The short getaway to Mersing!

The view from the hotel we stayed in, RajaVillas, which is situated on top of a hill

If you want to be away from a place filled with tourists, interact with nature and experience village life, one of the places you could go to is Mersing. Many parts of the town remain undeveloped. For those seeking an authentic village experience, there are even home stay options!

Mersing is a town in which my grandmother was born and grew up in. Her dad, Kalimuthu, was well known in Mersing. He helped in the building of the very first school in Mersing. My grandma told us stories of how Mersing didn't even have any schools during her time. She and her siblings had to travel to JB to go to school. 

Till this day, there are still people in Mersing who remember my great-grandfather and my grandmother. There were two masseuses who came over to our hotel room to massage my older relatives. They recognised my grandmother once she told her dad's name and soon they realised they knew each other and their families! Early in the morning, when some of my older relatives went out to buy breakfast for the rest of us, it seems that some people in the market knew my grandmother and her dad too. It was really interesting listening to the nostalgic stories my grandmother shared with us about her younger days growing up in the little town.

Coconuts to quench our thirst!

A street stall selling local delicacies.

Air Papan

Air Papan

Air Papan is a popular beach in Mersing. It is the best place to go to if you are a seashell collector. There are so many different kinds of shells you can find, washed out to shore by the waves. The water looked pretty dirty, so I ended up just getting my feet wet and building sandcastles instead of swimming. There were many stalls selling different kinds of local delicacies. We succumbed to our temptation and got ourselves a home-made ice-cream each and had a coconut to drink! In the warm humid weather, the coconuts and ice-cream was just what we needed. 

There aren't many shops in Mersing. But every Friday night they have a pasar malam (a bunch of street stalls). From delicious local delicacies to unique clothes, you can find a variety of different things being sold in the pasar malam. The things in Mersing are really cheap. I managed to find a shop in the more developed part of Mersing selling nike and addidas shoes. I managed to get a nike shoe at 185 Ringgit. The same shoe would have probably cost me more than 150 Singapore dollars.

I love the food in Mersing. They were not only cheap but were ridiculously delicious too! I had nasi lemak for breakfast one day and the chilli they gave to go along with the nasi lemak was, without doubt, the best that I have ever tasted. We had seafood for dinner on both the nights that we were there. It was cheaper than in Singapore but tasted so good! I tried wild boar for the first time ever. It tasted just like chicken!

Peaceful, relaxing and ridiculously affordable; Mersing is the ideal place to go to if you want an authentic village experience (opt for the home stay option) and if all you want to do is to put your feet up!