The drive from Shah Alam to Kulim was a little boring but the light traffic made it unstressful. Since the journey was at night,my family members were asleep as I drove and entertained myself listening to the radio.We arrived at my sisters house in Kulim at around 3 am and managed to catch a little sleep before driving off to Wang Kelian in the morning.
Immigration and temporary permits procedures to enter Thailand were smooth as we prepared them earlier during our brief stop at Gurun RnR. We drove smoothly via Wang Prachan towards highway 406 which would take us to Phatalung and Trang. The smooth road and the view of kampungs and occasion padi fields made driving enjoyable. Mosques are a common sight,a sign that the people of Satun are mainly Muslims.
We had a brief stop in Klong Thom market for a light meal. The food vendors were all muslims albeit not able to speak Malay or English. We managed to get our orders right with just sign language. The food tasted better compared to our vendors food in Malaysia...hmmmmm. We proceeded to Ao Nang and arrived at our accomodation in Klong Eng around 7pm. I didnt record the total miles driven but it was an enjoyable drive.
The first night in Ao Nang had a litle bit of hiccup. My family had only one room wrongly booked and my sisters too. There were ten of us so what now?. The owner of the resort was genourous enough to offer me the surau for my accomodation for the night and promised me there would definetely be a room for me and the boys the next day. We went out for food and a night walk at the Ao Nang beach front and the girls retired to their rooms soon after. The boys in the family continued exploring the resort while I sat for a chat with a friendly Malay/muslim staff late into the night while enjoying free entertainment since there was a blues/reggae club nearby and the music played reached the resort clearly. The club played only up to 1 am in consideration for the no clubbing holiday makers. My brother in law,my sons and I retired in the surau for the night but it was comfortable since it was set up like a room with beds and clean bed sheets and with AC too. What the heck...it was free anyways. The resort belongs to a Malay muslim built in a ex fishing kampong adjacent to the busy Ao Nang. Most of the kampong folks do not go out to fish anymore but are involved in the tourism business instead.
The next day began with our tour of the islands in Krabi. We booked a boat together with a nice family of ten we met in Gurun earlier. We visited two islands and did a little snorkeling but theres nothing to shout about,besides school of fish the corals were dead, in fact our Tioman is much better for snorkelling activities. However the children enjoyed their island hopping and its all that matter.
Back to the chalet in the afternoon and began our eating trips to Ao Nang beach. What else do you eat in Thailand beside tomyam?. Everyone retired early that night and I had a more comfortable sleep in the spacious bungalow together with my immediate family.
We decided to check out on the third day and headed out to Hatyai for the shoppings. Arrived in Hatyai in the afternoon and quickly booked hotel rooms for two nights. Hatyai is a shopping destination for women and they decided to stay two nights hmmmm...there were 6 girls compared to 4 boys on the trip so we were the minority and had to become chaperons for the two days. after enough of shoppings we left Hatyai for the border in the morning and again the immigration complex exit was smooth and efficient. We had lunch at Changloon and proceeded to Kulim via Sungai Petani arriving at 5 pm.
My family spent a night at my sisters house and drove to Kuala Terengganu for my brothers kenduri the next day. We took the mountainous Kulim-Grik-Jeli highway and proceeded to Kuala Terengganu via Machang. Reached Kuala Terengganu at 6 pm and stayed at the Batu Burok Beach Motel for a night. I took my family for a good chapati(roti tempayan as the locals call it) dinner with soup/curry kambing at a famous shop in Jalan Kamaruddin,everyones loved it. The shop relocated to the current location since the old shop at Syahbandar was demolished for development. It was my arwah fathers favourite eating place when we were living in the waterfront city in the 70s. He frequented the shop for its chapati as well as to play a game or two of chess,his favorite game. It always brought streams of beautiful memories whenever I visited Kuala Terengganu.
Home sweet home..
Day 1 - Shah Alam - Kulim
Day 2 - Kulim - Wang Kelian - Pathalung- Trang- Krabi
Day 3 - Island hopping in Krabi
Day 4 - Krabi-Trang-Pathalung-Hatyai
Day 5 - Hatyai shopping spree
Day 6 - Hatyai-Sadao-Bukit Kayu Hitam-Kulim
Day 7 - Kulim- Jeli- Kuala Terengganu
Day 8 - Kuala Terengganu-Kuantan-Shah Alam
