Suria Cherating -The Good, The Bad And The Pretty

Cherating is a popular beach resort on the east coast of Malaysia. A slow, quiet beach town during off-peak season, it is the only beach resort in Malaysia that has a turtle sanctuary.

We had booked a deluxe sea view room with Suria Cherating but when we checked in, we were disappointed at the size and condition of the room. It was small, bare and run down. It felt like a prison cell, totally unlike the photos we saw in its website.

The Bad.....

I felt exactly like how one of my cats felt when she was put inside a carrier....I started yowling and scratching at the bars on the windows.....well, maybe not, but you get the idea. Without wasting a single second, we rushed back down to the reception and requested for a room with a balcony or patio. We had thought the deluxe sea view came with a balcony, based on the hotel's photos, but apparently not. 

The Good.....

The staff were very helpful and friendly, and tried their best to make our stay a happy one by listening to what we wanted from a hotel room. They offered to upgrade us to Terrace with Sea View for only RM20 per night.  

Do you see the lady sitting on one of the deck chairs? Our room is directly behind her. There, at last....a place where I could sit outside the room and read. So peaceful. 

Our room with a patio

I spent many hours outside on the patio, reading my Kindle and drinking cups of tea. Although the furnishings were minimal, it was comfortable and cozy. A place I would like to return to if I visit Cherating again.

And The Pretty.....

The hotel has its own beach, this is the path to the beach

The pool

Baby crabs burrowing tunnels under the sand

Related Posts:

Mangrove River Tour

Watching Turtles Lay Eggs

Resources:

Cherating, Pahang

Mangrove River Tour @ Cherating

Besides turtle watching, another interesting activity in Cherating is the mangrove river tour. The boat leaves daily at 9am and 4pm, and the boat ride lasts 1-1/2 hours, for RM20 per person.

It is managed by the same person who runs the nightly fireflies boat tour. His name is Hafiz, and he can be reached at 017 - 978 9256. Hafiz is full of information on the mangrove trees, the animals and their habitat. [Update: A lot has changed since the pandemic, Hafiz might or might not be running the fireflies boat tour since our country was locked down from March 18, 2020 to April 1, 2022.]

His eyes are exceptionally sharp, and is able to spot the snakes and monitor lizards on the tree branches from afar. Makes me think of anacondas & and Stephen King.....

Me: Are there any crocodiles in this river?

Hafiz: There are, but only at specific season, and this is not it. The mounds beneath the tree stump are lobster mounds.

Hafiz: Lobsters are dug from those mounds, but one has to be careful as there is usually a cobra inside if you dug in too deep.

Attap seed (or palm seed) plant

Back at Hafiz's shop, he showed us the attap seed plants that he's growing. Can you see the little green sprout  inside? Attap seeds, or palm seeds in English, are those sweet, white fleshy seeds added in ice kacang, a Malaysian dessert made of shaved ice, syrup and kidney beans.

Related Posts:

Suria Cherating, The Good, The Bad and The Pretty

Watching Turtles Lay Eggs At Cherating

Resources:

Cherating, Pahang

Watching Turtles Lay Eggs at Cherating

Turtle watching is an experience not to be missed. It's not the same as watching documentaries. Being up close and personal with a turtle (or a few) is a life-changing experience. 

This was the first time we were in Cherating at the right season. You could be picked up at your hotel for RM50 per pax, or you could find your own way to Pantai Teluk Mak Nik (D'Monica Bay) at Kemaman, Terengganu and pay only RM30 per person. We opted for the latter, since Teluk Pantai Mak Nik was only a fifteen-minute-drive from our hotel in Cherating. 

For the fee, you get to watch the turtles laid their eggs and helped to release the hatchlings into the sea. There were four turtles that came to nest on the beach that night. I couldn't take any pictures or video of the "action", the beach was pitch-dark and we were told not to switch on any torchlights so as not to traumatize the turtles in labour. But I managed to take some shots using the night scene mode.

One of the turtles digging the sand to prepare to lay her eggs. I could hear the explosion of breath and quick inhalation as the turtle laboured and expelled its eggs. 

After the turtle has covered its eggs, the ranger removed them and took them to a sanctuary where they will hatch in 40 - 45 days' time. Once hatched, they would be released back to the sea. 

A turtle heading back to the sea after its eggs were laid 

78 eggs from turtle with tag no. 8991, to be handed over to the turtle sanctuary

The turtles we were asked to help release that night were only a few hours old. Some were going in the wrong direction....one even crawled towards me instead of the sea.

One of the hatchlings

Go baby, all the best, hope you make it, and grow into an adult turtle.

The odds are stacked against their survival. Out of one thousand hatchlings, only one or two survive to reach adulthood, at 25 years. They get caught in fishermen's nets, under a boat propeller, or preyed upon by fish, crabs, birds and humans  We can't control the other factors, but we can say NO to turtle eggs and soup. There are many other eggs and meat, why consume turtles and their eggs??!! 

The turtles' main diet are sea grass, seaweeds and jellyfish. When humans indiscriminately discard their used plastic bags at a beach or river, the garbage are carried into the sea. Mistaking the plastic bags for jellyfish, the turtles would eat them and die. So, please dispose your garbage into garbage bins only. Let each of us play a part to help protect our gentle, defenseless turtles.

