road trip : Kelantan ~ Lake Temenggor leg

We had already had a lovely surprise taking the supposedly under contruction highway that cut east from Gua Musang across to Lake Kenyir and on to Kuala Terengganu had we wanted to go that way to return to Kuala Lumpur.

But having had this nice experience with the new highway, we felt it would be a perfect way to complete the road trip by taking the road that ran over Lake Temenggor. It was a drive well worth taken :) The road was in good condition and there was not much development all along the area, which meant we had a great view throughout the drive.

We kind of went a bit faster than usual, not stopping to take photographs because we did not want to miss the sunset view at this lake. We managed to get there in time for the sunset sky. And it was so worth going that fast!! The lake is much prettier than I imagined.



And so although we had earlier thought we would head on to Gerik to spend the night, we decided that it would be nicer to stay by the lake if we could.

This bridge takes us across Lake Temenggor to Banding Island in the middle of the lake. There is a nice resort called the Belum Rainforest Resort on this island. You can't possibly miss it... just follow the sign boards!

Anyway, the resort is very nice, a fancy schmancy place in the middle of all that wilderness and it has a nice manicured garden, almost like an anomaly :)

But regardless the unnatural beauty of the garden in the middle of the wilderness of Belum, the place still, for me, had a magical quality.. just as any place located next to a body of water would for me :) There's something about water that mesmerizes :)

Anyway we didn't quite fancy the room that was available and it was a bit pricey. The guy at the reception said there was no other accomodation available nearby.

That was probably the only disappointing thing about the trip so far. So we thought we'd explore a little, go look at the jetty, eat something, and drink tea and then head on to Gerik to settle for the night. We said we could always drive back here in the morning to explore the place.

There was a little cafeteria at the jetty. Just by pure chance, I asked the lady if she could tell us of any place to stay in the area.

And to my surprise she said yes!! She pointed to a collection of wooden huts on the opposite bank of the bank across from the jetty!!

It just goes to show that you should never hesitate to ask. You never know what nice little surprises you might discover! :)

Anyway, however after more inquiry from one of the boatmen at the jetty, he advised us not to sleep at that place. Very dirty was his comment. Instead he said we could check to see if we could get permission to sleep at one of the empty apartments in the fisheries department on the mainland. How exciting! I seriously think this trip is charmed! :) Everything just seems to fall into place :)

To make a long story short, we ended up spending a very comfortable night in a two-bedroom apartment! :) We did some more exploring next morning. Didn't see anything too exciting, though we almost came across a wild boar.. or so we thought. We tried to wait the creature out for a bit, but I guess it was scareder of us than we of it!



We went to check out the place that we were originally supposed to go to, and were glad we didn't stay there! It is neglected beyond description.

Sadly, it could have been an amazing place to stay, if only the landlady had maintained the place. After all it was partly floating on the water. And that was magical already.

In the end, we only had tea, and even that was a bit awful. My travelling buddy poured his tea into the lake! I hope he did not kill any fish that morning!



A limestone formation we saw en route to Gua Musang. Pretty!