Kukup trip report 15-16th
March 2013
15 march 2013
10 am, we set off for Tuas,
with GPS unit in tow, for Kukup. The traffic to Malaysia was light and it was a
smooth ride from Tuas all the way to Malaysia. I am kept entertained as Madam GPS
Garmin instructed P to turn this way or that and getting her all hot up under
her collar when she needed time to recalculate her options / coordinates.
Clearly, hubby and Madam GPS Garmin
had some communication issues but the boss prevailed and Mdm GPS withdrew into
sullen silence. I wondered why we even loaned the GPS in the first place.
All to soon, we exited from
the NS highway for Skudai-Pontian
Highway 5 at exit 307. From this point
on, we handed the job of locating our first location, Uncle Lim’s durian farm, back to Madam Garmin. She
handed the job like a pro, with instructions to make a U-turn etc.
But hubby has his own ideas
about all things concerning the drive. In the struggle for power, hubby drove
on technically unchartered ‘forested land’ which left Mdm GPS Garmin helpless.
Finally, OCS trained hubby spotted Uncle Lim’s banner, mobile number and all,
when we retraced our steps.
Al-freso dining among the durians |
You can't believe it's a durian farm durian farm |
At the farm, I ordered 2 little
durians for teasers. At RM12/ kg for D24 hybrids, it was a good deal. We ate
al-fresco, behind the ‘gated compound’ while the fruit seller took respite from
the heat and sat to chat with us. I was too busy eating to ask for his name,
but we managed to be educated a bit of the farm and uncle Lim’s business.
The farm is a 6 acre farm
that provided the stall with durians, mangosteens, jambu and duku. Workers
harvest the fruits in the wee hours , which meant that early bird customers like
us have the first fruits of the day.
Addictive ! |
After our late morning carbo-rich
snack, we happily parted with RM38 for the 2 durians. We self conducted a farm
tour before setting off to Pontian Kechil. Uncle Lim will not see the last of
us because I promised to visit him the next day on the way back to Singapore.
Parting shots - I'll be back |
We headed towards Pontian, a
10 minute drive that got us past Pekan Nanas and then some more rural roads
before we saw the one and golden arches in Pontian Kechil. Giant Hypermart and
Hotel Pontian was beyond the traffic
lights, where highway 5 abruptly ended in front of the sea.
Hotel vicinity |
The parking facilities at the
hotel was coupon typed parking for the office hours and after which will be
free, Saturdays and Sundays included. Hotel Pontian had already prepared our
room so we gladly checked in ( 12 noon ) so that we could hose ourselves off
the heat.
room 1123 |
Room 1123 was unfortunately
one of the worst thought out room in the annals of hotel design. At RM121++ for
a standard double ( King ) bed, I would not have expected it to have its
windows freely accessible from the public garden outside. It might as well have
been a windowless room!
There was the usual complementary
wifi coverage, fridge and kettle. My only grouse was that the toilet had no shower tray , cubicle or
bath tub. A moldy shower curtain separated the shower area from the WC and toiletries
was 2 tiny capsules of shampoo and soap that melted after a shower. Oh, did I
mention that there was not enough hangers for clothes? A tiny shower was enough
to flood the entire bathroom. The wet toilet floor was an annoyance that did
not go away until housekeeping the next day.
Kukup Laut |
Make hay while the sun shines |
Courtyard on planks |
1pm. We drove out to Kukup
proper, southbound. It was a longish drive along a rather quiet stretch of
road, hugging the western tip of the Straits of Malacca. Kukup was easy to
identify because of the many Singapore registered cars flanking both sides of the
seafood restaurants. We parked at a huge parking area ( free ) in front of
Wunderland Café and walked towards Kukup Laut Village.
An estimated hundred of such chalet style homes here |
Private residential houses
and ‘homestay style chalets’ flanked both sides of the cement walkway. The
entire village supported by concrete and wooden stilts was worth some 20
minutes walk. There were many chalets that did not have internet presence but
offered similar services in spartan but spacious premises, with AC and bunker
beds, wifi and food. I almost booked one for ourselves for RM380 but a huge
chalet with 3 bedrooms and 20 beds was too big for us.
