Drive to Kuala Terengganu.

30.7.2008.

Last Friday my wife and I drove to Kuala Terengganu. I can't exactly remember the last time I drove to KT. It must have been at least 10 years ago. The changes are remarkable, but a few , I'm afraid, are not "positive". 

In my early working career I had visited KT often. So it's with a certain fondness that I remember the place. Fortunately, many of the lasting visual impressions I had formed are intact. For one thing, the drive all the way from Beserah in Kuantan, Pahang, to KT along the coast is beautiful. You have to take your time and step lightly on the accelarator to enjoy the view. You need to stop every so often and take in the scenary on foot. I didn't do that driving up to KT, but made several stops driving back the return trip, and I didn't get enough of the natural prettiness of Terengganu.

It's too bad that development can't be stopped, because it scars the landscape. You should, as we did, stop at the towns along the way. We stopped at Marang - too much building in too little space. We drove past Rantau Abang and Tanjung Jara. Years ago I would have stopped and put up the night and go turtle-watching late in the night with other tourists. Alas ! the turtles are gone ! We stopped at Dungun - the old aerodrome, UiTM outside town and the pretty beach. We stopped at Paka - on going roadworks took away some of the enjoyment. We drove through the massive Petronas village of Kertih. We noticed the urban tastes - the Interior Decor shops, McDonalds, a huge supermarket seemingly in the final stages of completion. And the golf course along the highway. We slowed down through Kijal and saw the durians. In my early visits in the 70's I would stop and buy durians by the roadside. We didn't stop this time, until Chukai, Kemaman, or Kemamang as the locals pronounced it.

Chukai has also changed with the times. Years ago I could just park anywhere. This time there were parking bays with real parking wardens complete with real uniform and armed with real parking tickets. When we sat at a warung for some refreshments, we dicovered that the price of food has also really caught up with the times !

Except for some stretches along the way, the road system has certainly undergone tremendous upgrading in Terengganu. It made the drive pleasant. The road is wider and well-marked. I remeber the early years when overtaking was precarious, and even passing each other required our full attention. The only negative comment here is the number of traffic lights that have been installed. Someone must have gone berserk and decided every road junction should have traffic lights. I lost count of the number, but can certainly remember too many of them set up even where there were no obvious reasons to have them, like many spots where to the left and right of the road there were clearly no buildings or anything that could generate the kind of traffic that would necessitate the installation of the blessed traffic light. 

My other observation was the need to control the construction of buildings so close to each other, and especially so close to the road. The local authorities clearly should define their visual planning of Terengganu. Land is not in short supply, so it should be utilised well and not have man-made construction impingne on the natural lay of the locality. In KT and all the towns I passed through, I notice this rather conventional approach to building in the township as well as all along the road. By this I mean the tendency to cluster close together, doubtless because of the ownership titles and provision of the utilities. Perhaps the State Government could learn a thing or two about designing township and linear construction that would enhance the beauty of the landscape rather than contradict it. In terms of spatial endowment, I think in Peninsular Malaysia only Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang still have the luxury of being able to design development unconstrained by land shortage.

KT itself has grown almost beyond recognition to what it was perhaps 20 years ago. I remember staying right in the town at the Hoover Hotel. I don't know if it's still there. By nightfall the town went to bed early. Now numerous modern constructions have sprouted, again, sadly, jarring the skyline. Good ol' Pasar Payang is still there, though not the good ol' prices. In fact the durians and the dukus were selling at exactly the same prices as in Seremban. And the Seremban dukus are from Terengganu ! 

My final comments on road signage and public toilets are endemic. We in Malaysia really, really must do something about these. We have learned how to que, so these we can learn, too. On the way up to KT from our pit stop in Kuantan I lost my way 3 times trying to get on the road to KT through the disarray of the large modern highways lying before me. And this was simply because of the  smallness of writing of the signs,, or the bad positioning of the signs, or even the absence of the signs.  I even ended up on the East Coast Highway leading back to KL ! I'm sure many of the JKR engineers have been abroad, or may have even studied abroad. I didn't have any difficulty driving on the US turnpike for the first time in a left-hand drive 12-seater MPV. Can we hope for some improvement here eventualy ? 

And the public toilets are just, well, shit ! I'm certain all Malaysians behave normally in their own homes. I'm also certain these same people when in England or Australia observe good hygiene. But somehow when they enter the Malaysian public toilet they just lose their marbles ! I suggest, until there is a drastic improvement in this department, every public toilet visitor pay a returnable deposit of RM 50 which is reimbursed, minus the usual fee, of course,only after the attendant has verified that the cubicle used has been restored to its original condition. It's a pity that describing a fun drive to Kuala Terengganu must end like this, talking crap. But certainly the pleasure we got is not diminished. I suggest you folks visit Kuala Terengganu, soon. Just avoid the public toilets.

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