KL – Kuala Kemaman – Marang
As I entered my room after I have just finished my meeting my handphone buzzed. It was my wife informing me that they were already waiting on the road outside. I quickly tidied up my desk and walked down to meet them. I was told the other car was just leaving their house and I new immediately we were going to be late. The initial plan was to wait for them at Genting Sempah but when I got there, there was no parking space and decided instead to continue our journey and waited for them at the Petronas petrol station just before the Bentong tol plaza. We said our prayer there and refreshed ourselves over a cup of coffee. The wait was not that long and we eventually departed from there at1444. Still I was bullish of making the time as planned and hit the accelerator hard. While speeding I realized the temperature went up as I pressed the accelerator and came down as I maintained the speed to the standard speed limit. I knew then it must be a dirty radiator. Allah knows best so I maintained the normal speed. Indeed as planned we stopped at Gambang R&R to have a late lunch. For a school holidays the place is quite deserted I would have expected it to be at least buzzing with activities.
As I entered my room after I have just finished my meeting my handphone buzzed. It was my wife informing me that they were already waiting on the road outside. I quickly tidied up my desk and walked down to meet them. I was told the other car was just leaving their house and I new immediately we were going to be late. The initial plan was to wait for them at Genting Sempah but when I got there, there was no parking space and decided instead to continue our journey and waited for them at the Petronas petrol station just before the Bentong tol plaza. We said our prayer there and refreshed ourselves over a cup of coffee. The wait was not that long and we eventually departed from there at1444. Still I was bullish of making the time as planned and hit the accelerator hard. While speeding I realized the temperature went up as I pressed the accelerator and came down as I maintained the speed to the standard speed limit. I knew then it must be a dirty radiator. Allah knows best so I maintained the normal speed. Indeed as planned we stopped at Gambang R&R to have a late lunch. For a school holidays the place is quite deserted I would have expected it to be at least buzzing with activities.
I gathered I could still made for Kuala Kemaman by 1730 but Allah had another plan for me. It was raining hard as we travelled towards Kuantan and we slowly cruised out of the highway at around 1700. By then the traffic along Kuantan Kemaman route was already heavy. We still made good time though and arrived at the Kuala Kemaman’s fish market at 1801. Part of the plan was to buy enough fish to BBQ that night in Marang.
Obviously there weren’t any good selection of fish left and we decided on a kilo each of Cencaru and Kembong. I was tempted to throw in that big ikan aya aka tongkol aka tuna as well but my good sense prevailed. We stayed awhile enjoying the place a bit. It was not new to us but certainly something new and interesting to my extended family. On the way out Baqir kept pestering me for satar and otak-otak so we stopped at one of our new favourite place on the way out to Chukai. As always we ate satar in a bundle. At the same time I went to buy ‘arang’ and few things for the BBQ at the nearby sundry shop.
Intan asked me how far was Kemaman to our destination I was non committal about it and I said ‘just follow behind’. We laughed as it was as much as reality and a joke as well. A reality because they were playing catch up with my driving all the while and a joke because they did not know the way. She asked further where our next stop was. I just blurted out Dungun. Nothing specific only I thought we should stop and pray there. Around 1904 we reached Dungun. There wasn’t any good place to stop so I decided just to press on as the earlier we get to Marang the better as I can sense everyone is stiffed sitting in the car already. As I knew the road to KT after Dungun would be good I pressed the accelerator harder. The Ranger performance after I changed the clutch plate was not the same anymore. Maybe I need to take it back to Azizi for tuning up. Nevertheless, turbo charged Ranger is a turbo charged Ranger and we charged overtaking at will towards Marang. About 10 kilometres to Marang I called the resorts to enquire where exactly the place was. It was two kilometers before Marang from Dungun. At around 2030 we reached Anguilla Beach Resorts safely.
It was not a bad resort. I had booked one Big Family Chalet and another family Chalet. The big family chalet had two beds in the main area that was separated by a board. The two beds could conformably sleep four persons. The chalet came with an attic that could squeeze in another four quite comfortably. The other advantage of the chalet was it was facing the beach and the beach was quite decent to sleep on. That was what my son and his cousin did eventually. After we arrived and settled down a bit I sort of toured the place, quite a big resort. We had a cook out on the beach and a simple dinner of rice and ikan baker was like the best food that we ever had. We sat on the beach for awhile until my wife decided to retire out of fatigued.
‘I continue to sit with my laptop enjoying the cool night breeze while typing this piece. The dark sky above me is glowing with thousand stars and with the sound of the wave hitting the shore makes me want to reminisce old times. I face the sea and could see a line of light over the horizon. My guess the lights must be from the small fishing boats. It is so comforting sitting there and looking out to the dark sea. I know I made the right choice staying here for a night. My sons and their cousin are having hot drinks at the resorts beach café nearby.’
Close to midnight I joined my sons and their cousin at the stall to have Nescafe tarik and retired as soon as I had finished my drink.
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