Kuantan, Cherating, Chukai, Sungai Lembing Time Capsule Trip

Yes, all those places in just 4 days from my Christmas 25 Dec till 28 Dec. Although, we only stopped awhile in the first 3 places. We spent 3 days in Sungai Lembing

Say hello to my first Vlog! 




That hat fits perfectly. Hah
Haven't had a road trip in Malaysia for awhile now. 


Our first stop from Temerloh (attended his relatives wedding) was Kuantan, specifically Kula Cakes. We weren't actually planning to go there in the first place but I was craving for some light food and I found this highly recommended place for mango cheesecake. The reviews were all positive and it seems like we just cannot miss this opportunity.

We tried Le Mango Cheesecake and the Red Velvet. Surprisingly they are both not very sweet! The mango cheesecake is out of the world. Not too overwhelming mango flavor with a hint of cheese, a bit salty-ish. It's the perfect combo. Loved the cream cheese from the red velvet too. I wonder what kind of cream cheese they used.

I saw on Facebook that they actually deliver to Shah Alam but I'm not sure about it being a regular kind of thing or just a "some times" kind of thing. It's a good chance to try to order one for yourself if you are living in Selangor! 



Random horses statue with batik wraps I spotted in Limbong Art.

Cherating was next and I was so looking forward to drawing our own batik piece. We went to Limbong Art around 4pm, we were actually quite late because it takes like 3 to 4 hours for the whole drawing and colouring process.

It was very fun and interesting. We made a rough sketch on a piece of paper first and then we had to sketch it again on the cloth. We just did a small one. You can actually sketch it on the cloth if you want to. Then comes the outlining part with wax & cooking oil. This is quite a challenging part because the wax will eventually harden in the wax pen. So, we had to dip it in and out the hot pot for a lot of times. Finally, we get to color it with some dye! 

Channeling his inner artist

He's not actually coloring, he is just posing. Hahaha. See that hadn on the phone. 

Show and tell
After everything was done, the lady boss explained to us what she will do with the piece. She explained that she will boil the cloth with some chemical so that the dye will stay in and also remove the wax. So, we can collect it the next day after it is completely dried.


After everything was done, it was time for dinner. Decided to just eat nearby since the river tour is nearby there as well. The lady boss of Limbong Art recommended Restoran Duyong so we went there. The place is very dark, so no pictures. The food is just mediocre so it's nothing special. 

Some creepy photo we took from the restaurant. 



Onto the fireflies tour at Hafiz's Cherating Activities! We did not made an early reservation. I only called them up after we were finished with out batik drawing. And lucky for us, their last tour was at 8.30pm which is perfect. I was expecting explanation throughout the ride but no.... The tour guide Hafiz was in another boat (there were 4 boats in total) and we were just going up and down the river stopping by now and then to observe the fireflies. I am not sure if this is the norm, but I guess the locals don't really care. But I saw Hafiz was explaining things to the two ang mohs in front of him. 

I did ask the pakcik who was driving the boat some questions and he was kind enough to answer them and explain. So I guess it wasn't all that bad. It turns out the fireflies have a lifespan of 1 month, and they spend most of their time to find their "one true love".... Kidding. But yeah, mostly they just live to reproduce and make more of them. They are pretty to look at though and I was surprised by the numbers because last time I heard there wasn't much fireflies anymore. But it seems like they are doing quite well.


End of Day 1 with my childhood & toys.



Amazed by the amount of water this bottle have. People, you need to hydrate yourself.


Was craving for nasi kerabu suddenly so I made a quick search on foursquare and it lead us to Nasi Kerabu Ayam Bakar. The place is very secluded because it's in a residential area. Fret not, the location of this place is correctly stated in Foursquare. And it's such an awesome find. Unexpectedly delicious. This is a must try! They also sell this fried doughnut thing which I thought was quite addictive. 



