Cherating Beach, a Beautiful Beach in the East Coast of Malaysia

Long time we did not visit any beach in Malaysia and we noticed that every time we travelled, we always neglected the beautiful East coast of Malaysia, where lies the most popular beaches in Malaysia. So this time we planned for the beaches around Kuantan. Due to monsoon, the exotic Redang and Perhentian Island were out of the league. We did a quick research on the popular beaches around Kuantan and Cherating beach seemed to be the nicest choice.

We started very early, around 4am and after a hundred kms on the boring expressway, decided to make a detour from Cherating towards lake Chini. Tasik Chini, as it is known locally, is a manmade lake in the heart of a rainforest and the narrow road to the lake passes through several Malay villages, Kampung as they say. So you can see some traditional Malay style wooden buildings, and also the lovely Sungai Chini flowing side by side. There is only one accommodation in Chini lake, Tasik Chini Resort just overlooking the lake. Advance booking is necessary as the two times I visited the place, I found it was full house. You can opt for a boat ride on the lake and there is a small restaurant serving food to outside guests as well.

After breakfast in the Chini lake resort, we drove towards Kuantan and crossing the town proceeded towards Cherating beach. We heard good review about MataHari Hut opposite to Little Bali, Cherating and decided to stay there.  

There are few other budget accommodations in Cherating, like Payung Guest House, coconut inn,Tanjung Inn, Ranting Beach Resort etc and you can choose any from these as all are mostly same. On average, the accommodations at the opposite side of the road are cheaper than the ones located by the beachside. In most chalets you have options for attached and shared washrooms and aircon or fan. There are options for four bedded and double or single bedded rooms as well. In MataHari Hut, Cherating we had the provision to use the kitchen and along with free tea coffee anytime, we can also cook simple meals if wish to. There is a minimarket few meters away. There was also a refrigerator to use for.

The Cherating Point Surfing training center is run by the same family and for your information, Cherating is pretty popular among beginner surfers. After checked in, we went for a swim. The South China Sea looked to be calm despite the monsoon season, and the water was comparatively clear. You can swim, but look out for jellyfishes because people were stung by jellyfish on this beach earlier. Well, we did not find any during our stay. There were like millions of hermit crabs throughout the beach and we also noticed plenty of shrimps and glass goby and crabs.

We took lunch in a small restaurant and went to the Turtle Sanctuary in Cherating. The centre was actually a small hatchery in 1972 and in 1988 it was officially open to public to educate people on the importance of the conservation of turtles. It was fully managed by the Department of Fisheries Malaysia together with the Pahang State Government. They made this 3.5kms of beach protected and when turtles lay eggs they collect the eggs and relocate those in the hatchery area with supervision of the management. The center can be visited anyday except Monday between 9.00am to 12.00pm and 3.00pm to 5.30pm. If you are lucky and any turtle comes up to the beach to lay eggs, you can go to the center in night and closely experience it in the presence of the rangers.

We booked a firefly tour with “Hafiz FriendlyFireflies Watch” group and we got blown away by it. After the awesome tour came to an end, we spent quite a long time discussing with Mr. Hafiz about the fireflies and I am already a big fan of that man. It was already 10, we took our dinner in the…, just opposite the road, the best thing is this restaurant remains open until 1 am. The fried rice was great as was the omlette with veggie. If you have time, head to Chukai town in Kemaman for seafood dinner. There is one famous dish, stuffed crab, crab shell stuffed with crab meat and some other ingredients, baked and served with their homemade sauce. Next day, we took breakfast on the beachside café, and after another round of swim in the sea, we bid good bye to Cherating and started for KL.