Drive to Kuantan

Another 5 AM wake up call.  I guess if I get used to this I have just added 3 hours to my day to do something with...although I would choose sleep if I could.  Luckily today we do not have anything planned except to drive Kuantan, the next stop on our Malaysia tour.

But first breakfast.  I haven't taken any photos of breakfast at the resort because it is basically eggs, toast, fruit, etc. that is all very good.  But the highlight of the meal is the banana pancakes.  This isn't the flat pancake with banana in it.  It is a pancake stuffed with banana and is so good.  Here it is in all its glory.  Oh...on the side is a piece of Apam Balik, a sort of chewy pancake with corn and peanuts on the inside layer...also, very good.

After breakfast we went back to the room to pack.  How did I manage to get most of my clothes dirty only 5 days?  I guess that's what having super hot days with non-stop sweat does.  Luckily we have a washing machine in the apartment we are staying in tonight.

Oh...when I paid for the breakfast buffet (30 MYR => $6.82 USD for Tim and I), I noticed I had one of each Malaysian nots and thought I'd take a picture.  The scenes on the back are pretty nice.

Today we are driving to the east coast of Malaysia to the town of Kuantan.  But first we have to stop in Jerantut to drop Kim Mei and Winslow off at a bus stop so they can go back to Kuala Lumpur.

But first...let's eat.  We were lucky enough to find a dim sum restaurant for lunch before the drop off.  It was delicious...and the total price for 6 of us was 140 MYR => $34 USD.  Back home, a meal like this would have easily cost over $100 USD and probably wouldn't have tasted as good.

Of course we had to finish off the dim sum meal with sesame balls...one of Tim and my favorites.  These were balls before they were cut in half to all for sharing.

We dropped off Winslow and Kim Mei (don't worry...we will be seeing them again when we return to Kuala Lumpur in 3.5 weeks) we headed east towards the South China Sea.  But wait...are we headed east?  We entered a toll road and when I looked at the GPS it was saying that we had more time than I thought to get there.  Oops...I got on the toll road the wrong way and am now headed west.  No big deal...I will just get off the next exit.  Except, the next exit isn't for 30 kilometers (19 miles)!!!  Oy.  The only good thing is that we were not in a hurry and gas only costs $1.77 USD a gallon.  Anyway, 40 minutes later we were back to the point of the wrong turn and actually heading west.

Along the route we spotted a fruit stand so pulled over.  Peter and Susan headed in and can back with a variety of local produce.  These will be great to snack on in our rental apartment.

Mangos

Plums from Thailand

Long-on

Rambutan

Speaking of our rental apartment....check it out!!  Welcome to the east coast of Malaysia on the South China Sea.

We finished the day by taking a Grab (Uber) to a seafood restaurant.  We were originally going to one, but the Grab driver told us that the place we were headed was expensive and for tourists, so we changed the destination to the his suggestion, Aloe Akar, a very popular local Chinese restaurant that specializes in seafood.

The shrimp, squid, and vegetable dishes were great.  As a matter of fact, I couldn't get enough of the sauces the shrimp and squid were cooked in.  I pretty much licked the plate.  The red snapper, however (bottom left photo) wasn't the best.  Peter called the taste "muddy".  Total cost for this meal was 158 MYR => $36 USD, of which 38 MYR => $8.60 USD was the Tiger beer.

After dinner we returned to the apartment, ate some of the awesome fruit Peter bought, did a load of laundry, and called it a night.  I was able to blog for about 30 minutes before calling it a night.

I am actually now finishing this blog the next morning looking out the window at the view of the South China Sea...not too bad.

​Oh yeah...I have some great news.  On the way to the apartment we stopped at a mall and I bought a brand-new iWatch 8.  Isn't it beautiful!