beserah-kuantan

http://kyspeaks.com/2010/02/04/pak-su-seafood-near-kuantan-best-night-view-by-the-seaside/

http://pingmouse.com/2009/06/school-break-2-cherating-pak-su.html
http://becklee.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/pak-su-seafood-restaurant-kuantan/

Ikan Bakar Awang Cherating – note to self “try this place next time”
http://tamkiapo.blogspot.com/2008/07/kuantan-food.html
http://food.malaysiamostwanted.com/venues/ikan-bakar-pak-awang-jalan-kuantan-kemamam