Carpacker RMCO and Back To Hometown – 01 – Breakfast in Port Dickson & Teluk Kemang

Alhamdulillah, as soon as the government announced the Recovery Movement Control Order, RMCO (or short form of PKPP in the Malay language regarding COVID-19 spread prevention), allowing vehicles and people to cross state borders, we jumped for joy as a family.

After being cooped up at home for almost 90 days, who wouldn’t be thrilled? The most pitiful were the children who only went out of the house three times, and even then, it was to accompany us to the supermarket and just sit in the car (if I’m not mistaken, it was MCO4 or 5).

Although interstate travel was allowed on June 10, 2020, it was only on June 13 that we got the chance to travel due to work obligations on weekdays and our son Aqif’s online home learning. At the village, there’s only one bar of 4G signal, making home learning more difficult.

Our first choice for interstate travel was to visit my in-laws in Pontian, Johor, to celebrate the remaining month of Eid. So, on the morning of June 13, we left early at around 7.00 am, heading to McD at PD Waterfront, Port Dickson.

To get to PD Waterfront, you need to exit at Lukut and not go all the way to the end of the highway towards Teluk Kemang. I’ve never seen friends come here because most head straight to Teluk Kemang.

We were really craving the McD breakfast menu.

I went in to ask the McD staff at the entrance… “Bro, can children come in?”

“Sorry, bro, children under 12 years old are not allowed to dine in,” he replied.

So, I asked Tatie to buy the food inside while I took care of the kids.

But no worries, we picnic outside here with the takeaway meals. Look at that view. This is even better!!!

It reminded me of the time we ‘carpacker’ to Terengganu and had lunch on a similar beach.

“Drink first, bro.”

The view ahead of our breakfast spot. Far ahead is the open sea.

This is the sea view to the left.

I zoom a far as I can with camera and you can see other parts of Port Dickson leading to Teluk Kemang.

If McD is behind you, turn right, and you’ll find a road leading to the sea. This small road is designated for launching or retrieving small boats or jet skis.

Here’s the view in this area. At our breakfast spot earlier, we couldn’t go down due to the large rocks. To feel the seawater after 3 months of lockdown, this is the place.

My hair has grown long, not because of the COVID-19 lockdown, but because I wanted to. It’s been over a year. I’m embracing the spirit of a traveler, a free spirit. With that, I’ve ended my up-and-down trips to ministries proposing various IT infrastructure improvements because I’m tired of my proposals being copied by others. I think I’ve made over 8 proposals, each over half an inch thick, from 2005 until 2018.

If you pose well, it’s definitely Instagram-worthy.

View on the left side of the small road. You see those large rocks, right?

We then went back up to the earlier spot but to the left. Since it’s still early in the morning, the atmosphere is a bit shady. This time, I don’t want to add app filters to the pictures to keep them original. I’ve seen too many fake pictures in travel groups. Places with dark green trees made to look bright green like Switzerland or Kashmir.

Filtered photos sometimes make the sky bluer like in foreign countries and not original. Not cool!

At the end, I think there are more restaurants, maybe open from afternoon to evening.

Aqif also wanted a picture next to the tree.

There’s a low wall built here, but it’s of poor quality. On the right of this picture, there’s a wall and cement floor that collapsed on its own.

At first, I thought Lat’s cartoon character was squatting, but the round thing is a ‘gasing’ (traditional Malay spinning top).

In front of Lat’s cartoon, there’s an island. So, I zoom-in as far as possible. I think part of that island might be a mangrove swamp.

There should be a mini jetty here, but the floor has collapsed and is closed to the public.

Finally, we took a picture of the PD WATERFRONT signage as a memento. Overall, this place is interesting, and we might come again if we want to stop by McD. For me, this McD is among those with the most attractive surroundings and views in Malaysia.

Maybe this place is lively and happening at night. There’s also a Starbucks next to McD. The picture at the signage is somewhat spoiled because… you know the reason. No need to spell it out.

Oh yes, next to McD is a hotel called Dwarf Hotel which I found quite interesting. We might stay here for a night if we want to take the ferry to Dumai from Port Dickson Jetty.

This is the Port Dickson Passenger Jetty I mentioned. It’s not far from Dwarf Hotel, just 1.5km and easy to find on Google Maps. I parked the car and went in alone to ask about this place from the guard on duty. He said:

1. The ferry to Dumai from here takes 3 hours.
2. Many passengers prefer Melaka, but this place is closer to KL.
3. The ferry to Dumai from Melaka has a journey time of 30-45 minutes shorter than the ferry from here.

My opinion, initially, I thought of staying overnight in PD if going to Dumai. Maybe I will change the plan to depart from Melaka Jetty. Although it’s further from KL, if staying overnight there, at least at night, we can explore many places on foot like Jonker Walk, and the next day, we can board the ferry. For the upcoming Dumai mission, we will leave the car at home and take a bus to Melaka for 2 hours.

Next, we headed to Telok Kemang Beach, the most popular in Port Dickson. We’ve been here dozens of times, but to complete the story of ‘carpacker’ during the PKPP era, we included it.

This time we just stopped by to play in the sand and buy food. For those who want to picnic here, the tent rental is quite reasonable at MYR30 for the whole day.

Aqif has always loved inaugurating the sand.

Then it was Ezra’s turn. This was his first time stepping on beach sand. And I, as the dad, started teasing him.

By burying his feet in the sand, keh keh keh!

Ok, the carpacker moves to the last stop, Fort Supai, and visiting my sister-in-law’s house.