Road trip Kuantan - Pekan, Istana Sultan Abu Bakar (Sultan's Palace)

In June 2014 we went on a road trip to Pekan, leaving Kuantan at around 10:30am. As it was our first time driving out to Pekan, we opened the Maps & Navigation app on my phone and followed the route:

The Kuantan - Pekan highway is now 4 lanes wide and is dotted with royal dagger artwork on the lamp posts

It was a very straightforward route and we found the place without any problem. The only problem was the parking was a 5-10 minute walk from the Palace and it was an absolutely scalding hot day! The Sultan of Pahang was holding an open day and there were plenty of food stalls around the grounds. We registered for a tour of the Palace and were soon on our way.

In the shade in front of a fan. Crazy hot day!

Being led on our short tour of Istana Sultan Abu Bakar

First up was the Balairong Seri, or the Throne Room for the Sultan of Pahang:

Posing for a family photo at the Balairong Seri, Istana Sultan Abu Bakar

The Throne of the Sultan of Pahang

The grounds of Istana Sultan Abu Bakar

We were then led to a second hall, forget its name, but it's where the Sultan has events/dinners etc.

Standing in front of the Sultan of Pahang's seat at Istana Sultan Abu Bakar, Pekan

Somewhat disappointingly, the tour was over pretty quickly. Man, I was expecting to go see the Sultan's golden toilet seat or something!

We stopped off at McDonalds nearby Pekan for a good lunch before heading back home to Kuantan. This time we took the following route, which turned out to be much faster:

Returning to Kuantan, we took a right turn from the Kuantan-Pekan highway which brought us to the Tanjong Lumpur bridge

Overall this was a nice road trip but we would have liked to have had a lot more time to spend in Pekan and discover other things there.