Fact Lives Up to Fiction on Malaysia’s East Coast

For years I had longed to go to the east coast of Malaysia.

Friends in Singapore spurred me on by praising the region’s spectacular beauty and magnificent beaches. The food is superb, they said, raving about the satay in Kuantan and the seafood almost anywhere. My own romanticized image was inspired by the public television series based on Nevil Shute’s novel, “A Town Like Alice.” In that World War II drama, British women were marched from Kuala Lumpur to coastal Malaysia by the Japanese, and spent the duration of the war in a Malay village somewhere between Kota Baharu and Kuantan. It was an engrossing story, and the lush tropical settings fueled my fascination.

In such a place, I thought, one could escape the tourists who clog Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong, get in touch with genuine Malay culture and lounge on isolated beaches lapped by gentle, warm waves.

As it turned out, this daydream was an accurate forecast of what I experienced during a two-week journey last year. From Singapore, I went by train to Kota Baharu, the capital of Kelantan state, which borders Thailand. From there I worked my way 435 miles south through the states of Terengganu, Pahang and Johor to the city of Johor Bahru at the tip of the peninsula, adjacent to Singapore. Travel on the east coast is surprisingly easy because public transportation is plentiful and inexpensive. Only one road skirts the coast, so it’s impossible to get lost.

Although I went during the Easter holiday, it was easy to find places to stay. Well-publicized resorts such as Desaru, which is close to Singapore, and Pulau Tioman, which is farther north, are likely to be crowded during holidays, but I kept to the cities and smaller resorts.

Accommodations and transportation are a bargain--I paid as little as $2 for a room and never more than $25. Malay is the main language, but almost everyone speaks English. A few words of Malay, though, will do wonders to promote goodwill, so one should take along one of the excellent phrase books that are available in bookstores in Singapore and Malaysia. The time to go is April to November, which is a pleasant dry interval between drenching monsoon rains.

Kota Baharu, my starting point, is an appealing small city with a colorful central market and a three-storied bazaar, Buluh Kubu, that is filled with batik, basketry, handmade silver jewelry and other crafts. For $4 to $6 each, I picked up several sarongs, which came in handy as beach coverups and beach mats. Back home, they make striking tablecloths.

Kota Baharu is noted for its food. Because it’s so close to the Thai border, there are lots of Thai dishes. The spicy Thai soup, tom yam , is dished up at many food stalls, often with noodles or rice added. A Malay specialty is ayam percik, grilled marinated chicken basted with thick coconut sauce.

The most interesting place to eat is the night market. By day, it’s a car park. At night, the food stalls take over. One sits under the stars at a table neatly covered with oilcloth and equipped with a pitcher of water. Malay custom is to eat with the right hand, and the water is for rinsing off, not drinking. A dinner of noodle soup, ayam percik, yellow rice, spicy cabbage salad and a large glass of orange juice was about $3.

Leaving Kota Baharu one morning after a leisurely breakfast, I missed the bus to the next town, Kuala Terengganu, and so took a taxi, sharing the ride with passengers picked up along the way.

Terengganu is so small that I toured it easily on foot. From my hotel, the Seri Hoover, it was a short walk to Jalan Bandar, a curving street of picturesque old buildings that is Terengganu’s Chinatown. Bustling restaurants and shops gave way to residences, and the street ended at the city market. Continuing on along the banks of the Terengganu river, I came to stalls selling a wide variety of Malay sweets and stopped at one for a cooling drink of fresh sugar-cane juice, served in a plastic bag with a straw.

A great deal of batik is made in Terengganu, and the city market incorporates a seemingly endless hall of fabric and clothing shops. The prize fabric is songket, which is ornately woven with gold or silver threads. A length of songket , wrapped about the hips, is part of a Malay man’s dress costume. The cost of such a length is about $35. I bought a smaller piece to use as a table runner for $9. Look also for locally made brass utensils and ornate metal belts from Thailand. (A roughly made brass ladle was about $2, and a Thai metal belt was only $1.20.)

Nine miles south of the city is Marang, a fishing village that attracts the young backpack set. Scattered around it are numerous inexpensive guesthouses and resorts. I had a recommendation for the Angullia Beach House Resort, which fronts a beach so beautiful and uncrowded that I lingered for four days. My room was a handcrafted “chalet” with a front porch where I could watch the bobbing lights of fishing boats at night and view the trail of the full moon in the water. Next I headed toward the city of Kuantan. Most visitors there stay at the luxurious Hyatt Kuantan and Merlin Inn Resort on the beach at Teluk Cempedak well outside of town. But I chose the Suraya, a commercial hotel in the city center. This enabled me to walk to food stalls, batik shops and other attractions. For about $19, I hired a guide and car for a city tour. We visited the garden-like zoo, where monkeys roam freely and I petted a tame hornbill, drove past old homes from the British Raj, stopped at a batik factory where a young artist was selling fine batik paintings and went into a Chinese temple, where devotees appease the god of bad luck by smearing the mouth of his image with pork fat.

At night, Kuantan’s food stalls serve excellent satay-- grilled strips of chicken, beef or mutton on a stick. The accompaniments are spicy-sweet peanut sauce, bland rice cakes called ketupat and cooling chunks of cucumber. For a beverage, try the sweet water drained from a freshly cut young coconut.

The next leg of the journey led to Mersing, the takeoff point for a flotilla of nearby island resorts. The best known and most developed is Pulau Tioman, which has an airport for regularly scheduled flights from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. But I chose Pulao Sibu, a much less touristy spot and closer to shore. The journey there took three hours in a rickety vessel, but by speedboat, the island is only 45 minutes away.

