A day out in Penyabong (6th March 2017)

IMG 5461


On this day, we joined Hanis Harun on a day trip to Penyabong, just north of Mersing, and started off by visiting a local Government school at which her company, Radiant Retreats, does community outreach work. This school is located nearby to the Sukalayar Resort where Hanis runs some of her activities. She asked Lawrence to make a short video of the classroom activities. Here we see a classroom of young children learning English. There were just ten children in this class, so everyone could get the attention they needed from the teacher.

IMG 5462IMG 5463















Next, it was lunchtime so we headed to the Hentian Bendang at Selera Kampung (along Jalan Air Papan). This restaurant is in the middle of the rice paddy fields and we had a delicious self-service buffet lunch and freshly squeezed fruit juices, followed by fermented tapioca (one of Hanis’s favourite desserts!). The view of greenery from this restaurant, the pleasantly warm breeze, and the tasty food, make this a place to return too!

IMG 5466IMG 5467
IMG 5468


After lunch, it was time to return to the Sukalayar Resort to wait for Hanis’s team to arrive from Janda Baik. They would be running camps this week and needed to do some repair work and show the new team members around before the clients arrived. So, we made use of this time for Lawrence to practise flying his drone. In the process, we were joined by another drone flyer who was also taking adventure of the clear beach area here to fly his drone.

IMG 5470


Drone 1


Drone 2

As you can see, the beach here is of grey sand which goes on forever. But sitting in the lounge area of the Sukalayar Resort, you mostly see the sea, not the sand, and feel the breeze, and it is most relaxing and very pleasant indeed. 


IMG 5471

But then the Radiant Retreats team arrived and it was time to head further north along the coast of Tanjung Resang to Hanis’s beach. Being the end of the monsoon season, the beaches have a lot of debris blown in from the sea. So our task was to help pick up all the non-biodegradable items for proper disposal. In addition to finding discarded fishing nets, plastic bottles, a chair, and many many single shoes, we came across this spider with its egg sack living in a discarded drink container.

IMG 5472















Having done our bit for the environment, we headed home with the promised reward of waffles in Kota Tinggi. Sadly waffles were off the menu! 

Still, a day out with Hanis is always full of surprises, and we hope to have many more!



Click here to return to Travels in Malaysia 2017

Click here to return to Helen Gray’s homepage.


© Helen Gray 2021