Our short weekend getaway trip to Kukup in Johor, Malaysia
JRVacation and family went on a short weekend trip to the small fishing resort town of Kukup in Johor, Malaysia.
Kukup is a fishing village built on stilts and lies on the southern end of Peninsula Malaysia, just a short 1 hour drive from Singapore. On this weekend, we booked a mini bus that took us, total of 10 adults and 4 children, to this small town of Kukup that is fast becoming a favourite among Singaporeans looking for cheap and good food. We booked a one night stay at one of the chalet that comes with more than 5 rooms and able to accommodate up to 40 pax! The chalet was well equipped with fully aircondition, karaoke system, pool table, electronic darts, and individual bathroom for each room. Coming from Singapore where we lived in small 100sqm flats, the kids were totally enjoying the spacious double storey chalet.
The tour package not only includes transport and accommodation, it also caters a total of 5 meals over the 2 days. Dinner was a BBQ buffet with the caterer cooking and serving us fresh seafood from the local catch, including fresh prawns, stingray, satay, and others.
As night fall, we bought some fireworks for the kids to play. These city kids from Singapore had never played or seen real fireworks and they were totally enjoying it. And not just us, there were other groups who spent the night lighting fireworks and paper lanterns. The night was followed by a incall massage session followed by more Karaoke session.
The Kukup fishing village consists of dozens of houses that sits on stilts, above a swampy land that gets filled during high tides. It was our first time seeing such architectures. However, most villagers and tourists found it convenient to simply dump their garbage onto the swamp and it is fast becoming smelly and unsightly. We hope something could be done by the association to prevent such misbehaviour and conserve the nature.
Most houses were built in concrete, so it was nice to see some older wooden plank houses. More than half of the houses here were converted to chalet style, catering to tourists from within Malaysia and Singapore. Tourism, therefore, is becoming an important source of revenue for this small town. Most villagers were receptive and friendly towards tourists and visitors.
Amidst the old kampung houses, we found a modern looking cafe and bakery. But unfortunately, it wasn’t open. In the town center, we could find many souvenir food selling local produce. There was even a fast food restaurant but we wonder who would travel all the way here to have fast food.
An old school kedai kopi (coffeeshop). As the tour package includes all meals, we decided not to spend on any other food. It was still nostalgic to see this kind of shop.
All in all, the short getaway was fun and really affordable. Each pax cost only $105 that includes everything we needed. The kids enjoyed themselves and we adults were able to have a nice weekend break.
