Kuala Terengganu
After a long spell as an important port trading with the Chinese, KUALA TERENGGANU (the capital of Terengganu state) had by the late nineteenth century been eclipsed by the rise of Singapore and other new ports in the Melaka Straits. Following the transfer of Terengganu from Siamese to British control in the early twentieth century, the state became the last in the Peninsula to take a British Adviser, in 1919. It continued to languish as a rural state with, unusually, most of its settlements at river mouths rather than on the lower reaches of rivers, as elsewhere in Peninsular Malaysia.
The discovery of oil in the 1980s transformed its fortunes; modern Kuala Terengganu is even more of a hotchpotch than most Malaysian cities, sprinkled with oil-funded showpieces of varying degrees of success. There is, nevertheless, a certain austerity about Terengganu state that’s noticeable in Kuala Terengganu. It lacks the commercial buzz of Kuantan or even Kota Bharu, partly because oil revenues have barely trickled down to ordinary people but also because in some respects the state is more conservative and inward-looking than neighbouring Kelantan.
Many visitors use the city simply as a transit point for Terengganu’s best-known attractions – the pleasant beaches that line most of the coastline, and glorious islands including the Perhentians, Pulau Redang, Pulau Lang Tengah and Pulau Kapas. Using the city as a base, you can also venture inland to Tasik Kenyir lake. Kuala Terengganu itself does, however, hold enough to reward a day or two’s sightseeing, in particular the old town with its lively Central Market and the adjacent old Chinatown quarter; the State Museum, among the best of such complexes in Malaysia; and Pulau Duyong, where the city’s maritime heritage just about survives.
The kris
The kris (or keris) occupies a treasured position in Malay culture, a symbol of manhood and honour believed to harbour protective spirits. Traditionally, all young men crossing the barrier of puberty receive one which remains with them for the rest of their lives, tucked into the folds of a sarong; for an enemy to relieve someone of a kris is tantamount to stripping him of his virility. In the past some weapons were reputed to have magical powers, able to fly from their owners’ hand to seek out and kill an enemy.
The kris itself is intended to deliver a horizontal thrust rather than the more usual downward stab. When a sultan executed a treacherous subject, he did so by sliding a long kris through his windpipe, just above the collar bone, thereby inflicting a swift – though bloody – death. The distinguishing feature of the dagger is the hilt, shaped like the butt of a gun to facilitate a sure grip. The hilt can also be used to inflict a damaging blow to the head in combat, especially if there isn’t time to unsheathe the weapon.
The daggers can be highly decorative: the iron blade is often embellished with fingerprint patterns or the body of a snake, while the hilt can be made from ivory, wood or metal. Designs are usually based on the theme of a bird’s head.
Pulau Duyong
The proud home of a venerable boat-building tradition, Pulau Duyong (“Mermaid Island”) was once two islets in the Terengannu River but they were joined by reclamation to form what you see today. Although the northern section of Duyong was levelled to build a prestigious yacht club for the annual Monsoon Cup race (wmonsooncup.com.my), the rest of the island still features a rustic kampung that’s a great place for an hour’s stroll.
If you want to visit one of the handful of surviving boatyards, ask around for directions or enquire at long-standing backpacker favourite Awi’s Yellow House. One boatyard is owned by Awi, while another is close to the Sultan Mahmud bridge.
Boat-building on Pulau Duyong
The shipwrights of Pulau Duyong work mostly from memory rather than set plans. For hulls, their preferred material is cengal, a wood whose toughness and imperviousness to termite attack make it prized not only for boats but also the best kampung houses. After the hull planking is fastened with strong hardwood pegs, a special sealant – derived from swampland trees, and resistant to rot – is applied. Unusually, the frame is fitted afterwards, giving the whole structure strength and flexibility. As construction takes place in dry docks, the finished boats have to be manoeuvred on rollers into the water, an effort that often requires local villagers to pitch in.
Historically, the boatyards produced schooners that ranged from humble fishing craft to the hulking perahu besar, up to 30m in length. These days however, motorized, modern alternatives to the old-fashioned wooden boats, the increasing cost of timber, plus the lure of other careers, have all contributed to a steep decline in local boat-building. Today fewer than five boatyards are still engaged in the business. With the fall in local demand for traditional working boats, any salvation for Duyong’s boat-building looks to lie in clients from around the world, who have been placing orders for all manner of bespoke craft.
Terengganu State Museum
Arriving at the Terengganu State Museum, you might think you’ve strayed into Alice in Wonderland. Visitors are confronted by a series of buildings modelled on the archetypal Terengganu village house, but absolutely gargantuan in scale. Somehow the dislocation in size is fitting though for, although it lacks the interactive exhibits of more modern establishments, the museum far outstrips most of its provincial counterparts.
The ground floor of the main building holds exquisite fabrics from around Southeast Asia, while the next floor up displays various crafts. The top floor details the history of Terengganu. The Petronas Oil Gallery, in the building to the left, is sporadically interesting but predictably skewed. Behind it, the old-fashioned Islamic Gallery displays fine examples of Koranic calligraphy.
