There is, just north of the Pahang-Terengganu border, a bay with an exquisite sandy beach, some 5 miles (we used miles then), or about 8 kilometres north of the town of Kemaman, which we used to visit annually.
It all started when, my parents being quite the adventurous sorts, decided on driving up the East Coast of Peninsula Malaysia. In those days, communication links were not quite what we were used to today. Along the way, there were two rivers that had to be traversed by barges, the wider one, at Endau, pulled by a tug boat, and the other, further up north at Rompin, by a wire winch system. Quite an experience for an eight year old!
We hit Kuantan around lunch time, and my parents, upon seeing nothing interesting, decided to venture further north.
Kuantan, struck me as a quiet place, overwhelmed by shops and market stalls selling salted fish (fish preserved with a healthy dose of salt and dried in the sun). The other impression I had was that everything seemed to cost more compared to the West Coast and I still have this picture in my mind of an Indian boy struggling to eat a plate of Wan Tan noodles with one chopstick in each hand.
Anyway, after lunch, up north we headed … after checking a few beachside motels along the way, we finally chanced upon the Motel Kemaman, where we could have a chalet, complete with a family room and cooking facilities for RM 14 per night.
A postcard of Motel Kemaman
(to be continued)
A receipt from our last visit to Motel Kemaman, June 1982.
The Long and Winding Road 
[…] that the East Coast offered in a little place just north of the Pahang-Terengganu border, Kemaman, to which we would subsequently visit annually. We would stay in a quiet motel, set in a coconut […]