Temperature: 31 Degrees Celsius
Track of the day: "Life is wonderful, Jason Mraz"
"This has to be one of the nicest buses I've ever been on," Alecs says to me after we are served a light lunch and a cup of tea en route to Cherating. "I would have to agree," I say nodding my head, "but don't forget the sleeper bus we took in Southern Laos," I add. Although we agree that the bus we took in Laos was better, we cannot help but notice how comfy this one is. With huge plush reclining chairs, a tray
table, light lunch, coffee and tea served onboard and only 6 people on board (including the five of us) it makes the 4 hour ride fly by. We arrive a short while later in a little town 45 minutes outside Cherating where we hail a couple taxi's to transport us to Cherating Beach Resort. In contrast to our rather drab Kuala Lumpur hotel this resort immediately has us all relaxed. Two large inviting pools lead towards the beach, dotted with palm trees and a long stretch of sand. Our family room proves plenty big enough for the 5 of us, with two bedrooms, a living room and 3 bathrooms with a large balcony overlooking the pool. We barely spend five minutes in the room before we're all changed and heading to the beach. Long reclining beach chairs under nipa umbrellas spill onto the soft sand where the clear blue waves splash against the shore. We all head straight for the water, which is tropically warm and refreshing all at the same time. Being the off season the waves are quite powerful, but that in there lies the fun. We wade out a dozen meters or so to the point where the waves break and crash into us. A particularly large wave comes towards us and we all brace for the im
pact and suddenly I feel my face sliding along the sand under the water. Scrambling to pull my head above water I seem to only exacerbate the situation causing myself to perform somersaults as I am swept towards shore. When I finally get back on my feet I am hit with yet another wave. After gathering my senses I scan the horizon and find the rest of the family scattered along the beach, regaining balance and pushing back out for another dosage of pain. "Oh boy, this is going to be a big wave," Mom shouts as we are sucked out like a high powered vacuum before a pummeling wave crushes us all sending us barrelling towards the shore. The afternoon continues on much the same until we all agree we have too much sand in too many places to continue. Gathering up our belongings we head back to our hotel room but find ourselves unable to resist the temptation of a beautiful, blue, large and very empt
y pool. It isn't long before we are all swimming laps in the freshwater, racing each other from end to end and I even bring down some snorkelling equipment to play around with. A shower and a quick catnap back in our breezy room precedes a lovely dinner at the beach side restaurant. Wanting to try some authentic Malaysian cuisine I opt for Nasi Lemak, a coconut based stew served over rice and we all order fresh tropical colourful drinks. For a starter we are served a variety of kebabs with a delicious Malaysian peanut sauce as well as some vegies for dipping. "This rice cube is really good," Alecs notes as he savours the delicious treat. "It's like a sugar cube, only it's rice," Dad s
ays as we all finish off the plate agreeing to try and make this at home. Our main courses arrive and my dish lives up to the Malaysian spicy food name. "What are you doing?" Sam asks laughing through sips of his fruit shake. "I'm trying to eat everything really quickly," I say as I shovel spoonfuls of food into my mouth, "so I can enjoy the taste before I feel the burn." With that last sentence my mouth comes alive with pain
and I manage to slurp down an entire coke, eat all the ice and half the rice before the feeling subsides. While the Nasi Lemak proves to be thoroughly delicious I doubt I shall try it again for a while. The sun has set and the lights around the two pools illuminate the resort and we wander to the outdoor billiards room to shoot a few rounds of pool. Mom, Me and Alecs against Sam and Dad but the result is always the same 
- of course I will say my team won every game but that might be greatly contended by a couple others. Now thoroughly relaxed in our secluded piece of paradise where we are the only foreigners around we head to bed, happy as clams.
