Drive to Kuala Terengganu

We woke up, showered, packed, and ate our ramen noodle bowls.  They were quick and easy to make and will hold us over until we can find something better to eat on the road.  Which, after about 1 hour of driving we came across these stands on the side of the road...just what we were looking for.

There were about 10 stands making Lemang, a traditional food made from glutinous rice, coconut milk, and salt,.  I is cooked in a hollowed bamboo tube coated with banana leaves in order to prevent the rice from sticking to the bamboo.

Peter decided on some pickled fruit...I know...I don't get it either, especially since we have been buying fresh fruit every day.

After walking up and down the row, we decided to buy the side dishes from one stand and the Lemang from another.  The seller using a knife to cut open the bamboo and slides out the sticky rice filled banana leaves.

By chance, where we pulled over was a closed restaurant that had a table close to a parking area.  We spread our findings on the table and dug in.  From left to right we have some kind of dried fish powder you can dip the Lemang in, chicken, beef, Lemang, and Pulut Udang (sticky rice filled with dried fish that is wrapped in banana leaves and grilled).  All of this, along with the pickled fruits and a small bag of dodol (candy) was 68 MYR => $15 USD.

Here we are standing around eating our roadside find.

After our snack break, we continued our drive.  We were going to get to the apartment we rented too soon, so we stopped at a beach along the way to take a break.  This beach was in Dungun and looked very nice.

That is until you look closer.  There was a lot of washed up plastic along the beach consisting of a lot of bottle caps, toothbrushes, and lighters, along with many other things.  Very sad :-(

Back to the drive and we finally found a produce stand, so we stopped to stock up with our daily fruit.  Along with dragonfruit as seen below, we bought a couple of pineapples, a watermelon, and a couple of mangos.  Total cost 46 MYR => $10 USD.

We checked into the apartment and then cut up and ate some of the fruit since we were pretty hungry.  We haven't eaten since the Lemang about 4 hours ago.  After relaxing a bit, we decided to find a place for dinner.  We were looking for Ikan Baker (char-grilled fish).  We found a place on google maps that had good reviews that was about 1 mile away.  We figured we could walk along the beach.

We thought we were lucky to find a pathway along the beach, but it soon turned to gravel and was hard to walk on.  Susan decided to take the sidewalk, Tim and Peter stayed on the half-finished sidewalk, and I walked down to the waterside to actually walk on the beach.

Pretty nice beach.

Just me leaving a trail of shoe prints.

We finally made it to Restoran Ikan Baker Pantai Timur.  Unfortunately they don't start grilling fish until 6:30 PM and it was only 5:00 PM, but they said they could fry it which I was pretty happy since I love whole fried fish.  We also picked out some prawns and a squid.

I think the fish is a golden trevally (aka golden kingfish).

And here is all all cooked and looking delicious.  Deep fried squid, sweet and sour fried fish, and prawns grilled in banana leaves.

Everything was delicious, especially the fish.  Is this what sweet and sour sauce is really supposed to be like?  It is not that weird, sweet, orange colored sauce they serve in the United Staes?  All I can say is the fish and the sauce was delicious.  I picked the bones clean.

This amazing seafood dinner for four, which also include some fried noodles, rice, soup, vegetables, and beverages cost 162 MYR => $37 USD...amazing.

On the walk back to the apartment, with our full bellies, we saw many local Malays sitting around with food and beverages ready to eat.  They were all waiting for sunset so they can break their fast.  It was only 6:30 PM when we were walking by, so they all have about 45 minutes to stare at their packages of food and drink until they can partake.

We walked though the market on the way to dinner but it wasn't opened.  It is now, but we are full, so we will just look.

Susan did find Keropok Ikan (fish crackers).  This area is know for making these fishy, crunchy treats, so Susan thought it was time to try it.  It was crunchy, salty, and very fishy.  I think we each took a bite to say we tried it and then tossed the rest of it.  

We arrived back at the apartment, showered, and went to our rooms.  It was about 9:30 PM and I tried to blog, but actually fell asleep sitting up in bed with the computer on my lap.  I guess this wasn't going to happen.  So here I am the next day finishing up the blog.  

Tomorrow we will walk around Kuala Terengganu and see what it has to offer.