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It seems this "branch" is opened by a relative of the original Hai Peng, Cukai, Kemaman owner.

As a "branch" in Kuantan town, i think this is way far better than the original, keh... their drinks and even food is better here.

They have the usual... SUPER GREAT coffee hot-or-iced (we usually take iced), tea, milo, barley, lime, bandung, sirap... not sure if the ice blended made it over to the branch. For food they have (as far as we could tell, since there is no menu) are nasi lemak with/without curry chicken, half boiled eggs (kampung variety), toast : normal/wholemeal or buns (all done themselves)in kaya/butter or spread yourself, Chicken or Tuna Sandwitch, mee-siam, curry laksa & bee-hoon soup (beef).

I ordered the curry laksa again... i really like this unusual curry laksa... it has the condiments like tradisional laksa (fish, onions, cucumber) served in spaggetti noodles. The taste is sourish like penang laksa but with added curry lemak. A really delightful mix!


We also took the tuna sandwitch that day (It's a thick toast with tuna filling, nice also... )because the bee-hoon soup wasnt ready yet... i think they serve that for lunch.


will update next round with pix of their bee-hoon soup with beef... it's really yummy... Hannah took her usual half-boiled eggs... comes in a metal container filled with boiling water which they will ask you to wait 5 minutes before the eggs are done.

It is really unfortunate that they close by 5.00pm (all other GOOD kopitiams in kuantan also) and only leaves the Kemaman chain which opens 24hrs, if not we will most certainly be visiting this shop more often.

As the name states... Ana's Ikan Bakar Petai, sells mainly "ikan bakar" or grilled fish with Petai (indigenous fragrant beans).

Situated in Tanjung Lumpur, Kuantan. When u cross the Kuantan River from town, turn at the first left and follow the road and keep left... u cant miss it.Recently they have expanded to a new shop just a few doors away from their old shack. With a business mind set ... they didn't close their old premise when the new went up... so it more or less doubled their sitting availability.

I would recommend the newer place over the latter, as the newer place has better ventilation, lighting and less crowd (for now, anyway)

Well... what's good? their Bakar Petai of course! Their signature style of cooking... it's like marinated with onions, petai and some sambal chilli (not very hot). They have lots of fishes and shellfish... for you to choose and put in your own basket, then pass to them to cook in whatever style u want from the list plastered on their wall... mainly all Malaysian styles.(aka. 3 rasa, masam manis, kicap, halia... goreng)

They also serve Air Buah Gelas Besar (Juices in huge glasses) which we ordered 2... one watermelon and another apple. Hannah and Phoebe couldn't wait to drink!


We ordered "Thaan" in chinese... eer i donno how u call this in english, "bamboo cockles"? in "masak kicap" style (stir fry with soya sauce) I think we scooped out quite a-bit for 3 people to eat. Hannah trully enjoyed this... she loves la-la... so "Thaan" was like super la-la to her...


We then went for the "Bakar Petai" with the "Kai Yue" (Chicken Fish) an interesting kind of fish to eat... has lots of meat... the marination this round was a bit dry... the previous time we had in the old place had more "chap" (juice?)... But it still tasted good... This fish is a must have in Kuantan... never saw it in KL before.


We also ordered "Kai Lan Ikan Masin" (Stir Fried Veggies with Salted Fish) and that's it... We were darn full after that meal... too much i think...

The bill came to RM50...

Bay Leaf Steak House, this is our second time here, since we came to Kuantan.

U can say, for its location... like in the middle of nowhere... this little steak-house has a fairly sizeable crowd... probably turning tables twice on weekends per meal.

They have quite a good menu selection from straight out western, to fusion to local dishes... and i can say... they do well in all.

Their soups are nicely done, in a nice big shallow bowl so it cools nicely; plus served with a hot bun with butter. They do have fresh mushroom soup too but we opted for normal mushroom this round... Hannah couldnt resist... [cost: rm5.80]


We also ordered Hannah her favourite local hawker food... fried Kueh Teow, Penang style... nicely done... not as good as "genuine" Penang style but "yummy" enough. Hannah was a bit greedy that day and ate everyones food except hers... had to go few rounds of "finish your own food, please...." [cost: rm7]


Julie had one of their "Today Special" - Baked Salmon in Spinach Cream Sauce, a lightly baked slab of salmon on a interesting creamy sauce... yum [cost: rm18.80]


I also took one of their "Today Special" - Chicken Chop in Cheese Sauce, a very nicely marinated chicken in a cheesy sauce... the portion was a bit small but tasty. I had their Bay Leaf Fusion Chicken Chop last time, which came with Fried Rice instead of Fries and it was also very good. [cost: rm14]


All of us took Juices [rm3.50 each]so the total bill was rm58.90 afer 5% Gov Tax. No Service Tax here... woo hoo!

The service is quite good, but do be aware if u unfortunately come during a sudden rush of customers be prepared to wait. they are quite shorthanded but their staff seem very well trained. Business hours are from 12.00pm-3.30pm & 6.30pm-10.30pm. They close on Tuesdays and they accept credit cards.

Ever since we passed by this shop a few weeks ago... Hannah has been bugging us to go so she could put her artistic flair to use...

So this weekend we headed of to Natural Batik Village , near Pantai Baluk area after Swiss Garden Resort Kuantan. The whole building was filled with batik... it was making batik for the entire area i think, the back portion too had a special corner reserved for the resident artist's private collection of batiks... differently priced... nice looking too...

They do give guided tours and the sales people are more then willing to tell you the process of making batik... but since we already had been to one before and knew the process... we skipped that and went straight to batik painting for Hannah.


