Cherating

Malaysia is not huge, but there are many places in the country that I have not visited. Cherating was one of them; I passed by the places a number of times, but never stopped to discover the beauty of the place.

All that changed last weekend. We badly needed a breather before I resume my somewhat hectic life as a full-time student. We didn’t want to travel far because DH could’t get away from his office for too long. Besides, we’d rather not spend much time in the car.

A few places were considered: PD, Melaka and Cherating. We finally chose Cherating simply because we had never been there.

There was little time for planning. DH was busy with work so it was up to me to gather information on how to get there, what to do, where to eat etc. I searched the net a couple of times and with what little info I managed to gather, off we went.

The journey there took us more or less 4 and half hours. Getting to Cherating is fairly easy; the place is located on the road to Kemaman/Kuala Terengganu, so we just followed the signboard that says Kemaman/Kuala Terengganu. We exited the highway in Kuantan to run some errands so it took us longer to get to Cherating. I believe the exit closer to Cherating is known as Jabor exit.

Our choice of accommodation was so-so, but the beach was breathtaking. It’s true what they say, that the East Coast beaches are lovelier than the ones on the West Coast. And they are cleaner too.

Watching the waves making white bubbles in the ocean, with the wind blowing in my face and the clear water washing over my feet, at once I felt a sense of serenity engulfing me...

DD was ecstatic. She overcame her lack of confidence and shyness and just ran all over the beach with DH tailing her closely. We made sand castles and soaked ourselves in the water. All the while the sound of the waves splashing against the soft sand made gentle music to our ears.

We’ve heard stories about the high casualties at Cherating beach, so we took extra precautions. We stayed close to the shore and always kept a watchful eye over DD. We noticed that the waves there are higher than the ones in PD, but the water was relatively shallow even if you’ve walked some distance from the shore.

DD just couldn’t get herself away from the beach. She particularly enjoyed making sand castles. The sands there were wet and watery; you could dig them for just a few inches to make a well full of water. It was fairly easy to build our castles, complete with small canals surrounding them.

We had our dinners at a stall known as Warung Awang, which is located not far from Club Med and the Turtle Sanctuary. On the first day, we arrived at the stall at around 8pm. It didn’t take me long to realize why it is advisable to get there before 7pm. I believe it took almost 45 minutes to receive our order. But it was worth the wait. The food was marvellous, we just ate and ate to our hearts content. Even my picky eater (DD) had a good time tucking into the delicious morsels.

The food wasn’t exactly cheap, but they were fresh. We spent RM41.60 for our dinner on the following items:

3 plates on white rice
1 whole stingray (medium sized) – grilled
1 huge squid – fried in batter
1 bowl of sup tulang
1 plate of kailan fried with salted fish
2 glasses of sea coconut drink
1 glass of soya bean milk

The portions were so huge that I believe it would be sufficient for another 2 persons. The squid in particular really surprised us because it filled a huge plate to the brim. Even the sup tulang came in a huge portion, unlike the ones we usually have in KL. The sea coconut drink was white and refreshing, unlike the canned version which usually comes in brownish colour. And the stingray: it was almost divine. It was similar to one we had in Lumut. There was none of the fishy smell or sticky texture. Overall, it was money well spent!

We decided to have our dinner at the same place on the following night. Not that we were lacking in choice, but the food there was just marvellous. It is actually fairly easy to find eateries for dinner; you can find quite a number of stalls/restaurants lining up the road there.

This time around, we decided to be at the warung earlier. When we reached the stall at around 7.45 pm, there were relatively few patrons there, so our waiting time was shorter. Our dinner for that night cost us RM42.40. We ordered less items but they were pricier because of the method of cooking that we chose; grilled method is cheaper than other methods by about RM1 per 100g. Our dinner for the second night comprised:

3 plates of white rice
1 squid – fried in batter (on DD’s request. She really loves the squid)
2 medium sized chilli crabs
1 sweet and sour garoupa
2 sea coconut drink
1 cincau drink

The food was enough for the 3 of us. I must say though that the chilli crabs are different from the ones that we usually find in KL. Warung Awang’s chilli crab was cooked in eggs and quite watery and it wasn’t as hot and spicy as the ones in KL. I somehow prefer the KL version better. The garoupa was lovely, it was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Most of the seafood stalls are open only at night, so we decided to venture farther to search for good food for lunch. Besides, I wanted to get some kopi hai peng (introduced to me by my dear niece Ummu Auni). So off we went to Chukai (or is it Kemaman? I’m confused. Anyway, it’s the first town centre you’d find north of Cherating and took us about 15 – 20 minutes to get there by car).

The Kedai Kopi Hai Peng is a landmark of sort in the town. You’d see a huge signboard on the white building bearing the shop’s name. The shop is located not far from Hospital Besar Kemaman and The Store. We had roti kaya for lunch (a total of 4 rectangular slices and 6 buns), as well as 2 glasses of coffee. The damage? About RM11. I also bought some coffee and kaya to take home to KL.

On our way back to Cherating, we dropped by D’Monica Bay a.k.a. Pantai Teluk Mak Nik (I’m serious, that’s what the signboards say) to buy keropok lekor. This beach is located in Cheneh, which is not far from the town centre. I believe my dear brother took us there once to try the best keropok lekor and sata in southern Terengganu. We bought RM2 worth of fried keropok lekor and finished them in no time at all. Did I mention that keropok lekor is one of my perennial favourites?

Lunch on the next day was had at the stall near the entrance to D’Monica Bay/Pantai Teluk Mak Nik. I had a plate of white rice with medium sized grilled ikan kembung (mackerel?), pucuk gajus (cashew nuts shoots?), budu and sambal durian. DH had chicken rice and DD had chicken rice minus the chicken (that’s my DD). For drinks, we had 1 syrup, 1 lemon syrup and 1 carrot juice. The lunch cost us RM15.

Later on we bought sata from a stall at D’Monica Bay which was sold at RM1 for 3 pieces. We bought 15 pieces and finished 6 of them in the car on our way back to KL. The taste? Wow! I never knew that sata can taste so good. It’s definitely better than the ones we used to buy at ramadhan markets here.

To be continued…