Discover Mersing and Desaru - Part 4

Today is Friday, 3rd June 2011 and we woke up not so early for Subuh….almost at the end!!! It was cool and bright with mild sea breezes. Except for Pak Su (who was still enjoying his sleep), we took a walk by the beach, Pantai Air Papan…..a very nice bay, flat long beach, golden sands and islands dotted the horizon …. Pulau Rawa, Pulau Besar, Pulau Sibu, Pulau Tioman, Pulau Aur and many more. No wonder Mersing is known as the gateway to some of the most beautiful islands in the East Coast of Peninsular.

So, we took the opportunity to watch the sunrise. Just awesome...and later walked and walked, chased the sand crab, collected sea shells, took photos until we reached the end of the beach, blocked by a hill and rocks. That is the beauty of Mersing beaches, tucked between hills, isolated beautiful bays and beaches....quite different from the many beaches we normally see around the country.

We then had simple breakfast at a gerai by the beach and we chit chat with the shop owner and learned a few interesting facts about Mersing. He also sold ‘telur penyu’ (turtle’s eggs – Hawksbill turtle?) at RM10 per for three which the local people searched on the isolated beaches or the islands around Mersing. I didn’t fancy ‘telur penyu’ and I strongly support turtle conservation, but Ibu couldn’t resist her temptation (reminded her of her childhood days), so I guess it was a good enough reason for her to buy a few for herself, her mom and her grandmother.




After breakfast, Ibu and kakak decided they needed more rest so they went back to the room and onto their beds, whereas Pak Su was still sleeping. So Adik and I decided to explore the Mersing beaches further. So we took on the road (newly opened) along the beaches heading north from Pantai Air Papan, cutting through the hills and the pristine jungle…that’s when we came face to face with all these nice beautiful unspoilt beaches of Mersing…one after another, all of them tucked in bays, in between the hills…and the beaches were empty and you could basically do what you want!!

When we went back to the room, Pak Su was not there!!! Alamak!!! But we suspected that he must have gone to the pool…..true enough, he was enjoying himself in the pool, under a bright sunny day. So Adik joint in with his uncle and I did my reading while waiting and keeping an eye on them. Once done with the pool, Ibu and kakak have also taken their shower, we decided it was time to check out and move on. So, we said goodbye to Sri Mersing Resort and headed towards Mersing town following ‘jalan dalam’ or beach road. Half way, we remembered that we forgot to collect the ‘telur penyu’!!!! So we changed our plan a little bit, where we went for a round tour of pekan Mersing after which we went back to Pantai Air Papan for solat Jumaat and of course the ‘telur penyu’.

While we had our solat Jumaat, ibu enjoyed herself with kakak at the gerai eating ‘telur penyu’…so much so that we had to wait for almost one hour before they came to fetch us after solat Jumaat!! While waiting, we enjoyed ourselves by the beach. We were planning to travel further south to Desaru following the beach road. But before we finally said goodbye to Mersing, we had lunch at kedai mamak and entertained ourselves to a round of cendol (must be the famous cendol in town!)…. marvelous.






Everyone was full and happy; we drove on towards Desaru, another 150 km south of Mersing. The road was different from the past, there were more cars and trucks (road was busier), winding roads passing through palm oil plantations…it was a bit boring and then it rained. Along the way, we also discovered the latest edition of FELDA Residence ie in Tanjung Leman (we like to stay at FELDA Residences as they are real value for money). We shall include a stay there in our next trip down south.

We finally reached Lotus Resort in Desaru around 4pm and it was not bad of a place, perhaps the best resort in Desaru and the most popular among Malaysians and Singaporeans. We checked in, got into our rooms (facing the in house waterpark) and relax, before we had shower and did our solat. At around dusk, we went round the resort just to familiarize ourselves with the facilities and after that we took a drive exploring the beaches of Desaru….many unoccupied hotels / resorts along the way. We then proceeded to Bandar Penawar to look for nice dinner but we were disappointed as there was not much choice at all….the whole town was quiet and dark. So we decided to go back to the resort and have dinner at the Teratai Coffeehouse instead.

There were many people having buffet dinner (of course as this is school holidays) and the coffee house is located at a very nice location, with nice green lawn separating the café from the beach and there were many people entertaining themselves and their families to all kinds of activities from playing football, ‘flying lights’ or even just running around or sitting and doing nothing. Adik and Pak Su also joint in the fun after the dinner and we entertained them as much as they wanted. Before going back to the room, both of them got stuck to playing video games at the in house arcade….got to wait some more, but it was fine as long as they are happy.

It closed at 11pm, so we walked back to the room and had our sleep, ready for another water park day tomorrow.