Belum Rainforest Resort (Pulau Banding)

 (Our rooms 2nd level on the left (202 & 204)

 (the herbal garden)

 (view from the herbal garden)

 (the fish pond)

 (the 'hunter', hehehe....)

 (the houseboat, can accommodate 16 passengers)

 (the 'huntress' hehehe.... (in the background is a mock orang asli village)

 (hotel guests kayak-ing)

 (view from the mock orang asli village)

(waiting for yours truly....)

 (x problem darling....i can keep up with you..)

 (Hotel guests waiting to ride the boats)

(me on the way to the mock orang asli village)

My hubby and I together with our two youngest children, travelled from Selangor to the East Coast of Malaysia during the December school holidays.  We pushed off from our house Sunday morning (4^th December) to Sungei Panjang because my husband had to do an errand  there.  We then had lunch of rice and beef soup at a stall surrounded by padi fields. 

From Sungei Panjang, my husband decided to take the Sabak Bernam road to Teluk Intan and into the North/South highway.  When we reached Bidor, my husband allowed Wahiduzzaman to drive our SUV.  After about five minutes, my husband was asleep and snoring too….hehehe….

We exited at Kuala Kangsar  and stopped for prayers at a mosque just before Lenggong Perak.  It was raining quite heavily on our way to Gerik.  I was so surprised to see that Gerik is quite a big town.  It was already dark when we started to drive towards Pulau Banding from Gerik.  We were driving through the East West Highway. We finally reached  Belum Rainforest Resort around 8.30pm.

After checking in at the resort, we were in room 202 (hubby and I) and 204 (Sofiyah and Wahiduzzaman), the rooms has a connecting door  We then had dinner at the Hornbill Restaurant.  It was still raining when we returned to our rooms.  Oh yes, WiFi is FOC at this resort.  According to the staff on duty that night, WiFi is only available at the restaurant and lobby, but when I tried out in our rooms, we could easily access the internet using the hotel’s wifi….So, the next time we come here, we will definitely ask for 202 and 204.

The next morning, after breakfast, hubby and I took a walk along the forest trail.  We passed by the hotel’s jetty and  came across this mock orang asli village.  Suddenly I had this urge to ease myself and went looking for a toilet.  There was one available for ladies….but, no water lah!!!  Aiyaaa….then my hubby suggested that I eased by the lake or behind the tree trunk.  Oh definitely a no no….

Finally, when we passed through the orang asli village again, my hubby suggested that I use the gents toilet.  But then, there was this young orang asli (from the Jehai tribe) who was washing his clothes, so we waited till he finished and the toilet becomes mine!!!  What a relief….

Hubby then borrowed a parang from the orang asli and cut this long piece of tree branch and he used  it like a walking stick.  We then decided to walk the forest trail from the mock orang asli settlement.  The path was quite slippery, since it rained the night before.  After about ten minutes, we came across this huge dead tree trunk, and hubby easily climbed over it to get to the other side…AND he completely forgot about me…. I had to yell out to him, “Hellooooo…excuse me, have you forgotten someone??” He turned around and started to laugh and also apologised…”Sorry sayang, I thought you have no problem climbing over….” And he helped me climbed over the huge log.  Then it struck me that this same incident also happened about 36 years ago during our first date……Wow…history sure repeats itself!!

We reached the resort half an hour later and went to the restaurant to rest while reading the newspaper.  Suddenly hubby lifted his jeans and found a ‘pacat’ sucking his right shank….I saw the blood dripping along his shank….Ewwww….Hubby cooly plucked the pacat and threw it away….

We left the resort after doing our prayers, jamak Zuhur and Asar, and headed towards Kota Bharu, Kelantan.  Hubby told Wahiduzzaman to drive our SUV to Kota Bharu, another 170km along the East West Highway.

We stopped at Jeli for a late lunch (it was already 3.30pm) and continued our journey to Kota Bharu.  We passed through the towns of Tanah Merah and Pasir Mas and finally reached Kota Bharu around 5.30pm and checked into Hotel Al Raudhah.

After leaving our luggage in our rooms, we headed to the nearest restaurant and had our dinner.  Since Wahiduzzaman wanted to do some shopping at Wakaf Che Yah, we headed there after dinner.  Wakaf Che Yah is similar to downtown in Danaukota in Kuala Lumpur.  It is best to go after 9pm because by then most of the stalls are opened for business. 

We finally returned to our hotel at 10.30pm.