W e & You & A Dog named Benson
Week No. 36
5 September 1999

An annual pilgrimage to look for Kelantan Durian

Well, it is that time of the year now, the Merdeka Holidays! Durians, yes plenty of them will be available from Kijal on the Trenggannu coast to Kuala Krai on the East-West Highway. These places will be flooded with thorny fruits.

So, the original plan called for stopping in Gua Musang for some updates on caves at the fringe of the town [ also to reaffirm -no Rest House! ]

Down to Dabong, a town 6 kilometers away from Stong fall - there to take a reading of the waterfall's height from afar!

The DURIANS, durian and more durian!

Then 1st deviation - we dropped by "Ah Keong" stall at Traun, Raub and tasted some of the best unbranded durians. Plus a lesson on Durian farming when he found out that we were going to Kelantan for durians. His words we found out later, held true as we embarked on a trial to test out his hypothesis!

A town among Karst Hills Gua Musang

 
For this site, these are the very first picture we made of Gua Musang! The Rest house was gone and replaced with a privatized motel.

We had "durian" lunch here together with the regular rice. There are more food stalls are now available in town.
There are plains amidst of the karst hills. So are the scenes that are going to capture. From any angle- there will be the outcrops at the background. 

This one? -is one archway that leads to the motel!

Gua Musang is a fair size town. Typical of a frontier town, a cluster of old shops lot- original "Chinatown" flanked by 2 short roads of 100 meters, formed the commercial center. The big scene? administrative buildings are scattered in gigantic open area.

Visitors coming into town finds nothing to attract their attention on - apart from satisfying their initial need for a stop.

We headed for Dabong. It is a rustic railway town with the turn off from Federal Route 8 some 100 kilometers after Gua Musang. To our disappointment, the signboard shows that the side tracking trip was 58 kilometers each way, making this round trip a 2 hours drive.

The fall back plan was then to check out the Lata Berangin in Kuala Krai. It should not be difficult to find as the road leading to the waterfall turned out to be first-class paved roads. We were also encouraged by the sight of a white streak of a waterfall dropping over 100 feet among the hills far away. Then the villagers confirmed that there are 3 waterfalls - supplying us with directions and descriptions, Berangin, Chongkek and Kak Long.

Instead we could not find any but ended up having durian feast. The fruits were not cheap. We were charged RM1.90 per kilogram. We had in mind RM10 for a bundle of 10-14 fruits. Gone were those days as middlemen from the West Coast were out there in flocks!

Watching flood level at Kuala Krai

 
With our stomachs full and that time of the day didn't allow us to continue on our plan to stay above Stong waterfall.

 We headed for the ferry terminal at Kuala Krai! Here we collected this view of the Bailey Steps now known as Tangga Krai! 

This is the benchmark used in forecasting for the flood warning to the folks in Urban Kota Baharu!
Just coinciding "tea time", we had yet another round of durian feast at the bank of the mighty Kelantan River.
Now a chance to check on the fabled ferry trip from Kuala Krai to Dabong. 

This is a informative ride of 3 hours along the Kelantan River, giving visitors an authentic view of Malaysian Riverside life at snail pace! 

All for the cost of RM5.

There is also the opportunity to visit a truly frontier town of Dabong, a quaint Malay village. One catch though, visitor taking this trip have little choice but to stay in the Jerawang Resort. The return boat ride downstream will be available the next day!

 
An unscheduled surprise awaited us. 

We came upon these houses using bundles of Bamboo trunks as floatation media.

Continuing on our durian trail, we turn south after crossing the northern part of the Peninsula and into Jerteh to hunt for our Lata Tembakah.

With the night closing in, there must be somewhere that we can stay!

Besut New Township Kampong Raja

Yes, Besut- that town with the departure point for Pulau Perhentian. The town named as Kampong Rajah was beyond our imagination!

 
See this ultra modern structure of the mosque.

 

 Kampong Raja is the administrative center for the district.
Like all new township, there's this Spartan row of shops hastily erected to compliment the scattered administrative offices. 

Broad dual carriage main road. 

Again, we could not find any feature worth reminiscing.

We suppose that Las Vegas too, started as a township in the big desert! But a short distance away is the original fishing village of Kuala Besut. Here are the scenes and the characters we are looking for. A compact square township with narrow streets, shops, hawkers center and souvenirs outlets. We chose a beautiful and clean chalet to pass a night. Night life is only "Ikan Pangan"

Touristy Site - Bukit Keluang

Another reason for having chosen Besut, was a trip to that small hills with numerous caverns -

 
Paved walkways and steps attached to the cliff walls take visitors pass the many coves.

Here also a magnificent view of the sandy beach at Bukit Keluang
One of the coves or caves carved out by the tidal actions
Caves that reach deep into the massive stone cliff. Here is another unique sculpture created by the retreating waves. 

It projects an impression of a giant Elephant foot.
A silhouette view taken from within one of the cave

There are 2 special impressions in this site.

 First and obvious scene of the sculptures by tidal action.

Second, the composition of this rock hill. They made up of myriads small weathered river rocks properly compacted. Then it appeared that this bed of compacted rock was up heaved to form a small hill. Now the tidal action is doing its last bit to finish the scene.

 

The whole hill and vicinity is some sort of fossil site!

The Rest House in Setiu

Last of our many other side trips is this one to a Rest House. This is a Rest House outside the town area of Permaisuri in the district of Setiu!

 
This is a bungalow perching on a hill, strategically located beside the highway! 

This hill solitary, is in a remote stretch with no other settlement or commercial plot around.
An extremely beautiful bungalow  - with a swimming pool attached on its right and a outdoor garden on its left!

There are 6 rooms and the rate is about RM70 per day complete with air-condition.
Beside the ambience of a retreat, the compound comes with a magnificent and commanding view of the highway from the north and south!

In this sparsely populated and remote region of Trenggannu, the style and finishing of the Rest House is equivalent to an oasis in a wide desert.

Cherating Beach

At last to tie up the trip, we have decide to try out a tourist beach! This turn out to be disappointing decision. The dinner at Chukai is exceptionally good as the town has upgraded itself. Breakfast near the Black Sand Beach at Kuantan was superb.

As we sleep our long earned rest away in this motel, some one looted, our survival knife and compact camera from our car parked in a porch next to the room. So much for attracting overseas tourist

Khong's Travel Guide

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This page was created on  10th September 1998