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The Teluk Rubiah breakaway | | 
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Ever thought that there are no decent beaches within a few hours' drive from
the Kuala Lumpur? Well, you may want to know that the Teluk Rubiah bay in Perak is only a 3 hour
drive from Kuala Lumpur, the beach is clean, the
swimming is great, and the seafood nearby is good and cheap.
The resort location.
The Teluk Rubiah Resort is located somewhere between Sitiawan
and Lumut. It has its own private beach which is very clean and well kept.
If you go on a weekday, you practically have the whole beach to yourself.
The resort is a convenient place to stay if you intend to explore the
nearby towns of Sitiawan, Lumut or even Pangkor Island.
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The rooms |
Three types of rooms are available. You can have the Superior room, Deluxe room or
Duplex room. The Superior room is just like a regular room with a queen
size double bed. The Deluxe room is similar to the Superior room except that it has a small balcony in the front and back. We don't see people using the balcony much though.
The more expensive Duplex room is actually a double
storey unit. Upstairs contains a double bed and downstairs is somewhat
like a living room with two single mattresses. This living room (measuring 12ft by 12ft)
has a polished wooden plank floor and can be used for games or sleeping. It has only one bathroom. The list price for the rooms as given in their brochure are RM220 for Deluxe, RM180 for Superior and RM400 for the Duplex. Travel agents should be able to give you much better rates than that.
The rooms are air-conditioned, and have
soap, shampoo, hot water shower, towels, TV (only channels RTM 1, RTM 2,
TV3 can be received) and a kettle. There is no fridge so you may need to bring a Coleman ice box. Sitiawan coffeeshops sell ice at RM1 per block which is sufficient to keep the ice box cool for 24 hours.
One weak point about the rooms is the lighting....it is really dim!
The room lights appear to be 10 watt bulbs. On our last visit(June 2002) there was some improvement as a 11 watt fluorescent light bulb(the energy saving screwed on type) was provided on a stand lamp in the room.
My friends brought along 2 energy saving white light bulbs (the screw on
type),
unscrewed the resort 10 watt bulbs from the ceiling sockets, and screwed
in their own white light fluorescent bulbs for the duration of the trip. This is necessary if you intend to play card games. As for us, we travel with our own 20 watt fluorescent bulb(equivalent to 100 watts normal lamp bulb) with socket and extension cord for plugging into the three pin socket available near the TV. We then hang the bulb somewhere overhead and that lit up the room. Of course, not everybody require such bright lighting as most are content to just sit and watch the TV at night. Did I mention that we also brought along our VCD player on our last trip? The button to set to the video input mode is located somewhere on the flip-out front panel of the Teluk Rubiah Sanyo TV sets.
The beach and the sea
As mentioned earlier, the beach is really clean. The sand is of a
fine light yellowish type (not as fine as East Coast sands but fine enough).
The sea has a sandy bottom and is gently sloping. Water visibility is
only about 2-3 feet so you can forget about snorkelling, but the
swimming is great. Fishing is possible near the rocks at the end of the bay.
Along the beach, there are a few Pandanus Tectorius palm trees.
You may be able to spot those big Pandanus fruits which resemble
round pineapples. They turn a bright orangy red when ripe.
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The pandanus tectorius palm
tree looks like it has legs. |
Pandanus fruits the size of coconuts |
Other facilities
The resort brochure will tell you that they have an 18 hole golf course,
table tennis, beach volleyball, canoeing etc but we did not use any of
those facilities. Canoe charges are RM10 per hour. (Some friends of ours
canoed over to the opposite deserted island in under 10 minutes).
There is a small swimming pool at the resort but most guests make use of the sea.
Places to eat
Ahhh...food...my favourite topic.
If you are really lazy, you can have very basic meals at the Cafe
in the resort. Most of us head out towards Sitiawan to indulge in seafood.
Why? Because seafood prices here are really cheap. Also, the Foochow style of cooking is not easily available elsewhere in Malaysia. You need to spend
about RM12-15 per head (the same food would cost RM30 per head in Kuala
Lumpur).
Kampung Cina
Kampung Cina is about 15 minutes drive away (11.7 km) from the Teluk Rubiah
resort. Head out of the resort and travel straight ahead. (Watch out
for the speed bumps - there are 4 of them.) At the second
traffic light, turn right into Kampung Cina. (A road sign will tell you
when to turn). Immediately after turning, you will find a few seafood
restaurants along the road. A popular place to eat is the Vila
Restaurant (about 200 metres from the traffic lights). As the method of
food preparation is different from Kuala Lumpur, ask them for their house
specialty. You may want to try the "red wine mee suah" (rice vermicelli
cooked in a red fermented rice wine or something) which is a Foochow
signature dish. If you are in the
mood, you may even want to try the fresh toddy (tastes like lemonade with
a mild kick). Fish and prawns are fresh and cheap. Medium size fish
and prawns usually taste better and smoother than large size ones. Crabs may
not be very meaty here. We tried their deep fried ikan bulus (also
called "Sah Jui" in cantonese, "silver whiting" in English). This fish
can be eaten together with the head, tail, et al. when properly
deep fried. We have also tried the Marco Restaurant somewhere diagonally opposite to Vila. It is good too and its speciality is shellfish(a few exotic types).
