Peninsular Malaysia hangs like a fat calf off the skinny knee that is southern Thailand. Cut in two by the rain forests and peaks of the Barisian Mountain range, it is a study in contrast. Its west coast rocks with the sound of jackhammers and speeding cargo trucks; its east coast still depends on fishing and subsistence rice cultivation for survival. The west coast is home to a mosaic of peoples–Malay, Chinese, Indian, English, Dutch and Portuguese; the east coast remains predominantly Malay, and deeply religious.
Largely left to themselves by the traders and colonizers from India, Arabia, Europe and China, the Malays of the east coast have developed and still possess an indigenous culture that combines the vibrancy of a Southeast Asian island people with the severity and pride of Islam.
Stretching from Kota Bharu in the north to Johore Bharu in the south, the scenery of the east coast is dominated by 200 miles of golden sand beaches. The shore is punctuated by small fishing villages built among groves of wind- bent palm and coconut trees that border long flat rivers rolling slowly into the South China Sea.
If comparison with the west coast reveals the relative cultural purity of the east coast, its languid and pastoral nature, then comparison with another more famous culture, that of the Thai to the north, might help to delineate the east coast`s Islamic intensity and its particular rhythms.
The east coast of Malaysia offers little of the danger and excitement that is so prevalent in visits to Thailand. Yet, in forgoing some of the sleazy soul, the wheeling and dealing and the hustle, the hot peppers, benumbing drugs and exposed thighs of Thailand, one is by no means forgoing an exoticism, a pulse or a difference that draws people to Southeast Asia.
One is, in effect, merely switching spices from chili to cinnamon and sweet peanut, switching rhythms from the raucous pounding of a Thai disco and the plink-plink of the Thai piba to the chant of a Malay coastal village at sunset as it bends toward Mecca, and switching speeds from that of a Bangkok tuk-tuk taxi zipping through the mad city traffic to that of one`s own feet padding up and down a palm-lined beach or through a fishing village packed with smiling children.
The east coast is divided into four states: Kelantan, Trengganu, Pahang and Johore. Kelantan is known as the repository of Malay culture: its handcrafts, kites and textiles are famous, as are its festivals and exotic foods. Trengganu and Pahang are known for their physical beauty.
Their beaches stretch for miles, curving in here to form a quiet bay, curving out there to make a peninsula where beached fishing boats and nets turn black and demonic in the tropical sunset. Accessible islands dot their offshore waters, offering coral reefs, stunning in their array of color and life.
The east coast of Johore, in converse proportion to its proximity to Singapore, one of Southeast Asia`s burgeoning metropolitan areas, is still considered one of the last frontiers on mainland Asia. It remains relatively uninhabited with few fishing ports and even fewer roads.
Traveling around the east coast is best from March to October. During the winter the monsoons visit Malaysia and the highway along the length of the coast is under water much of the time, rendering travel impossible. For the remaining months, however, the weather on the east coast is generally hot and sunny, the water cool and clean and the wind light but ever-present.
A string of modern resort hotels runs the length of the peninsula, most notably the Hyatt and the Merlin in Kuantan, both of which are air-
conditioned. They also have full room service, pools and tennis courts.
But other, more interesting accommodations are available. Locally and government owned guesthouses, clean but spartan, offer rooms at a fraction of the price of the resort hotels. Usually situated in small fishing villages, they afford closer contact with the Malay people, easy access to the best beaches, which lie outside the cities, and the opportunity to appreciate the variety of the Malay cuisine.
KELANTAN
Five hours by bus outside of Penang, on the west coast, one enters Kelantan, the northernmost state on the east coast. The road, dropping down through the Barisian Mountains, passes through thick groves of tapioca trees, over country dotted with flooded rice paddies. The rice fields stretch off into the distance as if the earth were checkered with so many mirrors, and finally along the Kelantan River, which winds through the state capital, Kota Bharu, toward the Gulf of Thailand.
