aka cawan tengkujuh, has finally ended. altho we didn’t stay too long to see who won in the end.
the drive to kuala terengganu was as long as expected. we left at 4pm on friday and arrived at 12 midnight. altho the estimate was based on old road conditions (i.e. no highway), we were kinda on the slow side with the usual trunk road traffic. and we stopped twice for dinner and supper. can’t stop the eating!
we stopped for dinner abt 6.30 at maran, just before reaching kuantan. uncle jimmy was planning to go to a place he’s familiar with in town, but we saw a buncha cars grouped around two establishments near the highway exit and decided to be adventurous. it didn’t kill us, but it wasn’t the best of decisions. while there were many cars parked around the area, the actual no of ppl eating was very scarce. the food wasn’t too great, and the price doesn’t quite fit the quality.
so note to self: avoid eating near highway exits. unless you really know how good it is.
food: mee soup, for my aching throat. milo panas.
at around 10pm, we stopped by another place in kerteh for supper. just another one of those road side stalls for locals and travelers. food wasn’t so great either.
food: not so even roti telur and very flat curry. teh tarik.
we checked into our hotel, KT beach resort at 12am. Looks like a remodeled dorm house of sorts. the hotel is by the beach, next to grand continental. originally we booked 3 twin share rooms, but since our distinguished guests couldn’t make it, the family decided to squeeze into one room, and allow uncle jimmy his own space.
the hotel looks newly painted, but the construction work looks old, especially the inside. hot water is not available in the room, and has to be picked up from the lobby. i don’t think they have room service either. at least they have astro movies in room, and newspapers in the lobby. and a water heated shower. rm65 a night… so it isn’t bad if you’re on a budget.
the night’s sleep wasn’t so good. it’s always bad with another set of skinny bones. at least it was 3 persons on 2 beds instead of 2 in 1. anyways, we got going at 8am and headed towards pulau duyong where the event was being held. KT is a pretty small town, so finding the place, thanks to directions from hotel staff, was easy.
we drove up to the club entrance just to check out if anything’s happening, then turned back out to a stall nearby. this was an even more kampung stall than yesterday, but there were lots of people there, including lots of police outriders. if the police find it good, then it must be. i think the stall just serve drinks, while food is provided for by locals who just drop off the food at the stall to sell. we started off with the local nasi dagang, somewhat oily and glistening, and tastes something like nasi lemak but different somehow. i’m not a chef so i can’t really describe it, but eaten with fish curry it tastes great! problem was, my packet didn’t come with any fish. 😛
food: nasi dagang packet w/o fish. fish curry. milo panas. ubi rebus.
after that we drove ourselves into the complex. we got stopped by the guard, but he let us thru. maybe we looked like the sailing type, or maybe the Lexus Harrier i was driving was good enough to enter the 2nd tier parking. the surrounding area is bare, with development work still in progress. from what i heard, they started construction on the club only 4 months ago, and while the architecture looks nice.. it looked rushed and there were still areas that haven’t been completed. bare + hot = sakit. but from a development point of view, it should look better for next year’s event.
besides the club, we also saw some very nice chalets that have been built. probably no one will be staying in those places yet due to the bareness, but they look nice and elegant. traditional design, but with a somewhat glossy feel.
further away was a carnival or fair of sorts, probably to attract the masses to the event. they had 2 ‘ghosts houses’. one called biohazard (no relation to the hit game series) and the other.. ghost house. the ghost house caught my attention, because on it was painted a Warcraft Orc, the one u usually see on World of Warcraft ads. 😛
in front of the main complex itself, were displays of BMW’s latest cars and bikes. they’re one of the main sponsors. the VIP cars used to shuttle guests to/from wherever were also 5-series cars i believe.
the ground floor of the complex wasn’t so interesting. there was the service counter where we got our guest tags, and a small cafe, a small display of the treasured monsoon cup, and an Osim booth. with lots of iGallops. from there it was easy access to the harbor for a closer look at the race, and the exhibition hall housing some of the local products, boatmakers, sunken treasures and stuff.
the first floor was restricted access to guests only. there were lots of cushy sofas for people to relax and enjoy the show with commentary via properly placed plasma TVs. free NST too. however, this perk was shortlived, when they decided to cordone the area off for VIPs only. bozos. on the same floor we also had the participant’s gym and lounge.
