Tekam Day 2, December 16

We all went for breakfast at 8.  The food was simple, only a few dishes but all tasted good.  Then it was off the the Herb Farm for a walk about.  We were shown quite a number of herbs including vanilla!  But the boys did not enjoy it.  They complained of the morning heat, sunny at 10am.  We made it short and then headed for Gelanggi Caves.  We did one easy cave as the boys were not too keen about caving.  However, they liked the cool breeze blowing at the cave entrance, after a long stairs climb.

We then took a drive around Jerantut to have a look at this town which leads to Taman Negara.  Sad to say, there was nothing much to see.  There was not many pre-war buildings, which is what we would have loved to see.  There wasn't even anything good to eat.  We walked the market and got some nettings to replace our torn fishing nets.

We headed back for Tekam as the boys wanted to go swimming.  Got them to the pool at 3 and they stayed till 6, with a burger break in between.  It rained again in the evening while they were swimming.  That cooled the evening.  After showering, we walked to Garden Terrace for dinner and had kampung fried rice, tea and sirup bandung.  Delicious.  The sky was not as starry as the 1st night, nonetheless it was a beautiful cool night.

Tekam Plantation Resort Day 1 - A Different World

Our stay started with a power failure.  A tree had fallen on to TNB's cable just outside the plantation.  So we had to sit and wait.  While Derrick brought Joey to have a look at the fish pond, and while Jordan and Johan stayed in the room to play on the netbook, I took a walk in the resort area at midday.  Took some photos of the plantation as it looked so good.  After walking for some time, Derrick came driving by and picked me up.  We went back to Chalet No 49 and found that Jordan had gone looking for me.  He called me on the mobile from reception for us to pick him up.  The power supply came back on at about 3pm and soon the boys wanted to go swimming.  I dropped Derrick and Joey at the fishing pond, drove to the swimming pool with Jordan and Johan who went straight into the pool.  I sat down beside the pool to read a book.  It was hot!

I picked Joey up from the fishing pond at about 4.30 for him to join the bigger boys to swim, and went back to collect Derrick at 5 as it was threatening to rain.  Luckily for him, I picked him on time.  By the time we got to the swimming pool, it started to rain.  And it poured.

Derrick joined the boys in the pool in the rain while I waited for them beside the pool, reading.  After some snacks, a couple of burgers and sausages, we decided it was time to get back to the chalet at 7pm.  We had cup noodles for dinner.

We went for a walk after dinner to the reception, Jordan wifi-ed there while Johan and I had tea.  There were so many stars that night that we totally enjoyed the walk back.  Cicadas and crickets were the only creatures chattering away in the silent night.

The Last One Week (Holiday for the Boys) - Tekam Plantation Resort

We decided very much in the last minute last week to bring the boys for a holiday as they had only three weeks before going back to school.  Derrick had bought some MATTA fair vouchers in September so we called Felda's Tekam Plantation Resort for 2 nights' stay (Dec 15-17) and Awana Kijal (Dec 17-19).  Derrick also called his aunt Cherry at Dungun to say that we will be coming over for a couple of nights.

We started packing on Monday, clothes, fishing gear, food stuff and whatever else needed for a long driving holiday.  The car was packed in on Monday night and we all left for Jerantut Tuesday morning at 7am.  We reached Temerloh Rest Area for breakfast at 9am before we got off at Chenoh Exit to travel on the Jenka to Jerantut trunk road.  We passed so many Felda estates in Jenka, one of the earliest Felda settlement.

We got to Jerantut and realised that we should have turned right instead of left at the T-junction leading to Jerantut on the west and Maran on the right.  We doubled back and I got so stressed up because Derrick said it was my fault we missed the turn.  I broke down in the car at Tekam.  We got to our chalet No 49 at 2pm and there was no electricity!  Oh no, power failure.