Kukup Retreat

Kukup, Johor has always been synonymous with rest, good food and retreat. I dare say that Kukup is one of the last bastion of a good destination for the wallet friendly people like my friends and I. I must point out that I have really lost faith in the local tourism as it can be quite an expensive affair for a family like us even travelling around in our own country. Sure, we have lovely places of interest, historical sites and other great attractions but they are not local friendly at all especially on our wallets as foreign tourist and tourist dollars are first priority. Yeah, it is like we are the second class citizens/tourists even in our own country.

Anyway, I must admit that after our trip to Kukup this time, I believe that my faith for fair price for local tourist had been given a tremendous boost but very much still skeptical of the fairness. Take a good hard look at the alarming exorbitant prices for Mt.Tahan, Taman Negara and even to Mt.Kinabalu including the islands....they ain't cheap for the locals..that's for sure. I know damn well what I am saying because I love travelling. I have seen how the landscape of places had changed tremendously over the years and the old rustic charm feel and people had given way to modernisation and unscrupulous price hike. That's another story, though.

Anyway, I must say that I have very good impression of Kukup and it still does retained it's lovely attraction of RFR - rest , food & retreat. So, when friends and families got together to plan for a family retreat, Kukup was the most obvious choice. Groundwork was carried out by our dear friends, Johnson & Tina and the unanimously agreed on the choice - Beijing Resort. Then the day finally came and we drove in four cars ( drivers were Dinesh, Fook Meng, Errol and myself ) to get to Kukup.  Johnson and his three children were to meet us there  between 11.00am to 12.00am that day. 

We started out with a good dose of Ipoh wan tan mee and some drinks at Ipoh Restaurant in Ayer Keroh Heights before hitting the highway to Simpang Renggam. We left exactly at about 8.00am and the highway was a little tight with plenty of Deepavali day revellers on the highway. We managed to cruise and weaved through the traffic at the highway and inched our way to the destination of rest. Rain started pelting our windshields as we reached Pagoh and as we headed towards Simpang Renggam before exiting the highway. It was raining cats and dog and dark stormy clouds started to gather successfully in the sky above signalling the imminent heavy downpour. But alas, it did not pour that day.

As we inched closer, we were informed by Johnson that we would have to park our cars at Udang Car Park. Yeah, a familiar name for me as the Royal Rangers commanders, Bachang cell group members and Kota Laksamana cell group members had parked there before during our earlier trips there. I must admit that my family and I must have visited Kukup 5 times prior to this trip and this one would have been my sixth trip. Anyway, I was looking forward to the sixth one as this was a different group of family and people I have come to regard as family. These are special people who really have touched our lives so much and I am just thankful being able to be with them. Credit must be given to Johnson & Tina for finding this place and making it such a wonderful trip indeed.

Nothing much had changed for the car park and its transportation to the town - same old no door vans! Hahahahhaaaaa.....that was really hilarious and crazy as Fook Meng, Dinesh and myself squatted ( no more sitting place in the van! ) in the van as Edwin caught hold of Fook meng's t-shirt just in ase he got flung out of the van during the horrendous driving of the van driver. Incidentally , the van was as old as the van driver, mind you! Hahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.............  As I squatted with my fellow matey , I could not help feeling like some immigrant from the nearby country landing for first time on the shores of the promised land! Anyway, I eased myself out of the van after it stopped at one of the stops. 

I could immediately catch the fishy crustacean like pong from the nearby loading/unloading dock nearby. Still the same ol' pong that will probably choke your throat and filled your nostrils with nauseating permeation if you are not careful! Alas! It was lucky that Ah Wei from Beijing resort was at hand to guide us to the resort. The resort is situated at Air Masin Kukup section of the town- the newer place of accommodation. I kinda thought that it would be on the left side of the town but instead the resort is situated on the right side of the town.

So, off we go, trudging and eyes opening at the new outlet of Hokkaido Ice Cream outlet and other seafood stalls set up along the walkway to the resort. Finally , after some good 10 minutes walk, we had arrived at Beijing Resort. We were greeted by the ever smiling staff of the resort together with Ah Wei. We were told that we are to bunk in at the top floor for our stay while lunch would be served at 12.30pm at the nearby restaurant. 

I found Beijing Resort to be a great place for rest and relax. We had the entire top floor to ourselves and with a karaoke room to ourselves, it was time to freak out and let the hair loose. Never mind if we sang out of tune or shy to take the microphone to showcase our indepth talent ( bakat terbenam! ) at singing, it was the started of great great fellowship and get together. The children got their rooms ( double decker beds,actually!) and so did we, the adults. So, time to freak out and freaked out we did. There was just so much fun, laughter and teasing around. It was such a beautiful sight of pure happiness and great smiles all around. 

For me, I was rather waiting in much anticipation on how the parents especially the fathers are going to explain to their children that there is no beach in Kukup! hahahhahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa........well, the children took it well, I must say! Soon, it was time to get lunch at the restaurant. Johnson and the children had arrived on time for lunch! Lunch was a 7 dish course of steamed barramundi ( siakap ) in Nyonya hot sauce, steamed prawns, mixed vegetables, satay sauce strips of squid, oyster sauce chicken, sweet and sour crabs and fried sotong balls.