The entire village is built in stilts. |
Mr G goes Kukup. He declines a swim in the dirty river mouth. |
Plank walkway, most in a state of disrepair. |
The village would have been a
quaint little place had it not been for
the plastic bags and Styrofoam floating around the stilts and waterways.
Tracing back our steps to the
main thoroughfare, we settled lunch at High King Restoran. By then it was
2.30pm but our lunch was spoiled by the durian we had earlier. A modest lunch of
fried mee, cereal prawn, sambal curry, 2 coconuts came up to RM38, reasonable
by Singapore standards. But I was less than satisfied because the food was not
exceptional and the service staff forgetful. The only saving grace was the scenic
view of Pulau Kukup and kelongs at the seafront dining area.
After dinner, we bought dried
seafood ( fish powder, crackers, ikan
bilis ) for about RM40. I could have bought them back in Singapore but we were
on holiday and it would not be complete to return home empty handed.
Cafe Wunderland @ Kukup - shaved ice shop |
Back to where we parked the
car, we had shaved ice and iced coffee
in aircon comfort at Wunderland Café ( RM 5.30 ). I highly recommend it because
the place was airconditioned and the food way cheaper than the tourist traps
100 m down the pier.
At 4pm, we made a leisurely
drive northbound to Pontian. We checked out Eonsave and Giant but found nothing
useful and opted to cool off back in our room.
Beach front near our hotel |
Huge satay place without the crowd |
Sunset |
6pm, we headed towards the
bus terminal area where we confirmed that Pontian was indeed a sleepy town. We
found Pontian Garden hotel , a small sea
front hotel with al fresco stalls selling satay. Now nearing sunset, P and I
shot away hundreds of sunset scenes with the mud flats making patterns in the
last light of the day. The humble shores of Pontian offered a spectacular
sunset which I will remember for a long time.
7.30pm. We decided to have the last meal of the day
at Restoran SF. We opted for a seafront table under the street lamps and gorged
ourselves with seaweed seafood soup, prawn paste chicken wings, spring rolls,
kalian and oldenlandia drinks for RM38 + RM 5. It was a steal because the food
was superb, the portions generous and service efficient. It was a much better
deal than the meal at Kukup.
We retired early, just as the
town did, so that we could be recharged and ready for the road trip home
tomorrow.
16 March 2013 , Saturday
Hotel Pontian’s breakfast was
a total disappointment and a rude awakening to a new day. The spread at Café
Josaphine was congealed porridge with peanuts for condiments, bread with
options of margarine or watery jam and spongy chicken frankfurters, scrambled
eggs , baked beans and pickled lettuce ( huh ? ). The watered down tea and
coffee did not inspire much either.
Market Day! |
As checkout was 12 noon, we visited the nearby Pontian wholesale fish market at 9.30 am, only to see the last of the fish sellers clearing their auction tables and loading bags of fishes to trucks. Still, the market scene offered a microcosm to a domestic life of a Pontianite. Here, fish was auctioned off, animals slaughtered on the spot and anything in between purchased and brought over to the zichar shop across the alley to be skinned, cooked and packed for home. I managed to buy some exotic food no longer found in Singapore – century quail’s egg and angle gourds.
Vegetables fresh from the farm |
At the market square, we were
the mee cheng guay seller’s last
customer of the day peddling from her cart.
The food was nothing to shout
about and at RM2, was a pricey piece of snack by Pontian standards.
The market folks were very
friendly and unused to P’s huge DSLR aiming at them. Most were shy but very
obliging to pose for a shot.
It was scorching hot by 10.30
am and we retreated to the cool air conditioned comfort of the hotel room. It
was too early for lunch and so was at a loss how to spend our time. We decided
to locate one of the two famous wanton noodle stalls, Heng Heng noodle shop,
in town which is some distance away
from our hotel. Hopefully, a little tour
round the town will meaningfully while away our time.
Old school wanton noodles |
According to google maps, it
was off the Pontian hospital and along a major arterial road. Unfortunately the
data was not accurate and we made 2 false turns before ending up touring some
very ‘kampong’ section of the Pontian suburb.