Kota Bharu is a lively little city, which, like all the major cities on the east coast, sits on a river near the sea. Its market, between the streets called Jalan Temenggong and Jalan Datok Pati, is crammed with eels, shrimp, crayfish and various types of bass and tuna along with mats, songket (hand-woven silk) and brassware.
Both sections of the market are run by Malay women clad in locally produced sarongs of blue-silver, red and green. The women have yet to be replaced by the Chinese merchants so prevalent in other parts of Malaysia.
The state of Kelantan is known for its food, and Kota Bharu is known as its kitchen. At sunset the outdoor eating stalls, which can be found up and down the east coast, open and the air is filled with the smell of broiling chicken and mutton, sizzling peppered noodles, freshly cut pineapples, papaya and mango and the sound of cracking coconuts, as well as laughter and the
”Hello, mister” of a Malay child.
Bordering the Kelantan River facing west, Taman Sekebun Bunga, near Jalan Tok Hakkim, is the largest outdoor eating center in town. (An eating center–a collection of food stalls, with tables, usually in the open-air–offers meals for about $3 a head.) An after-dinner walk north of Taman Sekebun Bunga through alleys lined with brightly colored one-and-a-half-story houses surrounded by small whitewashed gates leads to Merdeka Square. There one can sit and take in the last rays of golden sun as it sets into the hills of Thailand to the west.
Two other outdoor eating centers, which also open at sunset, are near Istana Belai Besar and Istana Jahar, palaces built in the 19th Century by two of Kelantan`s sultans. You can feast on fillet of fresh fish cooked in a sweet brown sauce (otak otak), chicken or mutton shish kebab (satay), barbecued chicken (ayam perchik–an east coast specialty), vegetable salad coated with a thick sweet peanut sauce (gado gado) or basic nasi goreng (fried rice) served with lemon slices. For lunch, a trip to one of the seven or eight Indian restaurants or to the Chinese restaurant next to the New Bali Hotel for chicken rice cooked six different ways is strongly suggested.
Kota Bharu, known for its cottage industries, is a center for batik, kain songket (hand-woven silk embroidered with gold or silver thread, the symmetrical patterns of which provide a marked contrast with the anarchic beauty of the batiks), silverware, kites and Malaysian tops. Mechanization is almost nonexistent and most production is still organized on a family basis.
Silver work, one of Kelentan`s largest cottage industries, can be observed at Kampong Sireh (near the Istana Kota Lamal Palace on the Kelantan River). Both traditional and modern batiks can be purchased at the Wisma Batik (Batik Emporium) on Jalan Doktor or in one of the dozens of handcraft stores on bus route No. 10. (Batik purchases run from $2 for a large tablecloth to $5 for a dress dyed synthetically. A garment in traditional dyes is about $10.)
An evening stroll to the Beach of Passion-ate Love finds wooden fishing boats painted blue, red and green, with faces sporting white toothy grins and long flat cheeks, carved meticulously on their bows leering out at the sea.
TRENGGANU AND PAHANG
South along the coast, the land flattens and is crisscrossed by a string of rivers that run like silver threads through the states of Trengganu and Pahang. Long thin beaches are backed by fishing villages. The houses, built among coconut trees, stand on stilts within 60 feet of the sea; their wood-carved doors and windows reveal both Islamic and older influences, their crescent moons and stars mingling with weathered gargoyles.
From Kuala Besut, just south of the Kelantan-Trengganu border, the Perhentian Islands, eight miles offshore, may be reached by fishing launch. Of the two islands, Kecil and Besar, the latter is the more beautiful and offers accommodations at $5 a person a night, but visitors must take their own food. Besar`s beaches are long and white, its coral resplendent and its climate a little cooler than that of the mainland.
Trengganu`s capital, Kuala Trengganu, has more of a boom-town feeling than any of the other cities dotting the east coast, partly because of the hydroelectric and industrial projects to its west and south. Kuala Trengganu has also had an influx of capital from the Middle East, exemplified by the several banks run by Moslems that line the city`s streets.