the second floor was for media only. equipment and newsrooms and all that stuff. i’d say the commentary was done really well. they were able to make the racing much more interesting with their excited tones and their satellite imagery, as well as live interviews with race officials on the water.
from the harbour we also got restricted access to the pontoon, where the yachts were berthed when they’re not racing or out on the water. from here i managed to get pretty good shots of the action close to the windward mark.
malaysia had a team taking part, but since they were newbies in this kind of event, they didn’t do very well, and therefore couldn’t make the quarter final. we welcomed them back to shore with hearty grats anyways, and they took the time for some last photo shoots with the media. most of our sailors were actually my juniors back in the day, but they’re still going strong in the sport. ppl from my generation, like myself and ryan tan, have somewhat retired. but a comeback sure sounds like fun.
after that we regrouped at another building housing a restaurant and the main hall for free buffet food. the main entrance is a flight of steps heading straight for the restaurant on the first floor, while the main hall, where George Benson was supposed to have performed at night was another floor higher. the food was great, and the f&b staff, culinary arts students from the Dungun UiTM campus, did their jobs well.
food: western/local fusion spread. yummie.
we didn’t stay long, because we had to sort out our new accommodation arrangements for the night. part of the m’sian team were leaving for phuket for the king’s cup, and had a flight to catch that night. so we took the opportunity to take over their rooms at the continental, since they’ve been paid for anyhows. actually there were some confusion because supposedly the media had asked them to stay (and probably some sailors with their mates want to use the room for another night :P) but the adults stomped their feet and made them take their flights back to KL. if they were to drive back the next morning, they will not be able to make their flight from KLIA.
for dinner we met up with my colleague, Sharman, who was in town for the weekend. he was pretty late, and kept reviewing our meeting plans, but at least he took the time to meet us. he brought us to this place on the way to KT airport, where the nasi dagang was very nice. they also had jumbo juice, with huge glasses for groups of people for rm35! but besides the usual, there wasn’t much variety, nor were we able to find rare terengganu delicacies like sotong sumbat. the normal satay wasn’t so bad.
food: nasi dagang. satay ayam. jus durian belanda. keropok lekor.
after dinner, we decided to just get lost in town and see if there were any interesting things to see. we had already planned to skip the club dinner event anyway, just to savor the local delicacies a bit, which we had. we drove around in the old part of KT town, not seeing anything in particular.
and just as we were abt to sleep, the boom of fireworks, obviously meant for people at the club, shook us out of bed. we’re pretty used to this kind of displays from our condo balcony, but this one was really good.
on sunday we were back at the club for a quick second breakfast and to catch a glimpse of the semi finals. we managed to shake hands with the PM, and saw other prominent figures like Datuk Michelle Yeoh and her bf/fiance Ferrari boss Jean Todt. Also there was sports minister Azalina Othman. We didn’t see Khairy though, who was here the day before.
food: more buffet!
winds throughout the entire weekend was unpredictable, and not as strong as we’d expected. at one point there wasn’t any wind altogether, and with the strong river current it was a pain to watch this one particular race. but the event had its good moments, when winds were up to 10-15 knots.
the probably should move the event down south a little. we were battered by rain and heavy winds both on our drives up and down. 😛
before heading to the club, we actually went around looking for the stall that was fined for charging rm45 for nasi dagang. we got a few pointers, but still didn’t find it. guess that Sharman was more of a KL boy than a KT boy. we settled for another kedai along the route back to Kuantan.
food: nasi kerabu. chicken curry. spiced fried chicken. milo panas.
after breakfast we stopped by the pasar besar near the hotel for my mom and uncle jimmy to shop for souvenirs. i’d have thought that only my mom would be buying stuff, but the uncle also joined in. and i ended up getting two batik shirts too. so infectious!
so that was our trip to KT. on the way home we stopped again at maran for dinner at uncle jimmy’s more familiar restaurant, and with better visibility we made it back to KL in 7 hours.
food: ayam masak lemak. ikan bakar w/ budu. daging cincang. sambal tempoyak. ulam. teh limau panas.
pics up later. need to reinstall all the software back onto the PC.