I spent a night in Temerloh, Pahang, last Friday, and regretted it.
When I told my friends that I was heading there with the home minister, our daughter, and her schoolmate for a wedding, they told me to expect a boring time in the “cowboy town”.
Silly me for believing them. When we arrived in Temerloh, we realised that the town had a lot to offer and that one night was not enough.
Sadly, even though we wanted to extend our stay by a day, we could not book a room anywhere.
Temerloh is a ‘sleepy town’ on the East Coast of Malaysia. It is about 141km from the state capital of Kuantan and is known as the ‘Patin Capital of Malaysia’.
From my place in Subang Jaya, it is about a two-hour, 153km drive. But last week, it took us nearly four hours due to the long weekend for Malaysia Day.
It did not help that we left Subang Jaya after 12pm instead of 8am, as planned. That meant we lost four hours of ‘exploring’ time – we are still kicking ourselves.
However, our first stop in town was a disappointment. It was at Restoran Kancil Raja Patin, at 3.47pm. It was out of food, and there was a 30 to 35-minute wait for the new items to arrive.
We then headed to Gobang Maju Tol Patin Tempoyak, three minutes away and closer to the entrance after the toll. We had passed it on the way to Restoran Kancil Raja Patin, but it looked crowded.
Despite the crowd, there was ample seating and parking. Best of all, freshly prepared food.
It was also here that we discovered the many attractions of Temerloh, as in front of each parking lot were signboards of the exciting activities and places to visit.
That is a great idea, especially for ‘tourists’ who did not do their research before going on a trip!
We discovered a water park called Kubang Gajah 8.2km away, a venue for car boot sales, a 2km-long morning market (only on Sundays) along the Pahang River on Jalan Lurah Semantan, and Kampung Paya Siput, Lanchang, is the middle point of Peninsular Malaysia.
There were also signboards of several ‘Instagram-worthy’ cafes, such as Amani Vanilla and The Reading Room & Cafe.
Although Kampung Paya was a little out of the way, most recommended spots were 10 to 15-minute drives away. If I were to rename Temerloh, it would be ‘The 10-Minute Town’.
That is not to say we did not get lost, as I am notoriously famous for missing turns while driving.
We did not get to visit the above places – we were exhausted after the long drive, and I had a headache. So, I took a short nap.
The kids were also feeling a little lazy, and we decided to ‘tapau’ food to eat at the ‘lepak’ area at the hotel.
The next day, we had breakfast five minutes from the hotel at a restaurant called ‘Old Town Mamak’ for some rojak.
A friend, Engku Isyamuddin Tuan Losin, had posted on Facebook about going to that place on Friday with his dad. His parents went there just after getting married, 55 years ago.
Then, it was on to the wedding before a quick stop in town.
After finishing some work, we headed to the Esplanade, where we managed to get a 15-minute boat ride on the Pahang River. It was RM6 per adult and RM3 for children under 12.
The boat stopped in the middle of the river so we could snap a picture in front of the giant ‘Temerloh’ sign. There were also spots to take photographs on the shore.
Although Temerloh is famous for ikan patin (silver catfish), we did not have the chance to try it as most places offered tempoyak, and we do not eat that.
We wanted to try steamed patin with lime at a restaurant near our hotel, but to our disappointment, they were all out on Saturday.
We ended up having chicken tomyam, kailan with salted fish, telur bungkus, black pepper beef and two plates of fried prawns. With two glasses of watermelon juice, an iced Milo and lime juice, the bill was only RM50! In Subang Jaya, it would probably cost twice that.
As mentioned last week, the home minister and I dream of driving around the country. We will surely return to Temerloh.
DOUBLE-DIGIT DEATHS FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS MONTH
There were 40 deaths from Covid-19 this week, including 12 fatalities on Sept 22.
That was the first time we had 10 deaths or more on a single day since Aug 24 (11 deaths). The total number of fatalities has increased to 36,345.
The good news is that recoveries outpaced new cases for the fifth consecutive week.
In the past week, 14,012 patients received the all-clear, while there were 12,611 new infections.
There are 4,828,290 cases in Malaysia, while 4,766,228 patients beat the coronavirus.
Worldwide there are 619,673,748 cases, and 6,538,890 fatalities.
LATIN AMERICA FESTIVAL
If you like to know more about Latin America, head to Commons KL and BB Park, Bukit Bintang.
Proceeds from the festival will go to the Malaysian Foundation for the Blind.
NINE WAYS TO SNEAK VEGGIES INTO DESSERTS
Desserts are good for you. I believe that. But to make it even better, try sneaking in some vegetables.
AUTOMOBILE
To end this week’s Diary, we turn to the great John Prine with a song called Automobile. For the record, Prine released his debut album 51 years ago yesterday.
Until next week, stay safe.