During the early morning, the city`s central market hums and bops with the sound of fishing trolleys unloading their flapping silvery catches and the screams of playing children running in and out of groups of squatting fishermen who, unaffected by the surrounding commotion, negotiate and gossip. Kuala Trengganu`s Chinatown, on Jalan Silom, is one of the few Chinese sections remaining on the peninsula in which the old wooden houses prevail. Here, as in all the small Chinese settlements scattered up and down the east coast, a lunch of stir-fried vegetables and a cold beer is generally available in the purely Malay establishments.
The visitor can also eat at the open-air food center on Jalan Paya Bunga near the jetty or, for dinner only, at Taman Selira Tanjong, five minutes south from the central market near the main post office.
At the end of Jalan Paya Bunga there is a jetty from which boats go to Dunyung Island at the mouth of the Trengganu River. The island`s people are carpenters who fashion boats from Malaysia`s many woods, and carve spirits on the mastheads to ward off evil and ensure a good catch. Like Kota Bharu, Kuala Trengganu is also known for its cottage industries. The Malaysian Handcraft Corp., 339 Jalan Sultan Omar, a training center, welcomes visitors, as does Wan Ismail`s, a family-run workshop on Jalan Sultan Zenial Abidin.
Just outside the city, the fishing village of Marang, which encircles a bay, is the home of Ibi`s Guest House, one of the many privately owned guesthouses on the coast. Ibi lives in a gray one-story house with crescent moons carved on the doorway and beach sand on the floor.
The rooms are clean and the beds soft. The windows–blue wooden shutters weathered over the years–open out onto a small garden and Marang`s bay. A night there with an English-style breakfast costs $3 a person. The service is friendly but unobtrusive.
Ibi`s is the rule, not the exception, regarding guesthouses on the coast. These places are usually managed by young Malay entrepreneurs or widows who, through their contact with foreign travelers, have amassed stories and anecdotes that can take a visitor well into the sultry Malaysian night.
They also know the country, the local sights and the customs, and often prove invaluable as cultural interpreters and guides, equally adept at pointing the way to a favorite swimming hole or explaining the meaning held in a batik pattern.
Marang is surrounded by quiet, clean beaches and faces a small uninhabited island, Pulau Kapas, which is accessible by fishing boat for $30. The beaches of Pulau Kapas, although smaller than those of the peninsula, are whiter, the sand noticeably finer and the coral incredible. Picnic lunches can be purchased in one of Marang`s several restaurants, which will also prepare fish purchased from the village`s fresh fish market.
Rantau Abang, another fishing hamlet, 30 miles south of Kuala Trengganu, is where approximately 1,500 giant leathery turtles, measuring around 70 feet in circumference and weighing up to a ton, migrate to the shore between May and September to lay their eggs. Bungalows and a private guesthouse offer hospitable accommodations.
Five miles north of Kuantan, the capital of the state of Pahang, is Beserah, a fishing village surrounded by a long golden beach, which also has accommodations. Since accommodations in Kuantan tend to be lacking in both cleanliness and safety, visitors would do well to avoid staying in the city proper.
Two miles north of Kuantan is Telok Chempedak Beach, a small cove housing two resort hotels with water-sports facilities and one of the best locally run guesthouses, the Asrama Bendahara. Because of peculiar currents, the Telok Chempedak Beach has seen more of its share of landings and attempted landings of refugees from Vietnam.
The swimming here is wonderful. The water is cool, clear and refreshing but, as on the rest of the east coast, there is a riptide, and few lifeguards, so one should be careful. The best food available at Telok Chempedak is served at the Asrama Bendahara behind the Hyatt. It offers good curry, vegetable salad and Malaysian tea (a sweet tea served with condensed milk) and rents rooms at one-twentieth of the price of the Hyatt and the Merlin Hotels.
JOHORE
As the traveler moves south into Johore, the beaches are left behind and the landscape becomes wilder and less populated.
