Mag got up at 6.30am while I got up at 7am. Went for breakfast at the hotel coffee house about 7.40am. The spread wasn’t big, so had French toasts, some mini sausages, a bit of fried noodles, a small bowl of lontong and a glass of fruit punch. Mag had similar food but instead of lontong, she ate mee hoon ayam and had tea with milk. The elderly couple shared a table with us and while the husband and Mag went to get food, the wife commented that I looked familiar. Don’t recall seeing her before so replied that I have a common face. She said common face is good, means look kind-hearted. So I just smiled back and just then, the other two came back.
My breakfast :
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Mag looked at my bowl of lontong and commented that she never had that before. I asked her if it was because she didn’t like lontong or never even try before. She said the rice seems weird given that it is compressed. Then I asked if she eats the rice that came with satay and she replied no. Told her to at least try a little before deciding that whether she likes it or not. After trying a very small bowl, she confirmed that she doesn’t like it. As there were still time before departure, we explored the nearby area of the hotel and took some photos. Unlike the day before, it was a very hot and sunny day. We set off at 9am to go to Sungai Lembing which translates to “River Spear” and used to be a tin mining town. Now it was quite a dead town with a tin mining museum on a hill nearby that used to be the bungalow of the tin mining manager. While on the way there, we passed by the Charas Cave, also known as the spiritual cave.
During the journey, James told us that near Sungai Lembing, there is a Bukit Panorama which offers a beautiful sunrise view. Unfortunately, we were not going there though it was stated in the itinerary. James then told us to try the jumping noodles in Sungai Lembing and he explained that it was called jumping noodles coz the maker of the noodles actually jumped on the wooden stick that press the dough. So after we alighted in front of a so-called hawker center which has only a few miserable stalls selling drinks, coffee, tea, noodles and so on, I went to order a bowl of yong tau foo noodle soup to share with Mag. The guy from another extended family told me to try the noodle and the tofu and to eat with clear soup. So I ordered as told and returned to the table.The noodles were indeed different from the normal ones. They were very Q and tasty while the tofu was really very, very soft.
 The noodle... |  ... and the stall. |
After we were done eating, we took a slow walk down the street where the coach was waiting for us. While walking, we took some photos. Many shops were either closed or vacant. Got to the end of the street and there was an open field with some tents. James told us that there were some sort of carnivals going on and such events only happen once or twice per year as a form of family gathering. Mag was perspiring like mad and so she bought an angry bird hand fan. Boarded the coach and we passed by the museum, James asked if we would like to visit the museum and some indicated interest. So it was decided that we do the suspension bridge walk first before turning back.
 The few shop lots |  Petrol kiosk in the middle of the road |
Carnival in Sungai Lembing
According to James, the bridge, Jambatan Gantung Kolong Pahat Bridge, was about 200 years old and the cables are still very strong. It spans across the river to another part of the village where the famous Mee Sungai Lembing, the shop that produces the noodles that Mag and I had earlier on, is. It was difficult to balance oneself on the bridge when walking along it with so many other people on it. Got across, found the shop, saw the man who was making the noodles and managed to capture him in action. Besides selling noodles, the shop also sells coconut biscuits and some other local snacks. Was tempted to buy but they came in big packets so decided not to in case no one eats them. The other group members bought a lot of things, from a few packets of noodles to a few packets of biscuits.
Jambatan Gantung Kolong Pahat Bridge
 The left view...  The famous Mee Sungai Lembing |  ... and the right view from the bridge  People making the noodles |
Some photos of the Sungai Lembing Museum :
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Moved off to the Charas Cave and along the way, we were told that there were about 160 steps to climb, both concrete and iron. The cave is made up of seven adjoining limestone caves. As there are cracks in the caves, water seeps in hence, there are formations of stalactites and stalagmites; and when they join, it becomes a column. Inside the cave were statues of Buddhist Gods, the Taoist Gods and one section of the cave has a Jala Lingam temple while towards the end of the cave is the reclining Buddha. Just before going up the steps to the reclining Buddha, there is a hole right on top where the sunlight can shine in. It was said that any day between 15th of June and 15th of July, the sunlight will shine in and hit the forehead of the Buddha and it makes the Buddha shine. There used to be Thai monks from Thailand station in the cave but now there isn’t any. Got to the destination and we started climbing the steps.
The cave was big, there were some constructions within and also some vandalism on the cave walls. There were statues of deities here and there and traces of joss sticks. We saw stalactites, stalagmites and columns. There were water dripping, puddles of water here and there and some parts of the caves were muddy and slippery. Tried to take some photos but the battery went flat. Replaced with spare battery and still didn’t manage to take any good photos coz it was too dark and the pictures turned out to be all black even with flash on. After we were done with the cave, we proceeded to have late lunch about 2+pm and we had curry fish head for one of the dishes. After eating, we traveled to the Cherating Turtle Sanctuary.
