Cherating

After our 2 night pit stop in Jerantut which was uneventful, we boarded a bus to Kauntan and then changed to another bus which stopped enroute to drop us off on the side of the expressway as there was no bus service to Cherating as it was such a small village. Using our Maps Me app we walked to our accommodation as there was no taxi's, watching the local macaque monkeys raiding the bins on the way.  We were pleased with our chalet at Eastana Chalets (although it seemed like we were the only occupants in the whole site) which had a kettle and tv with Fox Movies/National Geographic channels - everything else was Malaysian tv.
  Cherating is a faded old beach resort now gone out of fashion so has been gradually decaying over the last 2 decades and is spread out and ramshackle with minimal facilities but has a killer beach with warm shallow sea water to swim in with no coral or rocks and the softest sand you could ever wish for with amazingly no rubbish on it.

                  Trying to avoid the extensive crowds by standing in the sea on Cherating beach.

  We basically had no plan so after we got bored of the beach we looked for action which was limited but found a place that was teaching foreigners how to make tie-dyed clothes so we opted for a t-shirt and after some instructions from a nice Malayan lady set to work on our creation with vigour. The Malayan woman raised her eyebrows at our 'artistic licence' on the design, as I think she found it amusing that we stepped outside the box on her instructions but told us to leave it with her to 'fix the colour' and return in 24hrs when it was dry.



 
       Purple was always going to be a key ingredient in the fashion stakes when Kathy got involved.



  We then went on a wander around and bumped into a troupe of monkeys who Kathy fed fruit to them that we picked off a tree previuosly which they particularly liked and when it had run out, they started getting aggressive towards her so we scarpered off to then find monitor lizards crossing the road and horn bills squabbling up in the trees. We saw more wildlife here than we had seen in the jungle on our previous stop of Taman Negara.
  Next was a guided firefly tour we took at night on the river in a boat which was better than I expected as we saw hundreds of them floating around us as the guide had a technique to 'call them' over to us. It was like something out of a Disney cartoon as they floated above our heads.
  Next day we rented a 2 person canoe to go on a river safari and were rewarded with sights of a massive jellyfish, monkeys,otters, swimming monitor lizards in the mangroves and strange fish that could propel themselves out of the water and skim above the water of the river for a long distance scooping up bugs before diving back down. Also we saw a kingfisher in action diving off branches and catching fish.

              Even the younger monkeys were surprised to see such an amazing t-shirt design team                                                                             walking down their street.


  There was a lack of places to eat here so we just frequented the local side of the road style places which is the same old rice and noodle combos that we had become accustomed to but now bored of. They lack any imagination on the dishes. So far we have been really disappointed with the Malay food. It's a cross between Chinese and Indonesian centered around rice and tends to be bland in flavour and far too greasy and their idea of flavour is just to give you a pot of tomato chili sauce and you are expected to get on with it. Still, the food is amazingly cheap and we could most evenings get by using local places (that looked like botulism as a side dish) and manage to get a good belly full with drinks for around £3 between us. I guess by now our stomachs have adapted to the various bacteria that accompanies each meal in each country and after 3 months so far have had no ill effects. (touch wood!)
  One highlight was finding a cafe that served up unbelievably an American breakfast that I ordered for lunch one day and I could not believe how good it tasted to have western food again after eating rice and noodles for the last 3 month. In England I would have baulked at it for being poor! Oh how attitudes change when you're on the road.
  We went back to pick our t-shirt up which in the honour of Asian time keeping was not ready for us to collect so we had to go back later in the day after another afternoon on the beach. You get used to these diversions on time keeping here and as long as you keep things flexible and relaxed it actually enriches the day but in the end was worth it as we were thrilled with the results.

   It was only fair to hire a top model to display this amazingly designed catwalk garment to do it                                                                                     full justice.


  We then booked bus tickets with a travel agent who we got talking to for an hour about life and travelling adventures as the bus does not stop here so we will have to walk back to the highway and wait on the road for a passing express bus to stop. Next stop Kota Bharu.