Holiday at Terengganu

We stayed at Kuala Terengganu, the capital for Terengganu state for one night at a nice hotel known as Seri Indah. Compared to the very basic little 'hut' at Pulau Kapas, this hotel was luxurious with large rooms, large beds, coffee and tea facillities and a swimming pool. It was also right next to Batu Buruk beach.

The beach at Terengganu was different from Pulau Kapas. It was an open sea and the waves were strong. No one dared to swim there due to the waves and the sharp sloping sea-bed. However, it was as beautiful and there was such cool breeze. We went to the playground, played kite by the beach, the kids rode on horses and best of all, there was an A&W near the beach. Cool!

The only drawback was all the mat-rempit lepaking at Batu Buruk beach. Mat rempit are like bikers except they are the low class bikers NOT the Harley Davidson kind of bikers - usually those from high powered jobs like bankers and CEO of companies. Mat rempit are like the cheap-O bikers and it wouldn't be such a bad thing if they were only interested in their bikes but unfortunately, it is a culture that involves things that are haraam like trophy girls, illegal races and menace on roads and sometimes even theft and crime.

It is quite sad to see the Muslim youth wasting their time and lives away...but in some ways, it is a failure of the system and a failure of promoting awareness of Islam. The youth needs a purpose and today, we are so quick at blaming the youth and labelling them a lost cause but look at the youth in Tunisia and Egypt...all they needed was something to fight for. Why do we deprive our youth of their true purpose, which is to be the carriers of da'wah...beacon of Truth and justice. The first Muslims during the time of the prophet (saw) were youth and they were strong and passionate; they embraced the cause of Islam with all of their hearts...

So, that was Terengganu. We drove along the coast and I kept stopping to look at the beach and the crushing waves and wishing that I could stay a few more days...a month, a year or maybe forever in Terengganu. The Sea, the cool breeze and the people were so nice. I could truly be myself there. I was like jumping up and down on the beach singing :"I love it here" and nobody even cared. The best thing was everyone spoke with a different slang so, nobody cared that we were different. You would think a cosmopolitan city like KL, people would be more open minded but we get so many stares from people and when I speak to my children, it is like people look at me with such judgemental looks but in Terengganu, everyone spoke funny and it's great. I love it that they add a 'g' after each word like 'depan-g'. It's sooo cute!

I love Terengganu...it makes me happy just thinking that Terengganu is just 7 hours drive away.