Some photos of the Charas Cave :
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Visitors had to take off shoes before going into the sanctuary. We were shown a short video before exploring other parts of the sanctuary where we read about information about the four different types of turtles, namely Leatherback Turtle, Green Turtle, Hawksbill Turtle and Olive Ridley Turtle, how they lay eggs, how the sanctuary handle the eggs after that, so on and so forth. There were three ponds where some adult and baby turtles were kept. Took some photos before going out to another area, the Cherating Beach, where the eggs of the Green Turtles were buried till they hatch. According to the sanctuary, only the Green Turtles lay eggs on the Cherating Beach. The sand was very, very fine and that is the reason why the turtles came to the beach to lay eggs coz it is easier for them to dig holes. The eggs were buried in the sand inside a fenced up area with tags stating the date that the eggs were laid and the number of eggs. Just beside the area was the entrance of Club Med.
Some photos from Cherating Turtle Sanctuary :
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Took some photos and we set off to the Batik Village where James explained to us how batiks were made and what the differences between Malaysian batiks and Indonesian batiks are and how to differentiate real and fake batiks. Malaysian batiks feature mainly flora patterns while Indonesian feature both flora and fauna; Malaysian batiks has distinct patterns while Indonesian batiks are more abstract. Real batiks will show the same patterns both sides of the cloth.
There are two ways to make batiks, the block printing method and the free hand drawing method. The first method requires the design to be made into a printing mold, dip into a hot solution of melted resin and wax and print onto the cloth. Then chemical colors will be painted accordingly before soaking the finished product into warm water to melt away the wax if the batik is to be used as material. If it is to be made into a poster, the gold color wax can remain. As for free hand drawing, the painter has to be really creative coz if he or she makes a mistake, he or she has to try to merge that mistake into part of the design. After the demonstration, we were given time to walk around and buy some batik products if we want to.
Some photos from the Batik Village :
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Left the Batik Village to Pak Su Restaurant for dinner. Along the way, we stopped by a fruit stall selling watermelons, bananas, mangoes, rambutans and papayas where those uncles and aunties bought some fruits to bring back to the hotel to eat. The restaurant faces the South China Sea but unfortunately all the tables outside were reserved hence we had to sit inside. Went out to take some photos before eating dinner.
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The South China Sea
James said there was a parsam malam near our hotel and asked if we would be interested. A number of us express interest so he suggested that we head back to the hotel to unload some stuff before taking the coach to alight at a point nearest to the start of the parsam malam. So went back to the hotel room, dumped our stuff and just took the necessary. Got to the parsam malam, Mag and I started looking around the food stalls excitedly.
We bumped into the extended family of six, the one where the guy told me to eat the lembing noodle in clear soup with tofu. His mother was buying the bamboo glutinous rice snack and he told us that we should try that too. Also that if we want to know what to try, we should follow his mother. So his mother helped us order a portion of the bamboo glutinous rice snack without the gravy for RM2.00. Zigzagged on both sides of the stalls to check out the various food stalls and we bought a pack of oneh-oneh for RM1.00, a bag of 10 sticks of satay (5 sticks chicken, 5 sticks beef) for RM5.00, a box of bamboo rice cakes for RM3.00 and a bag of dumpling looking things for RM2.00.
While on the way to parsam malam, Mag saw Secret Recipe in one of the shops nearby and said she wanted to get a slice of the chocolate banana cake. So after we were done with the parsam malam (which we were only interested with the food), we went on to get the cake for RM7.40 before heading to the 7-11 in the nearby shopping mall to get two bottles of 1.5l of water for RM5.40. Made a stop at the Starbucks to use the Wi-Fi but I couldn’t get a connection while Mag managed to connect using her iTouch.
Got back to the hotel room, laid the food on the table and took some photos before feasting. I found that the bamboo glutinous rice tasted a bit savory while Mag said it was sweet. I prefer to eat it with the satay sauce while she prefers it plain. The bamboo rice cakes were nice coz it was my favorite. The dumpling looking thing turned out to be otah otah where instead of the usual orange color, they were grey in color of fish paste with grated coconut and very spicy.
Food from the Parsam Malam
Oneh-oneh was a let-down coz the skin was very thick and the gula melaka wasn’t very fragrant. Then we started on the cake but I only ate a little bit coz most of it was cream. Mag said that her colleagues told her the cakes from Secret Recipe in Malaysia were tastier but she felt that the cake wasn’t as smooth and fine compared to the ones in Singapore. Also the bananas in the cake were in chunks while those in Singapore ones were in slices. After eating, Mag went to take her shower while I rested before taking mine. And finally slept about 11+pm.
Thoughts: It would have been nice if we had gone to Bukit Panorama to see the sunrise and given more time to explore Sungai Lembing. The old shop lots there would have made very nice photo shots. A pity I didn’t know how to take good dark shots otherwise I would have been able to take more photos of the interior of the Charas Cave. Cherating beach is indeed very nice, if only we had spent more time there or walk on the beach. Parsam malam food were mainly kuehs, fried chicken, satay, grilled meat or seafood, colorful fruit drinks, coconut shakes and so on. Different from the Singapore kind of parsam malam food.
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