A wet holiday at Kuantan with the family

Would you expect a holiday at a Kuantan resort to be hot and sunny? Sure is since our destination this time would be the Bukit Gambang Resort! So, there I went, packing singlets or sleeveless tees and shorts for the kids and myself.  But, instead of a holiday of sun and tan, we were unexpectedly greeted with relentless rain and gloomy skies.  Adamant that the east coast would be our holiday destination, we had totally forgotten about Mother Nature's power on the east coast around the end of the year. Going to the beach during the monsoon season around this time of the year somewhat turned our holiday into a wet one.

Thankfully, Wyng was dressed in a pair of long pants and jacket on his first day in an early morning journey. He was in his long pants and jacket most of the time we were in Kuantan.  Most of our car journeys were surrounded by cool and misty air and we didn't even turn on our air-cond.  "Sun, sun, where are you?" yearned all of us. We even thought we were at Genting at certain part of the place.  The kids prayed real hard that 'Smiley' would be out soon so that they could play at the water park.

"Rain,rain, go away, come again another day". From the highway to Kuantan town, we were accompanied by the continuous drizzle.  

When we finally reached our hotel at noon, it was still drizzling.  Not being able to check-in as we were 2 hours early and the kids also couldn't play at the water theme park in that wet weather, we decided to head to town to lunch first.

Daddy suggested Teluk Chempedak, (Chempedak Bay) a popular tourist destination in Kuantan since we were just a few kilometres away. As we neared the beach, the rain had stopped. This was our first time to this beach.  Stepping out of our car, we were pleasantly surprised that the waves were so choppy.  The refreshing strong wind made all of us felt that the drizzle prior to reaching the place had brought us to Teluk Chempedak.

Although it was a Sunday, the beach was not packed.  There were picnickers, children frolicking at the shore  and some beach activities such as kite flying and boating.  Many just lazed around to enjoy the strong wind and view.

We didn't want to 'waste' the view. There were McD and KFC and we chose the latter as it is nearer to the beach. What a view!

What a windy day!

Although the view outside is magnificent, we chose to eat indoor as it was just too windy out there

After our KFC meal, we took a stroll on the pavement along with scores of other holiday makers, taking some windy air.

Wyng with his 'drug' ice-cream, and Hoe having jolly fun

Hoe attempting to climb the coconut tree

As we reached the end of the pavement, we were amused by our roaming intelligent 'friends'. One of them, who was obviously thirsty,couldn't resist the bottle of apple juice left on the grass and efficiently broke it to quench its thirst.  The smart monkey, after drinking half a bottle, went on to harass a girl who dropped her bread out of fear, to the monkey.  After some pictures snapping, it's about time to check-in into our hotel.

It started to drizzle on our way back to our hotel, can you believe it? The kids were lamenting how unlucky they were as they couldn't play at the water park.  They could do nothing but wait for the Rain God to call it a day.  By the time when the drizzle stopped, it was late noon and to go into the park at that hour would mean that the kids could only enjoy for a couple of hours or two before it closed.  So, the final decision was to go to the park the next morning. The other water activity would be swimming at the hotel 'infinity' (so-called) pool.

Well, it's better than nothing.  Not a big and fantastic pool, but the kids, nevertheless, enjoyed themselves.

Hoe and Wyng had a whale of a time at the pool...

...despite the gloomy weather

At night, we drove out to Kuantan town, hoping to get some Chinese food for dinner. Compared to KL, Kuantan is never famous for its delicacies, so don't hope to savour any yummy food.  The further we drove, the heavier the rain got. After a fruitless hunt for Chinese food, we finally settled to eat at Pizza Hut at Giant. It was a good dinner though, good service too.

In order to spend the night 'productively', I took the kids to the family amusement centre located at the same hotel. Because of the drizzle (oh no!), they couldn't ride the carousel and others.  They settled for some of the arcade games there.

That's the end of Day 1, a wet, wet one...