Cherating, Pahang, Malaysia is a welcome and pleasantly accessible getaway from KL and although not endowed with the pristine clear, blue water of the island chains on this coast, is an excellent getaway destination. That is the tourist brochure version (as I have imagined). As far as I am concerned, it’s a beach – more on my opinion of beaches shortly.
This is the not the melting pot of ethnicities that is a characteristic of Kuala Lumpur. It is the land of the bumiputra – son of the earth/soil, where many Malays choose to take their holiday. Where a beer, when found, will send the restaurant bill from cheap to steep. In fact, we were the only Mat Sallehs (Europeans) at the resort.
This was the first week of the kindy holiday and Isaac and I were invited, along with a couple of others, for a father-son getaway. It was a timely getaway given the poor air quality in KL at the moment. There has been a scarcity of rain in KL for over a week, and the dreaded haze pollution had been hanging around like a bad smell (literally). Visibility reduces considerably during these times, and the obscured view of the Petronas twin towers from our neighbourhood is a sure sign that things aren’t right in air.
When I was back-packing through the tropics all those years ago, I was never a fan of beach destinations. When traveling with a group of others in a communal van during the European summer, they would want to stop at every beach. For me, one beach is the same as another, so my preference was to seek a travel experience that was original for me. As far as I was concerned that could not be done at a beach.
Things have changed slightly with age now. The thing that attracts me to a beach holiday these days is the simplicity. Room, restaurant, pool, beach. My slumming, living on a dollar-a-day, travel days are over. Well and truly.
So back to our sojourn to Cherating. It was four days of swimming and sand castle making which of course is a little boys dream, and this is an agenda that dad is entitled to enjoy it as well. And for a bit of variety, the hotel pool was always at hand. Again, simplicity is the name of the game. Let’s not forget great seafood, ever present in coastal Malaysia and always an irresistible option.
And all this within 4 hours of KL.
It’s a tough life in the tropics.
PS - Many thanks to Adriaan for several of the following photos
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