Tour of East Coast - Part 6

Teluk Gadung Beach in Dungun, Terengganu

Just chilling out..

We've covered some 300km from Kota Bharu in Kelantan to Dungun in Terengganu. To me, it's an achievement. No downtime, plenty of fun and a fulfilling experience.
With the day slowing fading away, we had a night's stay in Dungun and we intend to make the best out of it.
Michelle and I took a stroll down Teluk Gadung beach and ended up at the far reaches of the area.
We saw some people pulling their fishing nets and spoke to one of the men who were preparing soft drinks.
He said the group were from a nearby polytechnic and they intend to pull the nets till late and night.
Well, hopefully, they caught something.
From the beach, we walked back to the hotel and headed straight to the restaurant.

A happy camper!

A driftwood along the beach area

Exploring the shoreline

The corrosion expert at work..

Last night in Terengganu and an awesome dinner treat!

I told Michelle that I would treat her to some makan at the hotel's restaurant.
She ordered a plate of grilled lamb chops.
I had the "XXL" grilled platter. 
While we waited for the main course to be served, we had some rojak buah for starters.
Since this is a training hotel and the people serving us were students, I don't place a high expectation. 
But when my meal arrived, it blew me out of the water.
At RM31 a pop, the mixed grill set was totally awesome. I had a piece of steak, lamb chops, shrimps and a piece of fish fillet fried in batter.
In short, it was a meal fit for Godzilla!

Samo's dinner

A large portion for a super-sized man..

All good things must come to an end.. 

For the past five days, we took the challenge to ride along Kelantan and Terengganu's coastline. 
It was a great experience for us. The planning and execution was done with clockwork precision and some minor adjustments were made to compensate for cost and logistics. Nevertheless, we pulled it off.
After a good night's rest, we packed up and had breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. We don't have the luxury of waking up late prior to this and were grateful that the ride was incident-free.
From Jalan Pantai Sura, we rode towards town and found a 70-year-old Chinese coffeeshop where we had some really good coffee.

Rolling out to Kuala Dungun town

Enjoying a cup of local coffee

Speaking to the shop owner

A selection of packed meals

Boarding the bus

Our bikes in the luggage hold

Arrival in Terminal Bas Bersepadu Selatan near Cheras

Home at last and with my girl.. 

We had a bit of time to burn, so, we hung out at the coffee shop. It's owner, a middle-aged man had struck a conversation with us.
He shared some stories on how he got started and said that we were unusual people who took on the road to see the country on a bicycle.
"The furthest I could go was a 10-minute ride around town. You guys are crazy! Coming down all the way from Kota Bharu!", said the amused coffee shop owner.
I was just awestruck by the wooden shops that lasted nearly seven decades. Kuala Besut town has seen better days and is slowly dying as progress takes it's toll.

The journey home..

We waited for the bus that arrived late. It was scheduled at 11:10am in Dungun. Our bikes were bagged and ready to be loaded onto the cargo hold and when the bus had finally arrived, it was a mad scramble to fit the bikes and I made sure that they were secure. We found our seats and endured the six-hour journey to the bus terminal near Bukit Jalil.
Our plan was to get a ride on an executive taxi.
So, fast-forward from Dungun to the Terminal Bersepadu Selatan, we made it back in one piece. 
The journey on the ECE highway was rather forgettable as we are familiar with the scenery. Once the bus dropped us off at the terminal, we carried the bikes to a cab stand and managed to get a driver to send us home. The meter came up to RM57, which is pretty decent when you have so many luggage. 
We got home and were greeted by our kids. I was very happy that everything has gone smoothly as planned.
This trip inspired me to plan for more road trips around the country and abroad. As reality sinks in, I have to rotate back to the world and endure the mundane working life until another tour is up.
On the whole the tour of the east coast was an excellent learning experience for me. Kota Bharu was awesome. Kuala Besut sucks, Penarik was exciting and Kuala Terengganu was only so-so. Dungun made up for the long ride. 

Summary of the journey: Watch this video presentation