Second stop for breakfast, Hai Peng Kopitiam, since we are here, might as well visit it. First of all, it was super crowded and even with plenty of seats, you can still see a sea of people standing around waiting to be seated. This is no joke. Food was almost finish. Everyone sapu-ed everything. LOL. Lucky for me, I manage to take the last nasi lemak from the table. I swear, if I was a second slower, it would have been taken by the other guy standing next to me. Hahaha. Also, manage to take a few kuih muih. Not much really, but at least there's still some left. Things that were recommended in this place is the kopi, nasi lemak, and roti bakar. Your typical Malaysian breakfast. Simple but satisfying. 



Did a little touristy sight seeing at Keropok Cap Intan. We couldn't buy the keropok lekor because he doesn't eat them and I don't specifically like them either. I can't buy it back because it cannot last for long if it is not kept in a fridge. So, we just bought the dry stuff back, namely the chili and un-fried keropok. The makcik was kind enough to let us try their freshly steamed keropok lekor too. It smelled a bit too fishy for me but really grateful that they served some for us to try!


We went back to Cherating to collect our batik piece. While waiting for the family from Limbong Art to open their shop, we went to walk around at the beach nearby the area. Actually, we wanted to go to the turtle sanctuary but unfortunately they were close on Monday. So sad. 

an artistic photo taken by der Mann

collecting seashells


damn feelzzz


Finally, we arrived at our intended place of stay. Time Capsule at Sungai Lembing and we were going to be stuck in this place for two nights. I don't know why I booked two nights. Usually people just stay for a night because they say there's nothing much to do in Sungai Lembing since the waterfall is off limits in December. Huhuhu. But lucky for us, there were many things to eat. We tried many places and we never even eat at the same place twice (except that place that serves tau fu fah). This small town do serve foods that pack a punch!

More pictures of the area below!



The common area if you want to watch TV and use the Wi-Fi

a map for Sg. Lembing reference
The lady boss was kind enough to explain and introduce us to places we can go during our stay. Sungai Lembing is actually a small town, so it's not hard to move around and locate a place!

We decided to visit the museum first, not much about that place. If you love to know more about the history of coal-mining (since Sg. Lembing is actually a famous place for coal-mining in the past), you could give it a visit.

Then we crossed the famous Hanging Bridge of Sungai Lembing, and try the taufufah at the other side of the bridge.




Buy your Sg. Lembing noodles here!
If you ever visit Sungai Lembing, make sure you stop by at these shops. There were two shops opened at the other side of the bridge. Both of them makes noodles and taufufah (and it seems like there's a competition here? Idk). But anyway, be sure to buy loads of noodles back! Because it is SUPER NICE!! Regretted that we only bought 1 packet each (which serves like 6 portions) at the first shop. We also bought loads of things in the second shop, as the aunty is actually selling varieties of products, and she is a damn smart salesperson (as my bf said). We ended up buying coconut oil, lemongrass oil, ginger honey paste, salted fish, mixing sauce, and "dan san"/egg biscuit there. We spent every single last cent we had there. Literally. My wallet kosong on the last day there.  


Random portrait photo. Taken by iPhone 7+. 



On the first night, we went to Hoover Restaurant to try out their famous dishes: tomato noodles, and mango fish. The mango fish kind of reminds me of those Thai-style sweet and sour fried fish. The tomato noodle is surely something that is worth trying! Sg. Lembing's own noodles too! 


Funny story, we actually "saved" our new friend here, Jay who was apparently walking around the empty and dark town in search of food. Now, Sg, Lembing is not where you want to walk around at night because there are limited light source and it's dark af. I'm amazed he walked all the way from the time capsule place to the town at that hour! He came in the restaurant wanting to order some but unfortunately the aunties do not speak English, so we invited him over to eat with us. We were so amazed when he told us that he flew from the Philippines only a few days ago, visited Sekeping Serendah then straight to Sungai Lembing just to visit these retreat places. And he took the bus there! I didn't even know that was possible!!! We are so spoiled by the availability of our parents' car. Hahaha. 

We talked for quite awhile even after going back to the time capsule. Since it's night, it's the perfect time for some shadow play! 




Perfect example of "I don't know what pose I am doing right now" from the both of us


Goodnight
We signed up for a half day tour to the Panorama point near the waterfall but unfortunately there wasn't enough headcounts so it was canceled in the end.

