You probably won't find any port information about this place if you search the internet. This is because I think the PP was the first cruise ship to go there ever. I may be exaggerating, but not by much. The port was 100% a 'working' port. There were no passenger facilities and the buses were driving through a maze of shipping containers to exit the place. There were almost no taxis available at the pier and from what we understand none of the drivers spoke English. However we did talk to a couple who were able to hire a driver for US$20 for the entire day (I don't know how they did this with the communication gap).
We had booked the Royal City of Pekan tour. First they drove us on gravel and paved roads for 45 minutes into Kuantan and then we continued to drive further towards Pekan (another 45 minutes). We turned off onto this nearly invisible dirt road that I think had never seen anything bigger than a pickup before (remember we were on a big tour bus) and drove down aways until we got to these wooden huts. One hut was the birthplace of the second prime minister of Malaysia, the hut beside it was a museum of his life. We weren't sure why this was a major site, but after reading on our own through the museum we discovered that this was the guy who was instrumental in obtaining Malaysia's independence from British Colonial Rule. The tour guide did not tell us this. Across the street was a bigger hut-like complex which was a silk factory. I just presumed that this meant a forced shopping excursion. No, just the opposite. We walked over and there were 2 women weaving cloth on old fashioned wooden looms. That's it. No store, no salespeople, nothing, just 2 girls who ignored us while working. It would have been nice if the tour guide had at least explained something about the process but he did not. We walked back across the dirt road and back into our tour bus and drove to the outskirts of Pekan and the royal compound.
One of the interesting things the tour guide did tell us is that 9 of 13 of the Malaysian provinces have Sultans. Every 5 years there is an election held by the country to see which Sultan will be King of Malaysia. The King is purely ceremonial. This Sultan (whose compound we were visiting) was not the current King and we couldn't find out from the tour guide if he had ever held the post. Since he was living in his palace we drove up to the front gates and took pictures of the gates.
Then we drove by his 2 polo fields. He had a rusty steam train that he had converted into a dressing room at the polo field and we were allowed to get out and take pictures of the outside of the train. The big claim to fame here was that Prince Phillip (UK) had played at this polo field. We also saw the horse stables from the road (they were quite a distance back).
Then we got back in the bus and drove to downtown Pekan. It was all of 2 blocks. We got out and walked the 2 blocks and I have to say I was a little frightened. It was obviously an extremely poor area and the locals stared at us with an intensity that I found disconcerting. The 'stores' we passed were pretty meager and everything was filthy, including the one restaurant that had flies swarming all over the 'buffet'. At the end of the 2 blocks was the Sultan's museum. It was in the former British Governor's house. Basically it was a lot of memorabilia of the Sultan and his family and a few old ceramic items of Malaysian Heritage. It was about 30 minutes of interesting items and then 45 minutes of blah. The place was obviously not set up for hordes of tourists. I do have to compliment the Malaysia tour guides on being organized though: they got all 3 tour groups there at different times so that we did not overwhelm the museum.
After this we were supposed to go to the watercraft exhibition across the street but it was closed. The guide really had not planned this well because we could have gone there first (while it was till open) and then gone to the museum. So we got back in the bus and drove to Kuantan for lunch. We did not arrive at the restaurant until 1:30 pm so many people were very hungry.
The restaurant was in the nicest hotel in Kuantan but it was very spare. After the royal treatment in Ho Chi Minh City I was shocked. There was a linoleum floor and the chairs were all broken. The tables were formica. Let's just say that ambiance was zero. But this can be made up for with a good meal, right? Well they seated 10 people at the tables (which were made for 8) and we were elbow to elbow. ALL the Princess tours were at the same place and the staff were obviously overwhelmed. It took awhile to get served and then they just dropped dishes on our table without telling us what anything was.
Page 5 > > Asia Cruise on the Pacific Princess - More on Kuatan and Bangkok, Thailand > >
