Karak Kuantan Highway.

It was the best opportunity for me to try out this new Highway when I had a wedding invitation on 4 October 2009 at Beserah Kuantan. Hj Wan Ismail Embong an acquaintance of 2007 Ramadan umrah invited me to his daughter’s wedding at Kampong Balok Beserah Kuantan. An invitation card was delivered sometimes during Ramadan while I was away in Mekah.

We left for Kuantan mid morning Saturday. On the way we make a surprise visit at Hj Faharudin’s house for Hari Raya in Gombak. Hajah Rogayah insisted that we stayed for lunch but we begged to decline since we had a long way to go.

It was the first time that I took the Karak Kuantan Highway and my friend warned me that the Highway is a little bit bumpy. It is a good Highway but rather monotonous. Jungles and Felda scheme span along both sides. We stopped for lunch at Temerloh R&R and I enjoyed the “gulai tempoyak” and the bamboo shoot. It was ages since I tasted a well cooked “gulai tempoyak”. We exit at Gambang Kuantan and looking for car air condition service centre as my Perdana air condition piping was frozen and emitting warm air instead. The Kuantan Chinaman whacked me for RM 30 for gas refilling and defrosted the piping. We headed for Teluk Cempedak but Hyatt Hotel was fully booked. We settled for MS Garden Hotel which is adjacent to Parkson Grand. We were not familiar with Kuantan and we just bulldozed our way with the road sign as indicator.

Since it was early evening we decided to survey where Kampong Balok Beserah is and took a slow drive. I called up an ex Guthrie colleague, Hamzah Ibrahim and since he was somewhere around Kuantan he promised to meet me at the Hotel later at night. From the attached map at the wedding invitation I found Kampong Balok and Hj Wan Ismail address. I was surprised to see a huge beautiful two storey bungalow with tents all spread within the compound in ready for a wedding carnival. Hj Wan Ismail that I know in Mekah was a simple old man, soft spoken and acted like just an ordinary Kampong Imam. I wasn’t sure I was at the right house and stopped to inquire. I was spot on and Hj Wan Ismail who happened to be very busy at the frontage suddenly got a glimpse of me. He came running excited to greet me and invited the family into the house to meet his family. We were very happy to see each other again and Hj Wan Ismail least expected that I would come all the way. I inquired about his oversize son, Bob. Bob came in from nowhere but Bob was no more that oversized compared last seen at KLIA. I could hardly recognize him. We sat for a while as we had to back track to Kuantan for the night and would return to attend the wedding reception the next day. Hj Wan Ismail was upset that I did not forewarn him otherwise he could get me a Hotel or Chalet somewhere near Beserah. Swiss Garden Hotel is just nearby.

It was a grand wedding and I was given an exceptional reception. A special friend when he introduced me to his Kampong mates. I remember the last night in Mekah before we left for home, I saw him meticulously roping the various boxes very neatly. Jokingly I asked him what he wanted to do with all the rope back home and he told me he could use it to tie up the cows. He laughed when I told him it could also be used to hang someone.

We left after the Bersanding and hit back the Kuantan Karak Highway. The weather was fine all the way. We stopped at Temerloh R&R for tea and at Genting Sempah Petronas Station for refueling. Hj Adenan called from Kota Kinabalu whether we wanted anything in particular from KK. We told him only to bring back Sabah “udang kering”. We reached home before Isyakh.

It was a successful trip to Kuantan and Beserah. We picked a few salted “ikan tenggiri” and “keropok” but the most nostalgic was the “gulai tempoyak and rebung” at Temerloh R&R. When I was a small kid in the kampong, it was the regular dishes my Opah used to cook. No wonder, my cousin Dato Malek just fancy taking a drive to Temerloh just to enjoy “gulai tempoyak ikan patin”. I don’t fancy ikan patin, anyway.

I hit the sack early, least interested of the Chelsea/Liverpool clash. I was damn exhausted to the bones.