Thursday, December 09, 2010

Kuantan At Last!

It's been a while since the highways were built from KL to Kuantan and KS and I have been talking about visiting this beach town for ages. 

Our opportunity came when my Alor Setar friend who has made Kuantan his home was getting married there. My old circle of friends decided to invite ourselves and host a get-together there. Unfortunately, KS had to go to Warsaw, Poland at that time so he didn't make it.

And so it began. The planning was done by Ch'ng who works in Hong Kong. Across the sea and via all means of communication, he organized us a total of 9 rooms, coordinating with all of us from Myanmar, Singapore, Alor Setar, Klang Valley and Sabah.

Eight of us rented a Hyundai Starex which accommodated us and our luggage most comfortably. I sat at the back row and the drivers' seat looked a long way off, or like Ch'ng said, "In another postcode". And the boot was surprisingly big too!
The amazingly large boot space
Ok, so much about our mini bus, when we arrived in Kuantan, the first thing we noticed was that the road signs were unusually large. Check out the signboard compared to the motorcyclist. We wondered if Kuantan is full of people who can't see very well. But it's a good idea, most road signs in the Klang Valley are too small to be read or hidden behind some trees.

We stayed at Vistana where I shared a room with Josie. Very nice pillows!


Needless to say, we had a blast of a time, eating, sleeping, visiting the two main places in Kuantan which were Tanjung Lumpur and Telok Cempedak for food and sight-seeing. We hunted for ikan bakar on the first night so we were directed by the concierge to go Tanjung Lumpur.



The devastation after our meal. For the rest of the trip, no meal could top this so I didn't take any photos. But we enjoyed the local kuih and the laksa Pahang. Lemak but I loved it.

The church wedding went well, a great message preached on Ecclesiastes 4:12. It was also here when I realized how small the world is. I greeted my parents Alor Setar church friends who also made this trip and was introduced to one of their husbands after learning where I was working.
The Alor Setar church friends

See that man with the thick mop of grey hair? He's one of the senior managers in my company who recently refused to sign my working paper. Turns out, he knows my dad too. And this is the first time we're meeting. But he's a sweet guy and I couldn't help but warm up to him.

Ok, here are more photos of the trip. Got to know one of my friend's spouse better. They are both settled down in Sabah. Turns out my father-in-law knows her family as they are from Masjid Tanah, Melaka.
"The joint in her finger grew overnight!" Kin Hup blaming his nervousness on trying to fit the ring.
Josie, me and Nadia

Fuen, Shie Lee, Josie and me

The most complete picture of the entire gang

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