On Day 4 (25th July) we decided to skip breakfast today and enjoy a nice lay-in instead. Seems to be a good choice based on Hanis’s reports of the hotel breakfast. From the outside, our hotel looked everything you might expect from a beach hotel, but it did lack a bit of comfort. I spent the morning in the open air lounge working on my laptop, but there were no cushioned seats anywhere; just hard wooden seats and a floor which bounced anytime someone walked by. The swimming pool area was good for children, but lacked any shade for protection from the sun.
I have very pale skin and readily burn in the sun, so while I love sitting out watching the sea, I can only do so if there is shade. And Malaysian beaches typically don’t have much shade! Yes, they have palm trees but they don’t caste much of a shadow. Of course in my history of beach holidays as a child, I never had to worry about sunburn! The photo below shows my Mum and Dad and my sister Diana at the seaside (Felixstowe, Essex, ~1966). The world was black and white then, and we spent our time sheltering from the wind behind a pebble wall. Note that both my parents are wearing woollens. You can see straight away why British people like to holiday in Asia!
The beach here in Merang went on for miles, and for the best views you should watch today’s video as Lawrence flew his drone high up above the hotel. We retired to our room for the afternoon, then met Hanis and her family on the beach at 5:30 pm. By this time, the sun was low in the sky, it was golden hour, hence the colour scheme in the following photos. (The top photos looks towards the sun, and the bottom photo looks away from the sun.)
As you will see in today’s video, I was persuaded to sit in the sea, as is the fashion here. It was remarkably warm and indeed very pleasant sitting there. But the waves were really quite strong so this isn’t really a swimming beach; you do your swimming in the hotel’s swimming pool, then come to the beach to sit in the waves and chat. Lawrence and Hanis, and her children, love swimming in the sea, so here’s some photos of them.
We all decided to drive along the road south towards Kuala Terengganu to find somewhere for dinner. We were joined by Hanis’s eldest daughter and her friend from the turtle sanctuary who were joining us for a couple of days. We saw a roadside stall advertising Ikan Bakar (grilled fish) so stopped there. Apologies for the strange looking people in the photo below, but one is compelled to do something silly to be in our photos!
No-one chose the fresh eels for dinner, but we had some tender squid, white fish, chicken, and the speciality of the house, stingray. The sauce covering the stingray was so fragrant and tasty and the fish was tender and sweet.
All in all, a relaxing day with good company! For a road trip such as this, you need a little break every so often because it is quite tiring driving hours every day. Mind you, there has been a distinct lack of traffic along the roads so far and it is nice to escape the motorbikes of Johor Bahru which are ridden by maniacs.
Click here to return to The Great Malaysian Road Trip.
Click here to read Lawrence Gray’s account of The Day we hit the Beach!.
Click here to return to Travels in Malaysia 2020.
Click here to return to Helen Gray’s homepage.