Pulau Sibu offers unspoiled beaches, good snorkeling, beautiful sunsets and total relaxation. I stayed at the O and H Kampung Huts, where lodging costs as little as $2 a day. The huts are authentically Malay right up to the thatched roofs inhabited by cicaks, small lizards that harmonize in a squeaking chorus at night. There are no screens on the windows or locks on the doors, and the communal bathroom requires a climb up a hill. But it’s only a few steps to the South China Sea, which is as warm and quiet as a heated swimming pool.

Be forewarned: Boats to the islands adjust their schedules to the tides. If you’re kept waiting at the jetty in Mersing, the best food is in the small Malay cafe in the back of the jetty building. I had a great lunch of spicy squid, rice and slim green beans cooked with chile for about a dollar. You may arrive in Mersing too late to catch a boat. In that case, an atmospheric place to stay is the old Mersing Rest House on a bluff outside of town. The huge, plainly furnished guest rooms are equipped with ceiling fans and broad balconies that face the sea, and the dining room is open to the breezes.

Kali’s Guest House, in a rural neighborhood of Mersing, is a private Malay home turned into an inn. A handful of A-frames in the garden and one guest room in the house accommodate tourists. In the house, one sleeps on mats on the floor, awakens to the crowing of the neighborhood roosters and washes Malay-style with cool water ladled from a tank in the bathroom.

The journey from Mersing by shared taxi ($3.75) south to Johor Baharu took less less than three hours. The only major town en route is Kota Tinggi, where there’s an excellent seafood restaurant, Yat Man. From Johor, air-conditioned express buses depart for Singapore every 15 minutes and cost about 65 cents.

Downtown Johor is rather shabby and has few attractions other than a large shopping complex that caters more to local than tourist tastes. However, the outlying areas of the city are green and attractive, and the Istana Besar--a palace built by Sultan Abu Bakar in 1866--and the nearby Sultan Abu Bakar Mosque are imposing sights.

The palace has been turned into a museum open to visitors during certain hours. One can also visit the mosque except during prayer hours. Day tours out of Singapore take in the main sights around Johor.

Malaysia is an Islamic country, and east coast inhabitants are especially devout. For the tourist, this means dressing and behaving modestly. A woman should wear some sort of cover over her bikini. Public displays of affection between the sexes are considered in poor taste.

And during the month of Ramadan, when Muslims give up food and drink from sunrise to sunset, it would be thoughtless to indulge conspicuously in front of them. Some restaurants close for the entire month; others close only during the day. Because Malaysia’s population is 32% Chinese, there are plenty of Chinese restaurants, as well as hotels, to keep tourists from going hungry. Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, therefore the dates vary each year. This year, the observance continued from March 15 to April 15.

The east coast is so conservative that foreign women can travel alone without provoking the flirting, following, pinching and other unwelcome tributes that are routine in some countries. Foreigners do arouse curiosity, though, and may encounter some attempts at conversation or even an invitation to a meal.

Use good judgment and you can have a delightful encounter.

In Kuantan, I shared a table at lunchtime with the manager of a Chinese bank branch. The next day, he brought his wife, car and driver and took me out for breakfast.

The young fellow behind the desk at my hotel in Kuala Terengganu offered to drive me to Marang. He not only took me there, for a very small sum, but drove me about until I found acceptable accommodations and then carried in my bags. That’s how nice people in this area can be.

GUIDEBOOK

Malaysia’s East Coast

Getting there: The east coast of Malaysia is reached by Malaysian Airlines flights from Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, to Kota Baharu, Kuala Terengganu, Kuantan and Johor Baharu. An option is a 19-hour train ride from Singapore to Kota Baharu via the Malaysian Railway, Keretapi Tanah Melayu--a journey that takes in broad vistas of thick jungle. This train is second- and third-class only; $25 for a second-class berth.

Express and local buses ply the east coast. Or you can travel by shared taxis, which take off as soon as the driver gathers four passengers heading to the same destination. Rates: less than $4 for a three-hour drive.

Where to stay: The following hotels are well-situated, comfortable and moderately priced. Advance reservations are not necessary unless it’s peak season.

In Kota Baharu, Kencana Inn City Centre, Wisma Suara Muda, Jalan Drive. Located near taxi and bus terminals one block from the night market. A single, air-conditioned room was $17. Try breakfast at the Tai Sing Kedai Kopi (coffee shop), a block from the hotel.

In Kuala Terengganu, Seri Hoover Hotel, 49 Jalan Ismail in the heart of town, a short walk from Chinatown and the city market. An air-conditioned single was $21.80. Try the beef soup at Anna’s stall at the Lee Kee restaurant on Jalan Engku Sar. In Marang, Angullia Beach House Resort, Kg. Rhu Muda, Sebarang Marang, Terengganu; situated on a beautiful stretch of beach a short distance from Marang. Rooms range from $4.50 to $15, depending on location, air conditioning and bathroom facilities. Open-air dining room features excellent local dishes. Call 444-6052 from Singapore for reservations.

In Kuantan, Suraya Hotel, Jalan Haji Abdul Aziz. An air-conditioned single was $25. Also try the Pacific Hotel, 62-62 Jalan Bukit Ubi.

In Pulau Sibu, the O and H Kampung Huts have accommodations without bath or air conditioning for about $2. Book a hut and boat transportation from hotels in Mersing, including those listed below.

In Mersing, Mersing Rest House, 490 Jalan Ismail. Rates: $14.50 for a single. Kali’s Guest House, No. 12 E Kg. Sri, Lalang. Rates: $2.25 for a hut or $3 for a room in the house.

For more information: Contact the Malaysian Tourist Information Center, 818 W. 7th St., Los Angeles, (213) 689-9702. Ask for a booklet of budget accommodations and a Malaysia hotel list published by the Tourist Development Corp. of Malaysia.