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During the 1970's and early 80's, there were two places in Terengganu where travellers would stopover. Merang and Marang, two quaint coastal kampungs where they could get away from the city and from impersonal motels and hotels. The only places to stay in the kampungs were in the homes of villagers. Soon word got around, the villages were circled on the maps and notebooks of backpackers as a must stopover.

Not to be confused with names, Merang is the take-off point for visitors to P.Redang, P.Lang Tengah, P.Bidong and the other islands off this part of the coast. And Marang, is the take-off point for P.Kapas which is much further down the coast. With recent activity in the likes of coaches loaded with tourists roaring in and out, the village has surprisingly retained much of its originality and still exudes the tranquil beauty that once travellers flocked to experience. Scattered around the village, are a number of cheap chalets.

Merang is still pretty much a fishing village. Life goes on as it has for generations.

Down the road from the jetty lives an old man. He and his family live modestly on a small plot of coconut plantation. A little Malay house built on stilts, chicken running around and cats lazing in the shade for a hot afternoon siesta. Nothing different from other houses at first glance.

Unlike his neighbours, Pakcik no longer goes out to sea for he is too old and weak to carry on such strenuous duties. To supplement the family income, he harvests coconuts. Well, not him really. He has trained several pig-tailed macaques to carry out the job for him. The macaques are incredibly smart monkeys and are often trained to climb coconut trees to pick young kernels. Pakcik shouts out a few words of commands to the macaque, the animal understands, moves to the next frond and twists the coconut from its hold, dropping it down to ground. Once contented that it has done a good job, climbs down the coconut tree and up the next one. Pakcik and his monkey collect about 100 coconuts a day. He sells them at only 10sen each to the middle person - a meagre earning for most of us folks but the family lives well enough with their harvest.

A little further round the river's bend , traditional fishing boats are parked in rows of two or three along the banks. Here, the fishermen tend to their chores of mending, sewing and repairing of nets, buoys and fishing lines in the evenings. Not too long ago when the roads here were only narrow dirt tracks, huge monitor lizards were seen sunning themselves by the banks of the river. Undisturbed, the lizards could grow to a whopping 2metres in length. The otters were around too. But with so much activity here lately, they may have moved upriver or into the little tributaries nearby for some solitude and clean air!

charcoal kilns

There are in fact river tours into the upper reaches of the river. If you have time and would like to catch up with some riverine life- you could make arrangements with Encik Ishak not far from the village. Ishak owns a nice, lived-in little budget resort just by the sea called Kembara Resort and he is able to arrange river safari trips to visit the colonies of fireflies that live in the swampy marshes. I hear the boat charges are about RM300 for a boat that sits up to 10people.There are also trips arranged with the fishermen for a day's outing at sea on their fishing boats.

Not too far from Kembara Resort, a few families from the village make their living converting wood into charcoal using traditional kilns that look a little like brown igloos from a distance. The family who live and work on this small plot of coconut plantation collects the coconut husks as cinder for the furnace which is kept burning for days. If you are able to hire a bicycle, there is so much to see at Merang. The old ways are still very apparent here and the resorts have comfortably blended in with the environment without causing too much undue damage to the beauty and serenity of the place and its people. It's a great place for bird watchers too! if you sit still for a little while to

Old kampung house at Aryani

absorb and inhale the ambience and the new breath of life - you may find the place opening up to you. This is the time when you will get to see the added dimensions of travelling and living ..and life in Terengganu. Aryani Resort is another place to stay at Merang but is priced at the other end of the spectrum to Kembara Resort. A dream come true for the owner and conceptualiser, the resort is built on the malaysian village concept. In fact the owner, Raja Bahrin Shah bin Raja Ahmad Shah has relocated and restored an old traditional Terengganu timber malay house to the current location at Aryani. This is the perfect place to pamper yourself rotten. Set in a quiet location, the resort offers a hideaway for the overworked executive where one can indulge in doing nothing but relax.

Accommodation and Holiday Packages to Kuala Terengganu, Merang, Marang, Kapas Island, Tenggol Island, Gemia Island, Redang Island, Lang Tengah Island, Bidong Island, Penarik, Rantau Abang, Kenyir Lake, Tanjong Jara, Dungun, Paka and Surroundings

Malaysia Islands