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The popular and cheap Vila Restaurant |
Kampung Acheh
Another good place to eat is the Chin Yih Restaurant at Kampung Acheh
outside Sitiawan. Head out of Sitiawan from the Kentucky Fried Chicken
shop towards Kampung Acheh. You will pass through one traffic light
junction. About one kilometre from this junction, you will see another
junction. The restaurant is situated just at the junction and you should
see the Chin Yih signboard on your right. Head towards the signboard and try to find
the little lane that leads to the restaurant (this
could be tricky).The seafood here is simply
superb! Again, ask for their house specialties. The fried squid here is
simply lovely, and you may be able to get raw rock oysters here (not as
big as imported Australian rock oysters but very much fresher). Their
speciality is fish of course. We ordered a small steam pomfret enough for about 4-5 people(tau tai cheong in Cantonese) and it cost us something like RM28 for the fish. This is cheap considering that the tau tai cheong is an expensive fish. If you are up to it, you may want to try
the "kai keok loh" (literal translation "chicken feet snail") which is a
type of shellfish. This restaurant also does a mean sweet and sour crab dish.
Sitiawan Town
Somewhere between the Kentucky Fied Chicken and Manjung Parade is the Bei King Restaurant. Their Fish Maw Soup with Sea Cucumber is even better than that at Chin Yih Restaurant. The specialities here are slightly different. We ordered the house speciality fried beancurd and the waiter brought a huge tauhu which we had to cut by ourselves. It was a fairly simple dish but interesting.
Fajar Supermarket
Fajar Supermarket? Well...okay. Just in front of Fajar, there is a cendol
stall which serves really good
cendol. The guy that serves it wears a bow tie (his trademark).
There is a newspaper cutting describing their cendol, framed up and
hanging from their stall. It costs only a ringgit a bowl (which
includes red beans). And the taste?...hooiyoh!!! There are a few not so
great cendol stalls around
Fajar, so be sure you get the correct one (look out for the framed up
newspaper cutting).
Places to visit around Teluk Rubiah
The old Sitiawan market
This is located just behind Manjung Parade(see map). It is
open in the morning and is a good place to browse around for odd titbits.
It is also a good idea to have breakfast there in the morning.
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The old Sitiawan market sells a wide variety of stuff.To get there, head from Kentucky
Fried Chicken towards Kampung Koh. You should pass Courts Mammoth on the way. At the traffic lights, look to your left and you should be
able to see the Manjung Parade building. Turn left at the traffic lights to
find the market. This market is open only in the morning. Details of the newer Jalan Senawi market is available on our Damai Laut page. |
Swift hotels (the bird nest industry)
This is the latest industry in Sitiawan. Many old shophouses have been
converted into roosting sites for swifts. The operators of these "hotels"
play loud chirping sounds to attract these birds to roost in their
premises from 6:30 a.m. to 8:15 p.m. The birds build nests in the
premises using a lot of bird saliva in the process. The nests, when
collected, can be sold for around RM4,000 per kilogramme. That's a lot of
money and they don't even have to feed the birds. There is one swift hotel
about 100 metres from the Kentucky Fried Chicken place (on the left along
the road to Kampung Acheh)
Lumut
I did not find Lumut particularly interesting. However, it is a good
place to shop for momentos, T-shirts and tourist stuff. You need to
park your car in Lumut (there are lots of car parks, but the one behind
the Shell station has some parking lots in the shade under trees) if
you are thinking of visiting Pangkor Island.
Pangkor Island
Pangkor Island is a small island, slightly hilly with narrow roads.
The main activity appear to be fishing and tourism. To reach the island,
you need to take a ferry from Lumut. A ferry trip takes about 20-30
minutes. Two types of ferries are available: the airconditioned and the
cheaper non-airconditioned ferries. The non-airconditioned ferry appears
to be nore regular. The ferry stops at the jetty of Pangkor town. The
adult ferry fares are RM3.50 for the non-aircon and RM5.00 for the
aircon ferry for each one-way trip. Children fares are much cheaper. If you choose to take the air-con ferry, you may have to wait for some time(could be an hour) while they collect enough passengers before departing.
