If you have just tuned in, this post is a sequel to my previous two posts – An Inter-state Solo Ride to the North East and Driving On : Jeli and Kota Bharu.
The road trip from Kota Bharu to Lake Kenyir took longer than I had expected. I called to a Kenyir Eco Resort, the very first name of resort that came up when I googled “Accomodation at Lake Kenyir” (or something) and the owner offered to give me a room for RM250 per night. He said something about floating resort, so I really thought it was one of those houseboats that I knew were quite popular at Lake Kenyir. Then as I wheeled off further and further towards and later into the state of Terengganu, it suddenly came to me what if there’d be no food at the boathouse – or that I’d be there too late into the evening when the kitchen was already closed, or there was no (open) grocery store at the lake from where I could buy some food at least to get me through the night.
I tried to find somewhere where I could stop to buy some food but all the shops that came around seemed to be close. Then it came to me that it was a Friday – which is kind of a weekend break for the states of Kelantan and Terengganu. It was quite a relief when I finally found a 7-11, and I didn’t hold back on the food. In fact, I was quite sure they’d get me by for at least a week.
It must be around four in the evening when I finally arrived at the jetty. The parking area was huge and largely unoccupied, probably because the whole country was still struggling to recover from the pandemic. My eyes were instantly caught by the newly built bridge that provides easy access from the mainland to Poh Island – one of the so many islands all over Lake Kenyir. It was so new it was not even open for public use yet.
The parking area was huge, and was largely unoccupied. I parked my car and headed straight down to the jetty where a boat from Kenyir Eco Resort was waiting to take me across the lake – to the floating Kenyir Eco Resort itself. There was some kind of great feeling to be cruising across an open lake. And the air was so fresh, refreshing and somehow – liberating.
Kenyir Eco Resort that I found out was more of a cluster of floating cabins. They were almost wholly painted in pink – which gave the resort some striking presence amongst the greenery and dark blue waters. I didn’t see it as a resort – not quite – but more of a cabin chalet. I was there on the very first day of Terengganu’s re-opening of its leisure and tourist spots to public so I had the resort all to myself!
The room was spacious, at least for somebody who was there all by himself. After all, it was meant to accommodate up to 4 people. In the middle of the cabin cluster was a pair of netted enclosures, probably intended for fish cage farming. Of course, the central part of the cluster is the dining area when I’d have my meal served 3 times a day – all included in the fee. The cluster is connected to the land by a floating walkway so I could always go back to the land whenever I wished to.
The resort was operated by a local Malay guy. He was helped by young lady – who he introduced as one of his three wives. They had a male worker who was paid to take care of all the handy chores.
My whole stay at Kenyir Eco Resort was very much relaxation-oriented. I spent most of the time slouching on a chair, either reading a book or staring away at the serenity of the lake. Sometimes either the resort operator or the worker would come to have a chat with me. In their excitement to have a fresh conversation with somebody new – an opportunity that they have probably been deprived of since the pandemic began – our conversation would drag on longer that I had wanted to every time.
I actually enjoyed the me-time very much that I decided to stay longer at the resort than I had intended to. I took time to make my way off to the land and visited a waterfall as per recommended by the resort operator. What I thought would be a walk in the park turned out to be more adventurous than I had expected. Getting off the floating walkway, I was instantly serenaded by the beauty of the lake as I looked down from a high standing point. It really was breath-taking.
I went uphill along an asphalt road, until I found a sign post that marked the beginning of the trail to the waterfall. It really was quite a hike from there on, up a concrete walkway with rest huts in places. The place looked so abandoned, probably because it was hardly visited by the public since the movement control order was enforced. Leaves were strewn all along the walkway and man-made trash tumbled from a trash bin. It suddenly struck me that I had the place all to myself and there was not a single other soul around but me. I continued hiking, until I found the said waterfall. The waterfall was smaller than I had expected, but it was beautiful nevertheless.
I wish I could stay longer, but the silence of the forest was killing me, and I had to keep brushing aside the thought of some entity watching over me from a distance or something. It was such a relief when I returned to the openness of the asphalt road, and later to the hugging comfort of the cabin room.
I would be there for another night before I had to say good bye to the cabin resort. I woke up early in the morning so that I could watch the lake welcoming the first rays of the sunrise. It was such a mesmerizing sight that I’d surely remember for a very long time. Then it was time to leave, and the boatman took me to a little tour to get a close look at the new bridge. Looking so gorgeous that takes the shape of a sailing boat, it would without doubt become an iconic structure for Lake Kenyir, if it was not already was.
Back on the solid land later, and later on the road, I had one last look of the beautiful blue spread of Lake Kenyir before returning to my long long ride back to KL. The lake was certainly the highlight of the whole trip and I was so glad that I stopped by, knowing that it would be my very last road trip out of KL before moving off to Sabah a few weeks later.
It was certainly a great ending to the very long list of outstation trips that I went to all over the Malaysian Peninsula in my 10-ish years of residing there. If there was ever a chance, I’d definitely want to come back to this beautiful beautiful lake of Kenyir.
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