Where Nature Embraces Heritage

6 February 2008

Percutian ke Kuala Terengganu (KT) ni dah lama dirancang oleh aku, MZAG and HA. Ianya juga merupakan percutian 'farewell' untuk HA yang akan berangkat ke Sydney seminggu saja lagi. Setelah terpaksa ditangguh beberapa kali (as all of us on many occasions had conflicting commitments), this time around we managed to make the necessary arrangements i.e. ambik cuti and make reservation untuk menginap di resort pantai Batu Burok.

So, on 1 February 2008, aku dan HA bertolak ke KT. Initially, we wanted to leave as early as possible... tapi last minute, aku minta tukar plan sebab tak sanggup nak bangun too early. MZAG and family dah bertolak ke KT sehari awal sebab ada urusan keluarga. Finally, dalam pukul 12 tengah hari baru bertolak. Jalan jam teruk. Nak keluar dari Pandan Indah pun, took us more than 1/2 jam.

After that bad traffic, we were able to cruise away from KL. Tak sampai pun 1/2 jam, perut pun dah berbunyi-bunyi. Nasib baik aku dah breakfast kat LRT Corner pagi tadi....kalau tak sure masuk angin nyerr...

There was this one restaurant by the name of D'Paya Serai Restaurant (or something like that). Nampak macam best jerr... So, we made our first pit stop there for lunch. Banyak lauk pauk kat situ, tapi rasa ok-ok saje. Along the way, banyak kali gak le berhenti... mainly sebab nak pegi restroom..hehe. As we exited the highway somewhere not too far from Cherating, aku dapat rasakan suasana yang berbeza... yelah, dah lama aku tak datang to this part of the world. Dengan pokok nyiur yg bersusun-susun di sepanjang pantai.... kampung2 nelayan, semuanya nampak so tradititional and well kept. MZAG dah beberapa kali SMS tanya bila nak sampai.... sedangkan aku dan HA dah plan nak detour ke Dungun. Oh well! si HA yg nak sangat ke Dungun... maklumlah, tempat jatuh lagikan dikenang, inikan pula tempat 'bermain'.

Sampai di Dungun, terus kitaorang menuju ke UiTM. Nasib baik pakcik guard was kind enough to allow us to drive around the campus. HA showed me his old dormitory yg now dah jadi asrama siswi. After tawaf satu campus, we went to the beach side, pekena kopi and makan cucur. It was quite breezy that afternoon. Memang best.

Sampai KT dah dekat Maghrib. Salah masuk simpang plak... tergendala lagi 10 minit. Luckily MZAG dah ada kat resort, so tak payah lah nak check in and all.





Makan-Makan
This is what I like most about KT.... makan. Nasi Dagang is my favorite and of course, anything yang takde kat KL is worth trying.

We had a lovely dinner at Medan Ikan Bakar (near Cendering rasanya). It was nice, except tak banyak pilihan sangat...ketam and udang takde. We ordered 2 ikan, squid, tomyam, sayur and nasi. It was nice.... but I still prefer Bagan Lalang. Malam kedua, aku ponteng dinner sebab too stuffed from makan-makan earlier that day.

Breakfast has always been my favorite kalau kat KT. The main mission in the morning was to have 'nasi dagang for' breakfast. MZAG introduced us to this small restaurant by the roadside somewehere near Cendering... and my oh my! it was the best! Tiap-tiap hari pegi situ and mesti datang lagi!

Selain tu, MZAG bawa lunch kat somewhere tepi pantai. Not really lunch larr...more like afternoon snack. Makan seafood goreng tepung...ikan, prawn, squid. Quite nice... ada awek cun plak sebelah meja... On our last day there, aku and HA had lunch dengan friends kat a restaurant near China town. Salah sorang dari mereka is a famous pengacara whom I've known for a number of years now.

Other than that, we also had our afternoon tea kat pantai Batu Burok, at one of the famous restaurants there. Makanan pun sedap.


Shopping
Aku dgn HA ke Noor Arfa Batek (NAB). NAB now has a new complex and it seems more organised. Sempat lah aku membeli beberapa helai batek for myself and friends.

Lepas NAB, aku, HA and MZAG ke Pasar Payang pula. MZAG introduced us kat kedai kawan dia, so dapat special discounts. Naik juling biji mata dengan pilihan yang ada. Banyak gak membeli untuk my lady friends. Unfortunately, takde kain batik untuk aku buat baju..... sekian


Selain itu MZAG bawa pergi ke kedai kawan dia kat town. Jual batik gak. But I was more interested melihat barang-barang tembaga yang dijual. Mainly barang-barang traditional Melayu macam gobek pinang, gong,, tepak sirih, etc.





Other activities
Selain dari makan and shopping, banyak masa di habiskan dengan lepak. Kalau tak pergi pulau-pulau ni, nothing much to do lah kat sini. We drove passed by perkampungan Hadhari on the way to the airport. Mulanya, aku plan nak sambung cuti kat KT and therefore kena balik KL naik flight. Tapi, rasa boring plak, so I decided to follow HA balik ke KL.

One thing that I noticed kat KT ni, banyak betul infrastructure development. Masjid baru pun banyak...I just hope masjid-masjid ni memang digunakan lah and not just for show. Masjid Putih kat tengah town tu memang cantik...

I must say, I had fun in KT... maybe next time, aku nak pergi pulau-pulau pulak.

Next trip! To visit HA in Sydney