Lost in the City

Kuantan, Malaysia

Travelling is an adventure, there’s a lot to see, and there’s lots to do. It’s also unpredictable, and that’s all part of the excitement. If it was predictable, however, we probably would've given Kuantan a miss.

It might have just been the area in which we stayed as opposed to Kuantan as a whole, but the friendliness of Singapore and KL seemed to pretty much vanish. Our greetings were met with blank stares, our questions went unanswered and Kerry was scrutinized everywhere she went, no matter how many times she changed her outfit. In our time here, we saw only one other non-Asian, who happened to be taking a taxi away from the city, suggesting that this might not the most popular destination for tourists and travellers.

Not much English is spoken here; it took us nearly three days to find out how to leave. We were starting to wonder whether it was actually possible. We waited over an hour for a bus that didn't exist, got told continuously conflicting information and felt like we were intruding every time we tried to speak to someone.

But, travelling is about experiences, good and bad. And it wasn't all bad…

We visited our first Muslim Mosque! Kerry was given an incredibly flattering long coat that looked like something inspector gadget might wear; it gave the Muslim girls something to giggle about at least. The Mosque’s interior wasn't what we expected, with modern massage chairs, bright walls and a fancy chandelier hanging from the ceiling. We visited two large shopping malls too, getting to these was an adventure in itself, Kuantan has almost no pedestrian access and red lights don’t seem to mean a great deal here. Running between cars, climbing over rubble and blind luck got us there in the end.

I don’t think we'll miss Kuantan very much, but we will remember it. And we learnt from it, for example, I now know to always say coca cola when ordering a coke, after receiving a surprise carrot juice from the waiter. And of course, being British, I profusely thanked him for it, tipped him suitably and gulped the disgusting drink down with a pleasant smile on my face.