East Coast drive

Monday, June 21, 2004

Dave and Rob Bruce decided on one unusual criteria to select our hotel on Saturday night during our drive up Malaysia’s east coast -  Did the hotel have a wine list, or even serve alcohol?

As they must has suspected, even though they didn’t want to believe it, such hotels are rare on the Muslim heartland of Malaysia’s east coast – but they did find eventually find one (and only one) in our overnight stop of Kuala Terengganu which was prepared to serve them beer, but no wine lists were to be found anywhere.  They even contacted Malaysian colleagues back in KL for tips on where to go.  The response?  Laughter, but no pointers.   So, the Hotel Grand Continental, where at least beer was available, became the automatic choice.

The morning drive across the peninsula to less-restrictive city of Kuantan, our starting point for the run north along the coast, emphasised the need for the government’s motorway building program.  It’s second busiest route in the country, behind only the major north-south motorway, and bears a close resemblance to the Pacific Highway of 20+   years ago: one lane each way most of the way, few overtaking lanes, and long queues of cars and drivers rapidly losing patience behind slow-moving trucks.

One oddity we came across on our drive across the peninsula was a village called ‘New Zealand’.  Kampung New Zealand is only a kilometre off the main road, so we went in to check it out.  The one local we spoke to couldn’t give us a reason for the name, and a quick look on the Internet back here in KL hasn’t helped either.  My best guess is that Kiwi soldiers may have been stationed there during the Communist insurgency of the 1950s.

 (left) MB with Denise Bruce at the signpost entry to Kg. New Zealand’s village school 

Pahang’s state capital, Kuantan,  appears to be a prosperous city, with a couple of decent hotels (complete with wine lists) and a beach which is being rebuilt by dredging and dumping sand (below). 

Teluk Chempedak Beach.  The “grey” sand turns white as it dries.

A quick bite of lunch there, and we were on our way north, crossing the border into the more conservative state of Terengganu.  All the way along the coast, tiny Malay villages had real-estate that with a few more years of development is going to be worth big money, even with the lack of surfable waves.  (The island resorts off the coast here concentrate on diving and snorkelling, and by all accounts, are brilliant for that).

It’s believed the voters in Terengganu, previously under the control of the opposition hardline Muslim party PAS, deserted the party at the last national election because no Federal money had been coming their way for years.  That could well be true – the capital Kuala Terengganu is obviously in dire need of some new funds.

One establishment whose architecture does the State proud is the Muzium Negeri, which to my eye outshines that of the national museum in KL. 

This state museum is an impressive facility: its buildings echo traditional Malay lines,  from its structures at the basic village level to impressive formal buildings.

Dave with Rob and Denise at the striking entry to Kuala Terengganu’s Muzium Negeri.

(above): Looking out from the porch of a Malay village house on display at Muzium Negeri.

(left): State Mosque, Kuantan

(below): “Floating” Mosque, Kuala Terengganu

My original thought that we might make it as far north as Kota Bharu, close to the Thai border, was overly optimistic; our relatively slow progress north made Kuala Terengganu the turn-around point for the weekend.

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