Allow time to see the rest of the site. Beside the river are two examples of the sailing boats for which Kuala Terengganu is famed – unique blends of European ships and Chinese junks. The small Seafaring Gallery and larger Fisheries and Marine Park Gallery are close by, as is a collection of smaller, beautifully decorated fishing boats. Five old timber buildings have been disassembled and reconstructed within the grounds. Among them, the Istana Tengku Long was originally built in 1888 entirely without nails, which to Malays signify death because of their use in coffins.
Kuantan
The state capital of Pahang since 1955, KUANTAN is an undistinguished agglomeration of concrete buildings around an older core of shophouses close to Sungai Kuantan. While there’s very little by way of historical or cultural interest in the city itself, Kuantan can be a breath of fresh air after a sojourn in Kelantan or Terengganu – it’s closer in feel to the west-coast cities than to Kuala Terengganu or Kota Bharu. If you’re arriving from elsewhere in the country, however, Kuantan can seem mundane. With the creation of the East Coast Highway to Pelabuhan Kuantan, the port 40km north of the city, it’s easy to bypass Kuantan altogether if you’re travelling between KL and the east coast.
If Kuantan has a focus of sorts, it’s the padang. The city’s oldest streets, between there and the river, hold quite a few hotels and restaurants. The best reason to hang around for a night or two, though, is to take a day-trip to the cave temple of Gua Charas or the royal town of Pekan.
Masjid Negeri
The town’s one real sight, the Masjid Negeri, was built in 1991, with a pastel exterior – green for Islam, blue for peace and white for purity. It’s distinctly Turkish in appearance, thanks to the pencil minarets at all four corners of the sturdy square prayer hall, topped with a looming central dome. Non-Muslims can visit other than during Friday prayers: men should wear long trousers, while women will be given gowns.
Teluk Chempedak
Around the corner from a wooded headland, on an east-facing stretch of coast, Teluk Chempedak has long been a popular evening and weekend hangout for families and young people. The sands of the bay are encouragingly white, although undertows can render the sea off-limits (watch out for red flags). There is an appealing liveliness about the place, quite at variance from the languorous mood on the otherwise better sands of rural Terengganu. Bars and restaurants line the main road as you arrive, before you reach the Hyatt, and there are more places to eat on the promenade.
Marang
The coastal village of MARANG, 17km south of Kuala Terengganu and not to be confused with Merang further north, is only visited by tourists as the departure point for the delightful Pulau Kapas and Pulau Gemia, just 6km offshore. Those islands have no banks or ATMs, so this is your last chance to withdraw money – there are branches of BSN and AmBank around 500m away from the waterfront area.
Marine turtles
Marine turtles on the East Coast
While four types of marine turtle lay their eggs on Malaysia’s east coast, for years the sight of the largest – the giant, critically endangered leatherback turtle – was the star attraction, drawing visitors to Rantau Abang in Terengganu. In fact all other kinds of marine turtle – green (Malaysian nesting sites include the Perhentians, Pulau Redang, Cherating, Penarik, and the Turtle Islands National Park in Sabah), hawksbill (Pulau Redang, Turtle Islands National Park, Pulau Tioman and Padang Kemunting near Melaka), olive ridley (rarely seen), and Kemp’s ridley and loggerhead (neither of which nest in Malaysia) – are also at risk.
Harmful fishing methods, such as the use of trawl nets, kill thousands of marine turtles each year, and help explain the dramatic reduction in leatherbacks nesting on the Terengganu coast. In 1956, more than ten thousand were recorded; in 2000, just three; in 2002, there were no sightings of leatherbacks in Rantau Abang for the first time since records began; by 2005, leatherback, hawksbill and olive ridley’s statistics in Terengganu were all at zero, and green turtle figures were significantly down. On the rare occasions when a leatherback turns up – there was a lone turtle in 2010 – their eggs often fail to hatch. This is probably because of the increasing rarity of male–female turtle encounters.
With a very meagre survival rate among hatchlings under ordinary conditions, any human pressure on turtle populations has drastic consequences for their survival. For the Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore, turtle soup is a classic delicacy, and while Malays eschew turtle meat, they do consume turtle eggs, which look like ping-pong balls and are sold at markets throughout the east coast. Their collection is licensed at certain sites, but there’s no guarantee that anything on sale was collected legally. There appears to be no political will to outlaw this traditional food, a sad irony given Malaysia’s general turtle conservation efforts: in many places, hatcheries pay licensed collectors for eggs rather than see them go to markets. At least the deliberate slaughter of turtles for their shells, once fashioned into bowls and earrings, has been banned since 1992.
Turtle spotting and conservation
Nowadays, humans are excluded from various designated sanctuaries for nesting turtles. At these sites the eggs are dug up immediately after the turtle has laid them and reburied in sealed-off hatcheries on the beach. Burying the eggs in sand of the correct temperature is crucial as warm sand produces more females, while cooler sand favours males. When the hatchlings emerge, they are released at the top of the beach and their scurry to the sea is supervised to ensure their safe progress.
There are several officially sanctioned opportunities to watch nesting turtles on the east coast beaches and islands, including at Cherating, Pulau Perhentian Besar and Pulau Tioman (at Juara Beach). One excellent resource is whelpourpenyu.com, set up by a company called Ecoteer which offers opportunities to volunteer on Perhentian Besar.