"I'm ready," Alecs says the next morning, already changed, towel in hand as I groggily rub my eyes having just woke up. "We're on vacation," I say glaring at him, "you should still be sleeping." Alecs shakes his head, "exactly," he says smiling, "we are on vacation so lets go to the beach." Surprisingly enough Sam and Dad are already awake, however they soon make it quite apparent that they spent a little too much time in the sun yesterday. Sam and Dad are both a brilliant shade of red and every movement causes them considerable pain. Still, it isn't long before we are chowing down on a delicious breakfast and back on the beach in the lazy lounge chairs. Our morning and afternoon consist of much the same as yesterday, fighting the waves, sipping fruity cocktails, building sandcastles, eating burgers and ending with a long swim in the empty pool, along with some moans and groans from the burnt onesThis evening we are having tepanyaki at the beach restaurant but decide to head into town for a look around before hand. We are dropped off along th
e main drag and lazily make our way down the street checking out all the quirky little shops en route. We stop at a little outdoor hole in the wall restaurant cum bar cum guesthouse for a few beers along the river. Running through the town is a muggy little river/creek where firefly's come alive at night and nestled beside the river are a number of little family run places. We grab a little wooden table outdoors and order a couple pitchers of beer. A young boy arrives with our beer and some frozen mugs- and by frozen I truly mean frozen. "Um," Dad stutters looking at his glass, "I think this mug is a little too chilled," he says to the boy smiling. Indeed, his mug is not just icy chilled like ours are but rather is one solid piece of ice inside and out (you couldn't pour beer in it if you tried. The kid and his friends quickly de-thaw the glass and we all sit around the table enjoying the night sky. A little thatch roof living room sits beside us where the young boy and his f
amily watch an old Val Kilmer movie that proves to be particularly cheesy proving some great laughs. After our drinks we head down to the beach before grabbing some ice cream and heading back to the resort for dinner. Our time continues on much the same, bea
ch, tropical drinks, pool, billiards, video arcade games, beach and just relaxing until like all good things it also comes to an end. Our last morning it starts to rain, a fitting goodbye as we pack up our belonging and head back to Kuala Lumpur. The bus ride back to the city seems much longer than the bus ride there and we are all feeling a little down but consoled by the fact we will be in Cambodia tomorrow - a true love of our lives.
Until next time so long,
Alecs and Meg in Cherating, Malaysia
table, light lunch, coffee and tea served onboard and only 6 people on board (including the five of us) it makes the 4 hour ride fly by. We arrive a short while later in a little town 45 minutes outside Cherating where we hail a couple taxi's to transport us to Cherating Beach Resort. In contrast to our rather drab Kuala Lumpur hotel this resort immediately has us all relaxed. Two large inviting pools lead towards the beach, dotted with palm trees and a long stretch of sand. Our family room proves plenty big enough for the 5 of us, with two bedrooms, a living room and 3 bathrooms with a large balcony overlooking the pool. We barely spend five minutes in the room before we're all changed and heading to the beach. Long reclining beach chairs under nipa umbrellas spill onto the soft sand where the clear blue waves splash against the shore. We all head straight for the water, which is tropically warm and refreshing all at the same time. Being the off season the waves are quite powerful, but that in there lies the fun. We wade out a dozen meters or so to the point where the waves break and crash into us. A particularly large wave comes towards us and we all brace for the im
pact and suddenly I feel my face sliding along the sand under the water. Scrambling to pull my head above water I seem to only exacerbate the situation causing myself to perform somersaults as I am swept towards shore. When I finally get back on my feet I am hit with yet another wave. After gathering my senses I scan the horizon and find the rest of the family scattered along the beach, regaining balance and pushing back out for another dosage of pain. "Oh boy, this is going to be a big wave," Mom shouts as we are sucked out like a high powered vacuum before a pummeling wave crushes us all sending us barrelling towards the shore. The afternoon continues on much the same until we all agree we have too much sand in too many places to continue. Gathering up our belongings we head back to our hotel room but find ourselves unable to resist the temptation of a beautiful, blue, large and very empt