Just when we were about to give up, we stopped along some shops along
Jln Anggerrik ( which Madm Garmin indicated ) to ask for directions . Lo and
behold ! Heng Heng noodle was just beside us and we ended up happy that our mission
was accidentally accomplished. The act of getting lost and then found again
meant that it was just the right time for an early lunch at 11 am.
Heng Heng noodle was
seriously popular for a stall located in a quiet neighbourhood. While we
enjoyed our al-dente egg noodles drenched in mainly ketchup sauce and silken
wanton wrapped with pockets of meat flavored with grilled flat fish, we saw
orders coming in non stop. Takeaway orders within that 15 minutes was more than
50 packets of noodles! I would have loved the sauce to be stronger in taste but
that must be the way the Pontian people love it – full of sweet ketchup. The
major draw was its crunchy noodles, freshly made and its meat wanton that
tasted of yesteryear. At RM4.50 for an ‘upsized portion’, I wondered if we can
eat our fill with a regular portion of RM3.50.
Our next stop was Uncle Lim’s
durian farm. Just before we turned off to J5, we stopped by the river to
capture rustic river scenes on film ( or rather, digitally ) and get awed by a
mean looking iguana swimming near the river bank. It was a strong and aweful
looking creature that lashed the water with its powerful tail of about half a
meter long and snapping at something in the water with its strong jaws, its forked
tongue flicking like a fly swatter. It gave me the chills and I hate to think
what will happen if a child should chose to swim in the river.
Pontian Bessar |
We followed the scent of freshly baked Matisu or puff crackers with malt syrup wafting from the confectionary near our car. The scene of a team of bakers kneading the dough and making the crackers behind the retail section of the shop was reason enough for me to purchase 10 crackers ( RM 8.50 )
I can just drive in from Singapore just for this addictives munchies! |
Biscuit place in Pontian Besar |
Near the mouth of the river,
we saw weather beaten fishing boats moored to makeshift piers made of half
rotted planks. It was a quaint scenery of rustic wooden houses and wooden boats
just steps off the bustling motorway.
Now fully stocked, we set off
for the 20 km drive towards the farm, enroute to Singapore. We helped ourselves to 3 durians ( MR12/kg ) and a bag of jambu for RM60 and
bade our last farewell to Uncle Lim and his help.
We made our way from the west
side of the NS highway to the east side, bound for Bkt Indah. Our next
destination was Aeon mall where we hoped to buy some T shirts and maybe have
our tea break.
We reached Aeon Indah at 1 pm
and were surprised at how busy the mall was and the parking area filled with
many Singapore registered cars. P had
fish and chips for ‘tea’ while I enjoyed a macadamia chocolate cake at Secret
Recipe for RM35, coffee included. It was an excessive tea break but we excused
ourselves because the portion of the wanton noodles were meager , if we should
say so.
We checked out F.O.S. and bought
3 cute T shirts for RM45. Now in frugal mode, we were more tight wad but
managed to haul back a bag of buns from Lavender for RM9.50. This was meant as
a sort of peace offering to H who by now should have finished her overnight camp
in school and headed to church for choir practice in Singapore.
Jusco supermarket had nothing
much to offer but I bought some fresh Malaysian mushrooms meant for dinner to
give a ‘meaningful conclusion’ to the
shopping trip.
We left the mall at 3.30pm
and from there on, was an easy drive back to Singapore. Our last pit stop was
at the Shell petrol kiosk before hitting the Malaysian toll plaza. We jostled
with the rest of the Singaporean registered cars, refilled our petrol before we
were home bound. I have forgotten that it was the start of the school holidays
and found myself staring at a rare scene – a long, horrendous queue at the 2nd
Link Malaysian immigration. The same scenario repeated at the Singapore side of
the immigration.
Pontian and Kukup has nothing
much to offer in terms of recreation except for some romping among floating
chalets and feasting. Because the town has absolutely no place for amusement,
it makes for an ideal place to relax ( literally ! ) Perhaps the only thing
worth talking about for days was the awesome sunset, which makes the trip all
worthwhile!