The retail price to paint a small batik was RM10, we got a 20% discount and thus Hannah started painting her masterpiece. She had prior experience since her tadika did go for a batik experience last year... so she did quite well...

Phoebe was happily stomping around in her new "squeeky" shoes... making as much sound as she could... it was a steal at a Bata Factory outlet behind our area... only RM3.50!

the Batik Factory was also a souvenior shop for tourists... so there were tons of stuff to buy and look... overall a good stopover for any tourists...

On our way back from Pantai Kemasik... we stopped by this mangrove park, just outside Cukai Town, Kemaman. We had earlier spied its location online and on our journey north, so we decided to stop by before journeying back to Kuantan.

It was kinda hot, but Thank God, the mangrove park was all shady...

It looks like after 9 years after launch... things are starting to fall apart... Malaysia is better known for their starting rather then their maintaining... plus as a Taman "Rekreasi" Bakau Tinggi... ALAS! NO such 'recreation' facilities were around... maybe a kids playarea under the scorching sun is all there is to the 'recreation' provided...



But overall the walk around the man-made walkway thru the mangrove swamp was still pleasant... but if you were hoping for an informative journey... no hope... it's a "look only" walk... nothing to tell you about the species,history or biological information of the plants and habitat, the wiki link (above) is much better in this department.

ahh... the next place we went is Pantai Kemasik... this was a Gem!

i had initially spied this beach on internet... looking at google satellite maps... and saw! hey this looks like a nice beach... after further checking some landmarks in www.wikimapia.org, read they had some interesing snacks too...

so thus... we came to this beautiful alcove.


there are 2 parts to this beach... one is a normal nice sandy beach fronting the sea... and another corner where... it was a sea-shell paradise...


i think it is the formation of rocks and the geography of the place that made the small beach-head surrounded by rocks into a shell haven... literally tons of sea-shells were all over the place and the crashing of the choppy waters on the rocks were great...

we really enjoyed our short time here... hannah had a field day collecting interesting shells and phoebe too gleefully played in the shells...


there were several stalls setup for snacks and drinks around... selling the usual fried bananas and lekor... lots of rubbish bins around encouraging u to keep the place clean too..

But, we headed back to the main road... a couple of hundred meters away to a rest area where we had "sotong celup tepung" aka. deep fried squids... YUMMY!, also some lekor and drinks... our lunch perse...


we started our journey home after the snacks... this was as far north as we could go this time, it was getting late...

Our next stop, after breakfast in Hai Peng, Cukai was Kijal Beach...

initially i had intended to try to find a beach "Pantai Kijal" along a village near Kijal Resort, prior to reaching Awana Kijal Resort... but it looked like a kampung... and no proper sign to a public beach was in sight plus Julie had reservations in just stopping and going to someones "backyard" beach... so after driving around... we headed to Awana Kijal Resort itself to see their beach...

I was surprised... Awana Kijal is Big!... how do they fill it up... surprisingly... it was kinda full too when we drove in the carpark... we later found out a company was having a function there or something.

I think it's still moonsoon season or something... the waves were big... and the red flag was up... so no swimming... unless u seek death. BUT ahh... Thank God for the breeze... super nice wind! Thus far... all our excursions are windy... Thank God!

As a resort beach... ok ok lah... but no one in sight... as the sun was up... and it was rather close lunch time then... so we helped ourselves and settled ourselves in one of the benches lining the beach... so hannah and phoebe could play in some sand under the shade... lots of casurina trees all around too...

We headed off after an hour...

This weekend was our visit north week. So as early as we could (aka. 9.45am) we departed Kuantan... to the north... our plan is go Cukai then Kijal, both in Terengganu then back...

Most people associate Cukai as Kemaman ... but in reality Cukai is the main town of Kemaman District, Terengganu.... famous for Hai Peng Kopitiam and also Stuffed Crabs... (that will be another day). So when people mention famous Hai Peng or Stuffed Crabs in Kemaman... it's in Cukai, Kemaman in Terengganu.

so... how was the original Hai Peng?

one word...

...disappointing

We had expected the "original" Hai Peng to blow our socks off... alas IMHO Hai Peng, Kuantan is actually better. All my anticipation after having tried Kuantan Hai Peng... which is darn good already and thinking the "original" could be even better... sigh...

anyways... this Hai Peng looks almost like the Kemaman Kopitiam Chain in Kuantan... in taste and also decor. It seems the Kemaman Kopitiam Chain ripped off Hai Peng Totally... even their bland taste... :p

their special original toast was not too bad... peanut butter and bananas in toast... cool eh... so so taste only... i can make better... kakaka...


but whatever my opinion is, the place is jammed packed from the time it opens till it closes.... we might try their own signature dishes next time... asian spagetti and their ice blend... hopefully that will save it...

Actually this place is where u take some boats out to cruise along the river and also for a short stop at a mangroove forest nearby. Check the map for directions.

But we just came here to soak in the sun, feel the wind and also allow hannah and phoebe to play in the park. There are many all over kuantan... all fitted with children swings and slides and such.... many...

We will try out the river cruise one of this days... and it seems the view at night along the river bank is also nice... there are also tons of anglers trying their luck along the river bank also... and lots of kaki lepak... :p

A huge Kuantan sign is also placed on the other side of the river bank ... making it a tourist picture taking place... just to show people... u really have been to kuantan... duh!... (check the above picture of the "tourists")

The only concern we had was that some of the gates preventing people to decend the steps into the rives seemed to have been vandalized... meaning some children can just walk right into the river itself... not safe!... anyways... the Kuantan General Hospital is directly opposite the park, so if any unforseen thing happens... help is just across the road... :p