From Mersing, 50 miles south of the Johore-Trengganu border, you can take a boat to Pulau Tioman, one of the few islands on the east coast that is inhabited and offers hotel accommodations and good food. As with most of the volcanic islands that line the coast, Tioman`s beaches are whiter, softer and wider, its weather cooler and its water even clearer than that of the mainland.
The island is populated by Malays who were either born there or came over from the mainland, seeking fish, peace and, now, success in the tourist industry. It is those from the mainland who run the island`s economy.
On Tioman you can stay at the Merlin Tioman, a large resort hotel, for $60 a night, or walk half a mile to the west along the beach and stay in one of the dozens of A-frame houses that line the beach for $2. Guests in the A-frames are supplied with a mattress, a blanket and a lantern. Fresh fish, chicken and fruit juices are available nearby ($3 a meal) and the proprietors display a hospitality that is simply impossible to come by in the larger establishments.
On the boat heading back to the mainland from Tioman, little islands equipped with a stray palm and sliver of white beach beckon to the traveler but are left unexplored, their images and approximate location etched somewhere in the memory, coupled with a silent promise that reads ”next time.”
Tioman, the site for the filming of James Michener`s ”South Pacific”–
and for that matter the entire east coast–still fits the part. It is packed with a quiet abundance of a slow lazy beauty ranging from the curve of a crescent beach to the pattern of scattered islands still black under the rising sun.
THE NITTY-GRITTY OF TRAVELING IN MALAYSIA
REMINDERS: MALARIA PILLS SHOULD BE TAKEN FOR A WEEK BEFORE ARRIVING IN MALAYSIA, DURING THE VISIT AND FOR FIVE WEEKS AFTERWARD. BEFORE TRAVELING, ASK YOUR LOCAL HEALTH DEPARTMENT, WHICH HAS
ACCESS TO INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL IN ATLANTA, OR YOUR DOCTOR, FOR INFORMATION ON THE EXISTENCE OF
PARASITES RESISTANT TO CHLOROQUINE-BASED ANTIMALARIAL DRUGS. IF SUCH PARASITES ARE PRESENT, YOUR PHYSICIAN MAY PRESCRIBE ANOTHER
DRUG IN ADDITION TO THE REGULAR ANTIMALARIAL DRUGS. THE FOOD AND WATER ON MAINLAND MALAYSIA ARE REGARDED AS SAFE. DURING THE TRAVEL SEASON, MARCH TO OCTOBER, THE DAYS ARE HOT (80 DEGREES AND ABOVE); NIGHTS ARE A LITTLE COOLER. THE LANGUAGE IS MALAY, BUT MOST PEOPLE SPEAK GOOD ENGLISH.
BUSES RUN UP AND DOWN THE EAST COAST. A TICKET FOR THE WHOLE LENGTH OF IT WOULD COST ABOUT $40 ONE WAY. CARS MAY BE RENTED
IN SOME MAJOR CITIES FOR ABOUT $250 A WEEK. ACCOMMODATIONS: THE FOLLOWING IS A SELECTIVE LIST OF SOME
OF THE LESSER-KNOWN ESTABLISHMENTS, WITH PRICES PER PERSON FOR A NIGHT. KOTA BHARU: ASRAMA PELANCONG TOURIST HOTEL, $3; MARANG:
IBI`S GUEST HOUSE, $3; RANTAU ABANG: AWANG`S BUNGALOWS, $8, AND RANTAU BEACH COTTAGES, $8; TELOK CHEMPEDAK: ASRAMA BENDAHARA,
$8; BESERAH: JAFFAR HOUSE, $5; TIOMAN: NAZRI`S PLACE, $3. THE FOLLOWING SAMPLER OF RESORT HOTELS INCLUDES NIGHTLY RATES FOR A DOUBLE ROOM. KOTA BHARU: RESORT PANTAI. $30; TANJONG: JARA
BEACH HOTEL, $60; TELOK CHEMPEDAK: HYATT KUANTAN, $75, AND MERLIN KUANTAN, $65; TIOMAN: MERLIN SAMUDRA, $60.
