Pekan

I spent the night in Kuantan but did not do much there other than get something to eat. I did walk past the Mosque on the way to the hotel and stopped and took a picture.

From Kuantan I caught a local bus to Pekan. My guide book only had 2 places to stay listed and one was full and the other was a little bit of a walk and also cost more than I wanted to spend so I stayed at a place I just saw the sign for. It had to be one of the worst hotels I have ever stayed in but I slept OK so does it really matter.

Pekan was at one time the royal capital of the region. I tried going to the Sultan Abu Bakar Museum but it was undergoing restoration so was closed. I did visit the open air museum across the street from the closed museum. The open air museum had a number of boats of different kinds, shapes and sizes from a canon made of bark to a large wooden boat that had a crew of 20 men. I found this boat sort of striking.

I then walked past a couple of mosques but on the way I walked on a bridge over a small river. While crossing over the bridge I spotted something swimming in the water but it went under a bunch of grass right after I saw it. I was not sure if it was a big lizard or a small crocodile. It was maybe a meter and ½ or 4 feet long and not something I wanted to go stomping around in the grass trying to figure out what it was while yelling come out and bite me you chicken reptile.

After the mosque I walked up to the Sultans Residence but it is not open to the public and than around to the polo field. I never before knew how big a polo field is. It was huge. On the walk back into town I saw some fruit trees and plants of the fruit I have been trying but it was interesting to see the tree or plant they came from. I saw a dragon fruit plant that looks like a cactus to me. I also saw a jackfruit tree, and a Rambutan tree.

I seemed to really enjoy the stop in this town even though I would not really recommend it to anyone.