Travel Stories

February 2000

Marang: The Natural East Coast Choice

by Hilary Galea

Last July, we took a long weekend break to Malaysia’s East Coast. Marang Resort & Safaris had been highly recommended by several friends in KL, particularly on account of the sympathetic architectural design of the resort with its abundance of wildlife and natural beauty. The helpfulness and knowledge of the resort staff had also been highly praised. It sounded like our sort of place. The following is, rather cheatingly, a copy of the letter I sent to my parents about our lovely weekend.

We left home at 6.30 on a stormy Thursday morning. Luckily the rain had just about stopped by the time we took off from Subang but it was, nevertheless, a pretty bumpy 45 minute flight across the peninsular to Kuala Terengannu. Nice views over KL and the Twin Towers though - I could actually make out our road as we flew over Bukit Damansara!

We arrived in Terengannu at about 8.15 and were met at the airport by a driver from the resort. It took about 40 minutes to drive to Marang. Although we couldn’t see much of Kuala Terengannu itself, the rest of the countryside we drove through was very much less ‘westernised’than we were used to, with no high-rise at all. Mostly just roadside wooden houses and traditional malay shops. We noticed that the people were more Indonesian-looking - smaller, finer-featured, and darker skinned. It is also a very Muslim state and we went past a lot of mosques.

The resort itself is about three miles south of the picturesque fishing village of Marang. It is set right in the middle of mangrove swamp, with the reception, restaurant and swimming pool areas built out over water, mangrove and larger trees all around (literally growing up through the wooden board-walks). There is a long wooden bridge across the river to the beach, where most of the chalets are. Our chalet was right on the sand and faced out to the South China Sea (which was surprisingly rough the whole time we were there).

The resort has been very well designed to complement the environment. Everything is made out of wood (well, the ceiling fans weren’t, but they had been painted brown so as not to stand out!). Each chalet has it’s own private terrace, with plants and trees on either side, hiding it from its neighbours. Our chalet had one large, air conditioned room, with two beds, and a small, screened-off room, with a fold-out bed and space for a large cot (which we requested for Nic). The bathroom was off the back of the chalet and, although it was mostly enclosed, the top section was a bit like wooden trellis and I was very careful to check for “intruders” every time I went in. At night a mosquito coil was fairly essential in the bathroom.

The other very noticeable thing was the quality and friendliness of the staff. Everyone we spoke to was very knowledgable about the area and the wildlife. By day two most of the key members of staff knew our names and stopped for a chat to see how we were enjoying ourselves and what we’d been up to that day.

The restaurant served Western and local food and was very good value for money - not haute cuisine, but fine for family meals. Breakfast, lunch and dinner all had a buffet option which is what we went for most of the time. The breakfasts were particularly good - fresh fruit, cereal, eggs, bacon, sausages, French toast, pancakes and maple syrup, curry (?!) etc, all for RM15 per adult, and free for the kids!

On Thursday we spent the rest of the day getting our bearings and having a walk along the beach. Although the waves were quite big and made swimming difficult, Thomas had a lovely time splashing about and Nic enjoyed sliding down the sand banks. We noticed lots of fish jumping out of the sea (the locals told us they were rays and ‘spear’ fish) and saw a couple of large Sea Eagles overhead as well as a solitary monkey casually strolling along the beach about 50 yards ahead of us. The resort owns 4km of beach and when you walking along it you can’t see any sign of other habitation at all, which is lovely. Across the sea you can see Kapas Island, which was to be our destination the next day.

Early next morning a boat took us from Marang harbour to an idyllic deserted beach with jungle rising up straight from the sand and a huge shade-giving tree in the middle which was ‘base camp’. A charming Malaysian man from the hotel called Jasmi looked after us (there were about 10 in the party) and provided drinks and lunch as well as lots of interesting chat about the island, the fish, the coral, etc. The fish and coral made for an excellent morning’s snorkelling. At lunchtime I went to help myself to a drink and met a five foot long monitor lizard which had come to share Jasmi’s noodle lunch! He said that the lizard usually turned up everyday but it was the first time they’d seen him for a week, so he must have been on holiday (to Redang, he guessed).

After lunch the boat took us out for some ‘deep sea’ snorkelling. Thomas thought this was the highlight of the day. We all jumped off the boat into the sea and spent half an hour gazing at even more beautiful coral and unusual fish beneath us - really breathtaking. After a minor hitch starting the engine again (it took about half an hour!) we headed back to the resort and the boat landed us directly onto the beach there. It was an exciting trip as the sea was really getting quite rough by then.

On Saturday we had another early start to take a cruise up the Marang river, accompanied by the excellent Malay guide Ali. This man really had “hawk-eyes” and pointed out quite a variety of wildlife as we gently motored up river, including Sea Eagles (which swooped down to take the fish that Ali had thrown into the river just infront of the boat), amazingly colourful and large Kingfishers, three types of monkey, and more Monitor lizards. He stopped the boat just inside the Mangroves to show us about 15 different types of snail and explain which ones were edible and which should be avoided at all costs. Then he guided the boat up a very narrow tributary of the river to try and show us some snakes, but it had rained quite heavily the night before and he said it was probably too cold for us to spot any that morning. Shame.

We disembarked to make a visit to one of the up-river Kampung villages. Their first tarmac road had just been completed (together with the rather fancy jetty and a huge concrete ‘welcome’ arch) in honour of a recent visit from the Sultan of Terengannu. Ali explained something of village life – how the women do all the work while the men go to the Kopi shops and gossip all day – as we wandered around. We learned a lot about how the lives of people living in the village are changing and I had to wonder how long it would be before that particular village was no longer an example of what we like to consider as real Kampung life.

At midday we returned to Marang harbour (by this time there was very little wildlife to be seen) and then back to the resort for an afternoon of swimming and a very good BBQ in the evening. On Sunday we went back to Kapas Island for another great day snorkelling and beach-combing.

We left the resort early on Monday and were back in KL by mid-morning. Marang was a fantastic discovery and made a welcome change from so many of the characterless modern resorts that are springing up around Malaysia. There is no doubt that we will go back again soon.

Marang Resort & Safaris,
Lot No.1, Jalan Dungun, Kampung Pulau Kerengga,
21600 Marang, Terengganu, Malaysia.
Tel: 09-6182 588; Fax: 09-6182 334.