Pengkalan Gawi in the morning: A very calming atmosphere.

Pengkalan Gawi is located at the edge of Kenyir Lake in Terengganu. It is a gateway to explore the man-made lake with hundreds of island. There are many attractions to this lake: waterfalls, bird park, herbal garden, aquaculture, chalets and government rest house, fishing etc.



View from the lakeside.



Mist in the morning.



Mist seems to obscure the hills.



A calming Pengkalan Gawi.



Mature trees at Pengkalan Gawi.

If you are interested to experience this atmosphere, come in the morning to Pengkalan Gawi. You can either go through Kuala Berang or from Kuala Ping towards a new Kuala Berang-Gua Musang road. Happy travelling.



Sura Gate: Dungun's bustling urban area

Sura Gate is fast becoming an urban area for Dungun District. It is a new urban centre with many commercial establishments. It is 4km from Kuala Dungun, the old town centre. Sura Gate gets her name due the railway gate that open and close when the train which brought  iron ore from Bukit Besi to the port passes this area.

The area is just 500metres from Kuala Terengganu-Kuantan main road. So the development shifted here to take advantage of the main road. The banks and government office like Police and hospital are located  along this main road too.

There is a parallel beach road which links Kuala Dungun to far end until you reach the forest reserve near the Uitm campus. This road to me is a breath-taking since it is parallel to the sea coast with casuarina trees where you can see the sea.  Lots of food stall along this beach road. 

Next time you are in Kuala Dungun, visit Sura Gate for lunch and turn to the beach road to get a good view of the sea. I bet, you will like it. Happy travelling.

Bandar Al Muktafi Billah Shah: A gate way to interior Pasir Raja

Bandar Al Muktafi Billah Shah is a town situated in the interior of the Dungun District. In the early 1970's, this town was a forest. It was a planned town in the 1980's by the government of Malaysia to develop the interior region of Central Terengganu.

Formerly known as Durian Mas, it was later renamed as Bandar Al Muktafi Billah Shah in the 1980's. It is the headquarter of the Central Terengganu Development Authority (Ketengah). The town is modelled after the New Towns of Britain, however due to its agricultural economy, it cannot follow what was  practised in Britain.  The Central Terengganu Development Authority is the custodian of this town.

The town is close to the main road Jerangau Jabor. You can see this town when you travel this Jerangau Jabor road. It has public facilities like bank, hospital, police station, fire brigade office, mosque, hall, schools, shops, park and certainly residential areas. The main employment comes from the public sector where  they (public servants)  work in hospitals, schools, and government offices.

This town is  a gate way to Pasir Raja, an interior village bordering Terengganu and Pahang. Pasir Raja is really rural and has a few homestay for the public to enjoy the rich bio-diversity of the area. 

When you pass this township of Al Muktafi on your way to Kuantan or Kuala  Terengganu,  you will see miles and miles of oil palm plantation. Oil palm trees are planted for its oil which can be processed to make cooking oil, soap, margerine, and other products.

If you like to visit this town, you have to take the interior road Jerangau Jabor road. It is a mid way between Kuantan and Kuala Terengganu. Happy travelling.

Ramadan and Shawal in Terengganu: A Nice Activity to Experience

In this posting, I like to tell about how citizens of Terengganu  welcome the month of Ramadan (the muslim fasting month) and celebrating the first Shawal. In the month of Ramadan, Muslims in Terengganu were observing their fastings and pray solat terawih at local mosques.

Virtually all mosque holds program  breaking  of fast, congregational prayer, Quran recitation and Khatam Quran (finished reading the quran in a month), and qiamullail (praying at 3-4 am in the morning). Key mosques importing their imams from Saudi Arabia, Egypt or from Mahaad Tahfiz to lead the prayers. These imams recite Quran in their prayers and it will complete by end of Ramadan. "Majlis Menamat" (celebration of finishing the Quran recital 30 chapters) is normally done on the 17th Ramadan. This day is a public holiday in Terengganu.

Many people donate their food or money for the breaking of fast program. Some mosques offer take away rice porridge (bubur lambok) to the people.  Beside the mosque programs, the Ramadan Bazaar mushrooms. The bazaar sells variety of food, cakes, drinks etc. They are all located in the main residential areas or existing markets.

In this month too, ladies started to make kueh (candy, biscuits etc) to be used during the Raya celebration. Some even make business, selling kueh. The 30th day of fasting, people are busy buying and preparing for the day celebration of Hari Raya where there is no more fasting and everybody celebrates the first Shawal. The Terengganu folks prepared variety of food to serve their guests (neighbours and familiy and friends).on the day of Shawal.  So, the towns and cities will be jammed with traffic where people went on shopping spree to buy those ingredients or buy last minute on other items. 

