Saturday, July 4, 2009

Workshop at Impiana, Cherating Beach

Impiana Resort at Cherating Beach, Pahang, Malaysia (Google link to Satellite Photo Database)

Following on my 3-day vacation to the Lis Na Ree in June, I was picked to attend a 3-day workshop for my company. The workshop was held at the Impiana Resort, which sits along the Cherating Beach, between the Suria Cherating Resort to the north, and the Club Mediterranean Resort complex to the south.

(Right: Pool at Impiana; east lobe not in photo)

As seen in the air-photo, the Impiana has a central reception and dining building (beside the pool), with wings of rooms to the north and south each parallel to the beach. Thus, each room has an ocean view, which is actually uncommon for beach resorts.

My college periodically holds workshop "retreats" away from the office in order to accomplish major tasks in an environment supposedly away from distractions. But, by virtue of being in the midst of some of the finest beaches in the world, the resorts that are used to host the workshops become the distraction! And the Impiana is one such fine place to stay.

(Left: East lobe of pool; like a mirror at 7am)

Hopefully this brief report will give you a desire to visit this wonderful resort. Due to the overall worldwide economic downturn, there were very few visitors to the resort this past week, and those that did attend had plenty of pampering. The staff were very friendly and helpful, and the resort kept clean and well-decorated.

(Right: Inverted image of above photo)

Of course, when I rate a resort or hotel/motel, I start with the swimming pool. With access to a pool, I will swim at least once a day, and sometimes twice. The Impiana did not disappoint with a large twin lobes separated by a floating divider. The lobe to the right butted up against the main building with windows looking out from one of the ground-floor conference rooms. One distinction about the Impiana pool is that there is a waterfall from a pool on the first floor, which drops water down into the right lobe of the outdoor pool. One can sit under the waterfall and obtain a refreshing shower massage!

(Left: Joggers cross finish line provided by rising sun, Cherating Beach)

Of course, being on the world-famous Cherating Beach, a visitor can also choose to swim in the warm waters of the South China Sea, or just chill-out (warm-out?) on the clean sandy beach.

The grounds of the Impiana Resort are very well-designed, kept clean, and hosts a wide variety of plant life. There are many Cocos nucifera (Coconut, Kelapa) trees, of course, some with beautiful clusters of ripe fruit. Coconut is, as noted in an earlier post, one of the main plants which first populates islands and beaches since the nut is a drift seed being very water-proof within the shell and capable of drifting thousands of miles before striking habitable sand or mud flat.

(Right: Ripe coconut shells, Impiana Resort)

The grounds of the Impiana also had many plantings of the Bird's Nest fern (Asplenium nidus) and bushes of Caesalpinia pulcherrima (Peacock Flower). While photographing a set of flowers on a Caesalpinia pulcherrima bush, I fortuitously also caught a Mantis poised for capturing a breakfast insect.

(Left: Mantis awaiting breakfast)

(To be continued....)







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