y pool. It isn't long before we are all swimming laps in the freshwater, racing each other from end to end and I even bring down some snorkelling equipment to play around with. A shower and a quick catnap back in our breezy room precedes a lovely dinner at the beach side restaurant. Wanting to try some authentic Malaysian cuisine I opt for Nasi Lemak, a coconut based stew served over rice and we all order fresh tropical colourful drinks. For a starter we are served a variety of kebabs with a delicious Malaysian peanut sauce as well as some vegies for dipping. "This rice cube is really good," Alecs notes as he savours the delicious treat. "It's like a sugar cube, only it's rice," Dad s
ays as we all finish off the plate agreeing to try and make this at home. Our main courses arrive and my dish lives up to the Malaysian spicy food name. "What are you doing?" Sam asks laughing through sips of his fruit shake. "I'm trying to eat everything really quickly," I say as I shovel spoonfuls of food into my mouth, "so I can enjoy the taste before I feel the burn." With that last sentence my mouth comes alive with pain
and I manage to slurp down an entire coke, eat all the ice and half the rice before the feeling subsides. While the Nasi Lemak proves to be thoroughly delicious I doubt I shall try it again for a while. The sun has set and the lights around the two pools illuminate the resort and we wander to the outdoor billiards room to shoot a few rounds of pool. Mom, Me and Alecs against Sam and Dad but the result is always the same 
- of course I will say my team won every game but that might be greatly contended by a couple others. Now thoroughly relaxed in our secluded piece of paradise where we are the only foreigners around we head to bed, happy as clams."I'm ready," Alecs says the next morning, already changed, towel in hand as I groggily rub my eyes having just woke up. "We're on vacation," I say glaring at him, "you should still be sleeping." Alecs shakes his head, "exactly," he says smiling, "we are on vacation so lets go to the beach." Surprisingly enough Sam and Dad are already awake, however they soon make it quite apparent that they spent a little too much time in the sun yesterday. Sam and Dad are both a brilliant shade of red and every movement causes them considerable pain. Still, it isn't long before we are chowing down on a delicious breakfast and back on the beach in the lazy lounge chairs. Our morning and afternoon consist of much the same as yesterday, fighting the waves, sipping fruity cocktails, building sandcastles, eating burgers and ending with a long swim in the empty pool, along with some moans and groans from the burnt onesThis evening we are having tepanyaki at the beach restaurant but decide to head into town for a look around before hand. We are dropped off along th
e main drag and lazily make our way down the street checking out all the quirky little shops en route. We stop at a little outdoor hole in the wall restaurant cum bar cum guesthouse for a few beers along the river. Running through the town is a muggy little river/creek where firefly's come alive at night and nestled beside the river are a number of little family run places. We grab a little wooden table outdoors and order a couple pitchers of beer. A young boy arrives with our beer and some frozen mugs- and by frozen I truly mean frozen. "Um," Dad stutters looking at his glass, "I think this mug is a little too chilled," he says to the boy smiling. Indeed, his mug is not just icy chilled like ours are but rather is one solid piece of ice inside and out (you couldn't pour beer in it if you tried. The kid and his friends quickly de-thaw the glass and we all sit around the table enjoying the night sky. A little thatch roof living room sits beside us where the young boy and his f
amily watch an old Val Kilmer movie that proves to be particularly cheesy proving some great laughs. After our drinks we head down to the beach before grabbing some ice cream and heading back to the resort for dinner. Our time continues on much the same, bea
ch, tropical drinks, pool, billiards, video arcade games, beach and just relaxing until like all good things it also comes to an end. Our last morning it starts to rain, a fitting goodbye as we pack up our belonging and head back to Kuala Lumpur. The bus ride back to the city seems much longer than the bus ride there and we are all feeling a little down but consoled by the fact we will be in Cambodia tomorrow - a true love of our lives.Until next time so long,
Alecs and Meg in Cherating, Malaysia
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