At night of the Hari Raya eve, most houses are lit with oil lamp or colourful lights. This brings cheerfulness to the surrounding. Some even went further, burning the fire crackers and fireworks.

The next day, the first Shawal, the prayers are held at all mosques in the morning around 9 am.This time you can see many people flocking to the mosque (with children too). They came with beautiful new clothes. After the prayer, everybody escapes in thin air and the visiting family and friends start. By 10 am, the mosque will be deserted as everybody is visiting friends and families.

The first day of Raya is special. The mood is happiness and cheerfulness, meeting "lost" and "long time no see" friends and families. It is a hectic day if you want to visit all family and friend's  houses. You need to plan properly. This is the day when everybody has to end his fast.

The houses are really open. You can see people walk in groups and visit their neighbours and family members. Since you have to visit many houses, each visit is a very short visit. Some times you even do not bother to eat or drinks at their houses. However, this day most houses will have something to eat depending on the ability or capability of the owner. These include rice (of many types), pudding, ketupat (gluten), rendang, lemang (gluton), laksa, sate (grilled) and nasi himpit. The dried ones are biscuits, cakes and other tit-bits. This is quite a standard if you visit Terengganu homes at that time. 

Some houses even made official open house during Rari Raya period inviting friends and families. This is normally staggered during Shawal.

If you want to experience this episode, come to Terengganu during this time and you can appreciate better. I am sorry this episodes have no pictures. Happy travelling.

Turtle Sanctuaries: Terengganu has the most

Turtles are sea animals that are unique to Terengganu. From the past history, Terengganu is well known for turtle landing place due to its clean sandy beaches. The coast of Terengganu becomes popular to these turtles and they are willing to come and lay their eggs. Scientists had been  monitoring these turtles and they found these turtles travel very far (as far as Hawaii). Statistically, the arrival of turtles are declining despite the conservation efforts.

The Department of Fisheries has established  turtle management and conservation centres. They are located in Rantau Abang and Ma Daerah in Terengganu, Cherating in Pahang, Pengkalan Badak in Malacca, Pulau Tinggi in Johor, Segari in Perak and Kerachut in Penang. The one at Rantau Abang is accessible from the main road near Dungun in Terengganu.

The department also established 4 turtle sanctuaries (all in Terengganu). They Ma Daerah, Chagar Hutang (Redang), Che Keling (Redang), and Mak Kepit (also in Redang).

With the establishment of management and conservation centres and sanctuaries, it is hope issue pertaining to turtle can be resolved. If you are interested in this turtle conservation, you can visit these centres and sanctuaries. Happy travelling.

Marine Parks of Terengganu: Need to protect them at all cost

Marine parks in terengganu is governed by the Fisheries Act of 1985. These parks are located around 2-3 nautical miles off the oceanic islands in Terengganu. These parks have one of the best coral reefs in the world and they are beautiful too. The objective of the parks are to afford special protection to aquatic flora and fauna and protect the natural breeding grounds and habitat of aquatic life, allow for the natural regeneration of aquatic life, promote scientific study and research, preserve and enhance the pristine state and productivity and regulate recreational activities to avoid irreversible damage to its environment.

Those days, marine parks are under the jurisdiction of Fisheries department. now a new department , Marine Park Department is formed to manage and control these parks. 

All marine islands in Terengganu are gazetted as Marine Parks. They are Pulau Perhentian Kecil, Pulau Perhentian Besar, Pulau Susu Dara, Pulau Redang and surrounding islands, Pulau Kapas, and Pulau Tenggol. Key islands are actually Redang, Perhentian, Kapas and Tenggol.

Many tourists visited these islands and many involve themselves in activities like scuba diving, snorkelling etc. Now it is found that the reef conditions are in decline as a result of activities like water pollution, coastal reclamation, boat anchoring and ocean warming and coral bleaching.

If you are marine park scientist or love these islands, please help Terengganu and Malaysia to protect these  marine parks from deteriorating by educating visitors not to engage in activities that  are detrimental to the  sustainability of these marine parks. If you want to visit these parks, they are accessible from Kuala Besut (Perhentian), Kuala Terengganu (Redang), Marang  (Kapas) and Kuala Dungun (Tenggol). Happy travelling.

Road Side Tree: A Town Image Enhancer

Many towns and cities have trees of many varieties. Here in Kuala Trengganu, there many road side trees that are planted to enhance the beauty of the city. The trees include casuarinas, cinnamon iners (kayu manis), etc.

Casuarinas are lined making it looks cool and relax. This road is at Batu Buruk beach.

I found a good stretch of road side trees that has appeal  is along Jalan Sultan Mahmud at Kuala Ibai junction to the city centre.