To my surprise, I slept so good there. I don't know why, but I felt so protected in that small space and it was so so so comfortable. Especially when it was raining a little outside, which makes it so much better. It's like listening to nature's playlist on a surround system.


On the second day in Sungai Lembing, we woke up quite late for breakfast and we went to the market to find food. There wasn't much food left actually. There were even some stalls that opens at 4am or so and close by afternoon. Der Mann hat gesagt "This is the place where we can see the largest amount of people in this town". Lol, but he is right though. 

I wanted to eat the egg Chee Cheong Fun but it turns out the old couple from the shop said that they are close that day and also the next day. That means, no egg Chee Cheong Fun. *Sad face*. They were happily eating at the market though, then after that, just chill at their shop (even though they are not open). If you are interested, the ccf place is just opposite the market. They also hang banners of pictures of food that they serve, so it's easy to spot. It's good to visit Sungai Lembing on weekends because most of the shops only open during weekend (because most people return or go there on weekends). 

Back to our longkang lubang for a short rest. 





We also met and made friends with two ladies from KL. It was quite fun to talk to them, it feels like we can talk about anything with them. Haha. We also brought them along to the taufufah place to introduce good food and good place to buy souvenirs back. It's like we are the ambassador or something at a sudden. Haha. #nothardselling #notpromoting #notpaidtodothis 


Lunch at Bak Kut Teh place. Amazeballs. Who would have thought that bak kut teh that is cooked with mountain water would be this good!?!?!? They also serve Siew Yok, which we were told that it's really good as well. We didn't ordered because we didn't know then plus I feel like we ate too much. Haha.  


No tour? No worries. You can hike up the Panorama hill nearby. It's a damn steep hike and it ain't easy I tell ya. It's quite dangerous to hike too especially when it was raining! Well, it did rained in the morning so it makes the hiking trail very slippery. It even rained when we were halfway at the top. That gave us a heart attack but luckily it stopped few mins after. I thought we were a goner if it continued to rain heavily.

Definitely not a good idea to hike without proper attire and shoes (that's what I did, stupid me). 

Halp, I'm dying



Oh look at those clouds... Wait a minute....
"That's when you know.. you're f***ed"


If you ever wondered how a coal mine looks like, this place is probably a good place to go. We did went in the outside area but we did not pay to go into the coal mine. Not really interested plus the entrance fee is around RM16, which I think is not worth. If you ever went to Les catacombes de Paris, nothing can beat that view. 



u get to sit this thing if you pay, and it will bring you into the coal mine.. but you have to walk out. :P


Back to our hole again. Sweated so much after the hike, so we took a nice shower and rested. We also got the chance to hang out and talked to the lady boss of the place. She was very nice and even shared her story about the place, like how they had this idea of time capsule (it was actually her son's idea who is an interior designer), what are their next plans, and even introducing nice food around Kuantan because the family actually is from there. The family is actually planning to open a similar retreat place but this time, using old plane as the exterior! Which is really cool! Will look forward to that in the next few years. 

Napped and waited for dinner. What a simple life we had during those few days. It's like all the bad things in the world is not happening. 


At night, we visited Yong Seong vegetarian restaurant, highly recommended by the lady boss of Time Capsule Retreat. Again, we ordered tomato noodle, fried noodle and fired mushroom. *heart* tomato noodle. The drinks here is DA BOMB. I even ordered 2 Nestlo drinks, it was super "gao". So generous! 



On the last morning, we had our breakfast next to the market. Apparently Wednesday is a no good day. Only one stall was opened at the market and it's not even the stall that serves drinks. lol. So, we tried something else. The nasi kukus. We had some really bad luck though because they served the last rice to the person in front of us, so we had to make do with the normal nasi lemak and also tried the Nasi Minyak (fragrant, I likey). This is actually the same stall that sells nasi kukus in the evening but for those few days that we were there, they did not open because it was always raining, and they don't feel like selling also. LOL. No seriously, if they don't feel like opening their stalls, they don't open. That is the life of a small town. I wonder how they can even make money like this. Maybe they just do it to pass their time. 

That is all for this trip! 

*Did not read and check my grammar, because lazy. Kthxbye*



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