What a sumptuous meal indeed! Then , we walked back to our resort and on our way there, most of us decided to treat ourselves with Hokkaido ice-cream namely one big dollop of flavoured ice cream sandwiched between two bun halves! To me, it is just the extravagant "roti aiskrim kiap".  Then , it back to karaoke and some wonderful singing at the karaoke room. I believe that many wonderful and talented singers were unearthed during our stay at the karaoke room!

The worship team would not be lack of singers if these guys and gals are given the opportunity to sing lar! Yup, folks, bathroom singers and malu-malu kuching ( the shy shy cat - direct translation mah! ) singers shone brightly that day and made it through lar ! Love their guts and their bravery to sing, man! Everyone had a good time and then, it was a break for tea time at about 3.00pm. 

Tea comprised of prawn fritters, fried banana ( goreng pisang ), fried sweet potato ( goreng keledek ) chui kuih ( this one is nostalgic and humbling good ! ) and a pot of green beans, dark coffee and chrysanthemum tea.  The prawn fritters and their homemade chili sauce were absolutely delicious and lovely! Definitely a specialty in Kukup!

Then it was some time of ping pong and some exploration of the resort. For me , I went to the front open deck area and noted that the immediate neighbour on the right was a manufacturer of fermented shrimp or geragau paste ( belacan ) and budu ( fermented anchovies sauce ) manufacturer. Yeah, occasionally the pong of the fermented geragau does gets to the nostrils indeed.  The ping pong matches between the combo of young and old definitely made the stay such a great time. It was pretty amazing that no one broke their back, leg or neck or any of their limbs came flying off the ping pong table by the intense competition that was on-going. There was such a great ruckus of teasing and fun at the table! Smiles & laughter were all around as usual.

I guess, the trip would not be completed without the "sunset cruise" around Kukup Island which was part of our itinerary when one visits Kukup. It was such a fun thing for the children and the adults alike. The poor belangkas ( Shoe crab ), archer fish and puffer fish were on their best show for every freaking group of tourist who had dropped by at the floating kelong /fish farm. I could not help but feel that the wooden boat was somehow overcrowded with passengers that day but heck, if we are going down, we might as well go down in style,man! Hahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.......

After a good wash up, it was time for BBQ dinner and again our host did a pretty wonderful spread of food for us to enjoy. There were char siew sauce infused BBQ chicken wings, medium sized prawns on wooden skewers, chicken satay, otak-otak, green vegetables, a big bowl of clear soup of meat & vegetables , rojak buah, chili BBQ stingray and some steamed sweet potatoes. It was a hearty meal and we really enjoyed ourselves throughout the evening. We talked, laughed and had great fellowship together till late nite and early morning. Die hard MU fans such as Dave, Caleb & Fook Meng watched the MU Vs Burnley match as the others sang karaoke before being served porridge and sweet longan drinks for supper!

While others in the group are worrying about the calories, devout and die hard foodie fans like me would just enjoy the food as it is! Sleep came easy for me as I slept amongst the finest orchestral team of nasal equipment blowers as they did their own rendition of  S concerto in DS major a.k.a Snoring Concerto in Deep Sleep major ! Truly a masterclass act and master piece of nasal and mouth skills unparallel to geniuses of the modern bed times!  

The next morning, it was nasi lemak, bee hoon goreng, mee goreng, porridge, four types of Nyonya kuih  and green beans of breakfast spread awaited us at 7.30am. It was a glorious morning and greeted by a spread of food was special too. We decided to take a walk at the Kukup Laut area where we once rented there and we met up with one of the home stay proprietor, Mr. Lee Bok Piu. Still very much the businessman that he is and the good ol' proprietor. Errol and I spoke to him for a while and he told us that business had been slow but nevertheless, he was in his usual cheery - happy go lucky ways! I guess, that's the way it is in a small community based tourist industry.  

We were treated to another restaurant lunch before we headed home for the day. It was nice to be treated to two restaurant meals for our trip which I found to be worth it. I guess, competition had been stiff and it is still the survival of the fittest when it comes to running of such a business. I really like the hospitality, kind attendance to our enquiries and even the simplicity of hosting by our resort operator and his staff. Really thankful that Ah Wei & the staff who made our stay such a wonderful one indeed. I guess, we  weren't any fussy clients/boarders and that made their life easier in many ways. What I like most of this trip was the ability for each and everyone of us to open up to rest and relaxation, great fellowship, great bonding among us, great singing too and having a ball of time. 

I am indeed thankful for having spent such great times with great families whom I have come to love very much. Special people in their own special ways and I truly am blessed as they enriched my life and my family's lives with their steadfast friendship and caring ways. Yeah, I'll pick Kukup anytime if I am ask for a destination to relax. So, thank you very much, families, for  a great time!

Johnson - Crystal - Celine - Joel - Edwin - Lorna - Lara - Ethan - Fook Meng - Joo Li - Errol - Jessica - Josephine - Jocelyn - Dinesh - Abby - Dave - Caleb - Caitlyn - Ivan - SLing - SYuen.