Sekinchan...

With the "kaki jalan" fun people......

Yup, I still look good...... I think!

The other day,I was talking to a friend who told me that it is expensive to travel to interesting places in Malaysia and that's why many are more fond of overseas trip for their holidays. In many sense, I have to agree as it is indeed too expensive for families to pay nowadays especially for accommodation and food for places of interest in Malaysia. Lodging & food had become ridiculously pricey over the years and I often wonder if we could still afford it the later years. The lure of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and even Myanmar plus Indonesian archipelago islands seemed more interesting and cheaper too. I guess, with the same amount of money I spent on local destination for the family, I could get easily get a 5 star hotel else where in any ASEAN countries except Singapore , of course. What has happened to tourism in Malaysia? Guess, greed and more greed had taken over.

Anyway, taking the holiday break in mid-week, I decided to take the long-awaited and much anticipated trip to Sekinchan, Selangor. Taking the cue from my colleague, Ms.Kok ( kaki jalan, really! ), I was given a good dose of information regarding this place. Knowing that it would be good to be out in the sun and catch up on some good air, Errol & Jessica plus their daughters Josephine and Jocelyn joined us for the trip. 

At the waterways and kunci air......

We started out earlier, zoomed through the morning traffic , exited to Guthrie Highway then travelled along the path to Ijok, Kuala Selangor and Tg.Karang before arriving at Sekinchan town at about 9.15am. We immediately made a stop at Old Friend Coffee Shop and had our breakfast of Hokkien mee, kueh teow Wan tan hor, fried mee, bee hoon with curry chicken and bee hoon with spicy chopped prawns. The food tasted good while the coffee was equally good. As for the toasted oats bread with kaya and margarine, the bread were soft on the inside and truly heavenly. Great start for the day.

Enjoying the gallery....

We then asked directions to the rice fields and paddy gallery. Not being that conversant in Mandarin, Jessica, Josephine and Jocelyn helped out in the translations. We made our way to the paddy fields first before going into the Paddy Gallery of Kilang Beras Rakyat Sekinchan. All around there was just lush green of paddy stalks. Though had yet to "fruit", the lush green is a spectacle to the eye and the soft breeze was quite nice ,actually. We took pictures at the water ways and the paddy fields. It was such a glorious morning indeed. 

SLing & Jessica .....

After purchasing the RM 5 ticket for the entrance to Paddy Gallery, we proceeded to the gallery where we were given a briefing of the paddy planting processes right up to harvesting and packing of the rice. 

Informative and interesting especially the buggy cart from Taiwan which easily made it so much easier for planting process whereby 1.2 hectares of land could be planted with paddy young stalks within 2 1/2 hours. That would definitely revolutionized the paddy planting process indeed! By the way, Sekinchan paddy are produced 2 times yearly and each yield will be about a whopping 40,000 tonnes. That's a lot of rice produced but still insufficient for the insatiable local consumption.

It was at the Sales Gallery that I noted that the Sekinchan rice size and texture. Learnt a lot that day about these small rice grains that fed the body. We then collected our souvenir vacuum packed rice for our trip there. Small , compact and wonderfully packed. We then headed towards Mango King place to get some mangoes for which they are known. Somehow, this was a letdown as mangoes were sold at RM 7 and RM 9 per kilo which is a norm anywhere.

Ah Mah's Place.....

Did not see anything special about them mangoes but we bought some anyway ( one kilo each ) just to try out. Guess, too much commercialism and hype had caught up with the mango seller till he forgets to price his mangoes right and way too expensive la... I believe RM 5 per kilo is a fair price. BTW, the proprietor was kind enough to recommend us to Restoran 168 which he says served the best garoupa fish head dish and other dishes. It was quite difficult to understand him as I was not conversant in Mandarin and it was like nod my head and pretended as though I understand it when I don't and too shy to ask again. Sheezh......must polish up my Mandarin a bit la..... Friends called my Mandarin - the chapalang Mandarin! Hahahahahahaaaaaaaa............... 

Those days milk bottle....classic!!

We hit "Ah Mah's Place " next. Rustic old house being renovated to accommodate a kuih bahulu business and a sampling of grandma's place. The idea is truly wonderful and you could see flashes of brilliance especially the display of items from the yesteryears plus the furniture. Green bean ice-cream icicles and some simple fares will bring you back to your childhood while for those who might want to get some healthy drinks could indulge in the RM 20 per bottle bird nest elixirs. I saw some red dates, white fungus and some bird nest in the clear concoction. Should be good la.... because there are plenty of swallow house around at the paddy fields. For me, I enjoyed the "modern" rustics of the place.

Two oldies having fun....

We then headed out to Pantai Redang to the beach. Travelling along the road there, we saw plenty of seafood restaurant around and the fare that they are offering. Interesting and definitely mouth watering dishes indeed but our destination was Pantai Redang first. I could now understand why this place is not for the faint hearted as one exits the car, the pong that hits your nostrils will definitely either drop you or you'll cringe with discomfort. As this is a fishing village with fishermen wharf, the smell from gutted fish, crates of sea produce and fishing vessels, the smell can be quite challenging for many. Me, it is just the produce from the sea....as far as I was concerned. No matter how bad the smell could be, your nostrils will get acclimatised with it within minutes. 

Ribbonised tree with the beauties.....

The ribbonised tree as I called it was really interesting especially with the "resting" seat and hammocks while the prawn crackers sold at the beach was stupendously good and fresh. The tree houses around the trees were also ingenious and rustic. Though it was blistering hot, the shades provided by the tree houses made it easier to get through the place. I must say the beach ain't clean and there is still a lot to do when it comes to cleanliness. Yeah, rubbish, plastics and discarded materials could be found on the beach and definitely there is a need to educate these people to keep the beach clean. BTW, the quantity of fish processing plants at the wharf doesn't help much too as fish discards are thrown back into the sea ways; ending up at the beach and so on. 

At the special Red Treehouse....

Stomachs growling for food made us all head down to Restoran Cha Po Tion for our late lunch. The proprietor is a friendly, burly, bespectacled lady with a good taste for food , I must say. She recommended us a couple of dishes which is fantastic.We had fried sotong ( non-cholesterol kind....hahahahahahhaaaaaaaaaaa.....so she claimed! ) , sweet potato leaves, chillied small prawns ( delicious! ), lala Teochew style ( very fresh, tasty and nice! ), Clatter Hot Pot [ a combo of good fish slices, bittergourd, tua chai, lady fingers, slices of sotong, fish maw and fermented bean paste (tau cheu ) ] and fried flat fish with fermented bean paste. ( I love this fish a lot! Just have fried flat fish itself will make me a happy dude, actually!

Clatter Pot goodness...yummy....

Will not expose the pricing here but suffice to say that it was cheap for a seafood meal...really...really cheap. We were stuffed to our faces with the seafood fare. We were informed by the proprietor that most shops would be opened for dinner by 4.00pm but they ( the restaurant we were having our meal ) do not open for dinner. I could actually see why they are not opened for dinner as the lunch crowd itself is good enough business for them.

As we headed out for home, we still managed to do a stop to get some sweet corns and a view of the Elephant Tusk mango species ( that's why they are so huge lar.... ) which we see a lot being posted in the social media.

To me, it is all hype and awe for nothing. I guess, the best mangoes are the ones you plant in your home or your kampung. Why? Simply because your parents or you would plant only the best and sweetest mango seedlings at your plot in hope that you will harvest the same juicy, succulent and sweetest mangoes ever , right? So, nothing beats that species of mangoes at your garden. True, right? 

Till the next adventure then!