Sightseeing in Pangkor Island
If you want to go around the island for sightseeing, you need to get a
taxi-van. Every taxi-van driver can sort of act as a tour guide, giving
you a commentary of the spots around Pangkor. You will need to negotiate
for the rates though. The are lots of taxi-vans at the ferry terminal.You
will have to charter a whole taxi-van for your tour which will last
around 2 hours including stops.They will normally take you to the satay fish
factory, the town, past the boatbuilding yard, the Dutch fort, Coral Bay, the Great
Wall of Pangkor (a mini-replica of the Great Wall of China at a local
Chinese temple). How much do you have to pay? That will depend on your
bargaining skills. Some friends of ours said that they paid RM10 per head.
That appears to be the standard rate. I suspect that if your group is really
big, you may be able to get away with about RM7-8 per head. So if you are
unable to get a good rate from the taxi drivers at the ferry terminal,
just walk out a few more steps to the town where you will find other
taxi drivers who may be more accommodating.
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Pangkor Island |
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| The view on approaching the island | |
The miniature "Great Wall" of Pangkor |
Getting to Teluk Rubiah Resort from Kuala
Lumpur
There are two ways of getting to Teluk Rubiah ; by the North-South Highway
(which is faster) or by the coastal road (which is slower by about half an hour).
If you are travelling north from KL via the North-South (PLUS) Highway,
you will need to get off the highway at Bidor. The journey from KL to
Bidor takes about one and a half hours.
From Bidor to Teluk Rubiah is
another one and a half hours. Once you are in Bidor town, head northwards
along the trunk road. (The trunk road runs right through Bidor town). As
you leave Bidor town centre, you will cross a small bridge. Just after
this bridge, you will need to turn left towards Teluk Intan (look out for
the Teluk Intan signboard).Once you reach the outskirts of Teluk
Intan,you should look for the Pulau Pangkor signboard. You need not
pass through Teluk Intan town centre as there are roads that bypass the
town centre. Just follow the traffic signs. If you miss the main turnoff, you will soon pass the Teluk Intan police station before the town. On passing the police station, you will
notice a left turn at the traffic lights. This leads to Pulau Pangkor.
Follow the P. Pangkor sign and you will bypass the town of Teluk Intan.
As you leave
the Teluk Intan area, you will soon reach a
traffic light about 6 km from the town. Get ready to move onto the right lane as the traffic light will appear quite suddenly. Here you will have to turn
right (again follow the P. Pangkor sign). Just after the right turn, you
will cross a huge bridge over the Perak River. As you are about to
reach Sitiawan, you will see the Teluk Rubiah signboard at one of the
traffic light junctions telling you to turn left towards Teluk Rubiah.
Follow the sign; from now onwards it is a straight road ahead for
20 minutes until you reach Teluk Rubiah resort. You will pass a few
traffic lights, and the Seri Manjung district.
As the road approaches
the resort, it will pass by some shophouses on your right. Once the road passes the shophouses, it will look
as if the road is heading into the jungle. Actually, it will cross a
small ridge after which the resort and the sea will come into view. At
the guardhouse, you may need to inform the guard your booking details
before he opens the gate for you.
Planning your journey
Try to reach the resort early in bright daylight. The last stretch of
the road is unlit and if you arrive at night, you will feel as if you
are driving through jungle. Or do like we did. We started from PJ at
7:30 a.m. and reached Bidor for breakfast. The Bidor market (just behind
the shophouses opposite to Pun Chan Restaurant) was still open and we had
our breakfast at one of the
noodle stalls opposite the market. We recommend the Pun Sim noodle
stall for their yong tau foo. You could also try the famous Pun Chan
Restaurant (biggest coffeeshop in town) on the other side of the main
street. Pun Chan is known for their duck noodles, but they don't sell
them before noon. It is a good idea to buy fruits in Bidor as the fruits
in Bidor taste really good. Bidor is
known for guavas and wax apples. The papayas and durians are not bad either. The
Bidor market is a good place to look for durians if in season. Teluk Intan
too is good for cheap durians and the prices are even cheaper than at Bidor. Ten ringgit will get you 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 fruits depending on size and quality.
Also, between Bidor and Teluk Intan, you will see lots of kampung
houses with kampung folk selling durians from their fruit trees.
On approaching Teluk Intan, if you have the inclination, you may want to
head into Teluk Intan to look at their famous Leaning Clock Tower. It is somewhere in the middle of the town itself.
Happy travelling...and remember to bring your swimming costumes,
board games, durian knife, white light bulbs etc.
Have a good time!
Links
For more information on Sitiawan town, you may want to refer to our Damai Laut Resort page.
Teluk Rubiah does not seem to have a website, but some information can be obtained from this site http://www.hotelmalaysia.com/perak/telukrubiah/ .
Or you can call up their sales office in Kuala Lumpur.
