East Coast Road Trip II: Delicious Dagang

According to Lynn, there's this legendary nasi dagang at Kampung Atas Tol (quite some name eh?). Due to its popularity, we had to get there really early. Got to Kak Ros Nasi Dagang at around 7:30 AM, but there were no free tables, and a long line had already formed outside (we were the only Chinese there, something I often notice in KT). The side of the road was full of parked cars. The drizzle failed to turn people away from the allure of the nasi dagang. There were actually two queues, one for eat-in and the other for take away. The former is the slowest moving because people tend to take-away a lot of packets. Easily twenty packets per order. If you're eating there, they'll assemble you order on a huge metal tray, and you can carry it away one shot! To accompany your nasi dagang, you can also have keropok lekor (sedap jugak) and Teh Tarik Meleleh (literally translates to Dripping Pulled Tea). In my opinion, it's a like an overflowed tea cappuccino. The foams stays at the side of the cup long after you've finished the contents. After forty five minutes, we got our food and left.









We had our breakfast at the hotel, together with The Tribe. Mum and the kids had just woke up! Made coffee from the provided Indocafe premix, and Big Monster was immediately hooked. In my opinion, the nasi dagang was really good. The rice was very creamy, and the kari ikan tongkol delicious. Big Monster gave his thumbs up for the nasi lemak.



Next up, we packed our bags and checked out. Then went to Kampung Cina which is Kuala Terengganu's Chinatown. To get there we had to use the Sultan Mahmud Bridge which crosses the Terengganu River, and two inland islands (Pulau Duyong and Pulau Besar). Another landmark is the Terengganu Welcome Sign, which is a huge "Allah Peliharakan Terengganu" located on Bukit Besar. Kampung Cina is really touristy, very much like Jonker Street in Melaka. Whole lot of murals along the road lined with pre-war shop houses. And of course there is an oriental gateway there. And one of the narrow alleys was turned into Turtle Alley, dedicated to turtle conservation.









Like Hobbits, we had a second breakfast which was Roti Paun Terengganu at T. Homemade Cafe. The cute six-pack buns were toasted and served with butter and kaya. They also sell a bun with tebosa (fish) filling which is pretty cool.





For shopping, we went to the local market called Pasar Besar Kedai Payang. On the ground floor, one can get fresh fish, poultry, meat, eggs (turtle eggs too!), fruits, and vegetables. Plenty of snacks and tid-bits too (like jeruk, keropok, and serunding). The units upstairs are mostly dedicated to clothes and crafts. There's also a food court there.









Our last stop in Kuala Terengganu before heading out to Kuantan again was Masjid Tengku Tengah Zaharah, or more commonly called the Floating Mosque. The name comes from the fact that the mosque is built in the estuary of Ibai River. The white mosque seems to be floating when viewed from one side of the estuary.



Back in Kuantan, mum made a visit to her neighbour again because a reunion was arranged with another two neighbours. It was great that she could see old friends. We also made an appointment to see the kids that my mum (The Y Tribe) used to babysit. I used to sit the little one in front of the TV and shove heaps of rice into his mouth. And he loved to watch me play Worms Armageddon on my PC. Twenty years later, the kids are taller than me.

The Y Tribe treated us to dinner that night at Restoran Baru Hock Hin, a place famous for Foochow cuisine. That night we had steamed fish, oyster omelette, steamed tofu with ginger sauce (the tofu version of ginger steamed fish), red wine residuum chicken, and an excellent kung pao baby eel.





Our accommodation for the night was at The Legend Cherating Resort, which was quite far out of town. In my opinion, the place is pretty run-down and in need of a face lift. The retro feel to the rooms reminded me of my stay at Manohara Hotel in Borobudur. The room was huge, but the bathroom door was a horrible plastic, the toilet roll was obviously wet before we checked in, dust was all over, and there was sand in the sheets! Cheered up with Hokkien mee that we tapau-ed from Restoran Kim Kee back in Kuantan.