Related Posts:

Suria Cherating, The Good, The Bad and The Pretty

Mangrove River Tour

Resources:

Cherating Pahang

Things to do in Cameron Highlands

Cameron Highlands is a place you either love or hate. For those who love it, like me, it is an idyllic place to relax and unwind. People who like exciting, happening venues will find Cameron Highlands boring without the hectic, hustle and bustle that a city offers. The locals are mainly farmers and the entire town is asleep by 10.00 pm or earlier. Once, we took a walk at 10pm and the main road was empty of cars and all the shops are shuttered. Compare that to Kuala Lumpur where I'm from, there are still quite a few cars out on the road at the wee hours of 3.00 am and small groups of people dining and chatting at the 24-hour mamak (Indian-Muslim) eateries.

That said, there is plenty to do in Cameron Highlands. Things that you can't do in a fast-paced city. My list is in the order of my personal preference. Yours may be different.

First on my list is be a "farmer". There are farms that let the customers pluck the vegetables and fruits themselves. Ask for a basket and scissors. You're not allowed to pluck the vegetables or fruits with your bare hand for that will damage the plant or tree. 

Since I'm not a shutter-bug by nature, I did not take pictures of all the vegetables and fruits that I had plucked. There is a hybrid fruit called Cameron Highlands Apples whose pictures I took and covered in another post here. 

Cherry tomatoes

My haul

Chili peppers

There are quite a few strawberry farms where you could pick your own strawberries. But be warned that the strawberries in Cameron Highlands are not the big, sweet, juicy ones you're used to in countries with four seasons like the UK or Seoul. They're smaller in size, and some could be rather sour. Sour as in sharp, not sweet and slightly tart. I had to smother them with whipped cream before I could enjoy them.

Second on my list is eating all the scones my stomach could handle! While scones are available in Kuala Lumpur, they are the American version, dry and dense, which some Americans, by the way, called "biscuits". They're eaten on  their own or with gravy. The scones in Britain are soft and fluffy, and eaten with jam and clotted cream. You can get these at Cameronian Inn, Tanah Rata. The ones at Copthorne Hotel are the American version. 

These are the scones I like, the British version

Trivia: How you eat your scones in the UK can tell where you are from. In Cornwall, London, Bournemouth and Isle of Wight, the jam comes first, then the cream. In Devonshire, the cream comes first, then the jam. How does the Queen eat it? Jam first, then cream. How do I eat it? Same as the Queen, of course! Not because I emulated the Queen, but because I had lived in Bournemouth and London for some years.

Third on my list is to just walk aimlessly around, admiring the flora and fauna, and tea plantations. Since Cameron Highlands is cooler, between 16 degrees Celcius on rainy days and 24 degrees on bright sunny days, cooler climate flowers like roses, lilies, sunflowers and birds of paradise thrive here. 

Birds of paradise are quite a common sight in Cameron Highlands

Thunbegia Mysorensis aka Lady's Slippers

Lilies are common in Cameron Highlands too. Tiger lilies, trumpet lilies and striped barbados lilies. Below is a Striped Barbados Lily.

There is a Rose Valley at Tringkap, near Brinchang, which houses hundreds of rose species and cacti. Do drop in if you are a plant or flower enthusiast like me. On the day I visited, there was a sudden rainstorm just after I paid the entrance fee (RM5 / USD1.12). The ticket wasn't refundable so I had no choice but to step inside and get drenched. Still, it was enjoyable, especially when I saw a black rose. No photos were taken as I didn't want to risk damaging my phone.

I've tried persuading my hubby to go again through the years but he wasn't keen. He finds plants and flowers boring.

One of the tea plantations

If you like looking at things in the past, there is a Time Tunnel that you might want to visit. It's a museum in Brinchang. There are lots of memorabilia and junk to ogle over. There was one particular pinned laminated note that caught my attention'. 

It seems there was an unusual weather occurrence on a certain day in the early 1960s. A gentleman claimed that snow fell in a small area at Parit Waterfalls for forty-five minutes. It does NOT snow in Malaysia. If it did, it was an anomaly. That was why the photo and note below fascinated me enough to take a picture of it.

Related Topics:

Where To Stay in Cameron Highlands

Cameron Highlands Apples

Resources:

Cameron Highlands Travel Guide

Book Review: 1222 by Anne Holt

I've never read Anne Holt's work before even though she's a best-selling novelist. That's because she's a Norwegian author, and her novels are all written in Norwegian. So English readers like me are lucky when her eighth installment of The Hanne Wilhelmsen series was translated into English.

After having read Snow by Orhan Pamuk, which was also another translated work, Anne Holt's 1222 is a refreshing change. It draws you in. 

Although it's a crime thriller, it is not one of those action-packed novels that I like. Rather, it is reminiscent of Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes. It focuses more on solving the puzzle of the crime instead of the crime itself. That said, I do like Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes, too, so if there is going to be anymore English-translated work of Holt's, I'd be sure to read them.

1222 is the name of a hotel atop a mountain near a train station. The story begins with a snow blizzard that caused the train to derail. The survivors were rescued and taken to Finse 1222. Snowed in and unable to go home, people started to die. 

Amongst the survivors was a former police detective Hanne Wilhelmsen. Paralyzed from waist down due to a bullet that hit her 12th and 13th vertebrae, she tried to work out who the murderer was from a long list of suspects.

Even though I am more a fan of fast action novels, somehow the narration of 1222 managed to draw me into the story and it was one of those hard-to-put-down books. Imagine this....my nose was buried in my Kindle as hubby and I walked along Jalan Telawi in Bangsar.....