Kuala Selangor and Sekinchan 2022
It's amazing how many wonderful places we can visit in Selangor. This time we are off to Kuala Selangor and Sekinchan.
After taking in the night views and cool breeze on the boat cafe, we headed back home but rest was far from our minds. It was time for our karaoke session at the homestay.
Once everyone has woken up, it was time to go for breakfast and we went to McDonalds as it was within walking distance, can easily accommodate all 14 of us and (almost) everyone's favourite. After breakfast, it was karaoke time again.
Thereafter, we went walking around the Pasir Penambang Fish Village.
As it started to rain, we decided to go back to the homestay for a final round of karaoke before checking out.
Day 1
We started off early at around 10.10 am as we wanted to factor in possible traffic jam during the holiday season. We were pleasantly surprised that the journey was quite smooth and we reached our first destination just in time for lunch.
One would be spoilt for choice when deciding on seafood restaurants in Kuala Selangor and Pasir Penambang. We decided to try out Kuala Sungai (Ah Yu) Restaurant. It's off the main road and come with great reviews. Luckily there was no big crowd and we were able to order our food quickly. The food came soon enough and it was a nice meal to start off our journey. The cost of the food (which consists of ikan kerapu bintang (leopard coral grouper), ikan jenahak (golden snapper), chicken, lala, vegetable, beancurd, rice and tea was RM 346 for 14 people.
After the meal, we decided to visit some nearby temples (Qi Jian Xian Shi Fo Zu Gu Miao and Monkey God Temple) as it was still too early to check-in to our homestay.
Leaving the temples of Pasir Penambang, we went to Taman Alam on the Kuala Selangor side to have a stroll (3.5 km in total to be more exact). There are a lot of monkeys at the entrance and also inside the Taman, so be mindful of your belongings. The trees and wind there have a cooling effect on a hot day. However, there was quite a lot of mosquitos so be ready with some repellants if you decide to go. There is a mangrove nursery and community planting exercise in Taman Alam which attracts some corporate involvement.
Having enjoyed the forest-like scenery, it was time to check-in to our homestay. We stayed at Secret Garden Homestay. It is a spacious corner lot semid that can easily accommodate 15 people though some may need to bring their sleeping bags. The rooms are big, clean and airy. However, please close the doors and windows as there may be monkeys roaming outside. Best of all, there is a karaoke room in the homestay which attracted both young and old.
Having rested after our physically demanding trek around Taman Alam, it was time to go for our eagle feeding boat trip. There are a few agents that arrange such trips in Kuala Selangor and we went for Sky Mirror World & Boatcafe. Luckily it did not rain and we were able to spot a lot of eagles and seagulls. It was a worthwhile excursion.
After arriving at the pier, we headed straight for dinner. This time it was off to Ah Po Seafood. This restaurant occupies a small shop lot on the Kuala Selangor side and at night the road there is quite dark and deserted. We almost thought we went the wrong way or the restaurant was closed. It is frequented by locals so you would know that they serve good food at reasonable prices. The cost of food this round was about RM370 as we ordered more dishes than the earlier lunch and this includes their famous crab fried bee hoon. We had ourselves a sumptuous dinner before heading back to the pier as some of us in the group was going for firefly boat trip while the rest wanted to check out the boat cafe.
The boat cafe is quite an attraction especially at night with all the lights and quaint setting. You can enjoy some drinks and snacks here while you watch the sunset and enjoy the cool sea breeze. You can also have karaoke sessions here as well if you'd like. Our teddy Jacky enjoyed this part of the trip very much.
Day 2
I woke up the next day to a cow munching on grass just outside the homestay. What a wonderful surprise !
We have decided to go to Sekinchan for the 2nd day of our trip and it is just a 30 minutes drive away. Our first stop in Sekinchan was the fishing village area where we had lunch at Restoran Qun Kee. It is air-conditioned and provided a great relief from the outside heat. The restaurant was very crowded due to the holidays but luckily we did not have to wait too long for the food to arrive. This time we had fish, crab, lala, sweet and sour pork, squid, vegetable, fish ball soup, marmite chicken, rice and tea. The fish was only RM 48/kg. The total came up to RM 326.
After lunch, we checked out Hai Seng Huat Fishery and saw how fish was brought and unloaded onto their pier. We also saw how workers prepared the fresh seafood for sale. The company has a 3 story building which offered a fantastic view of the busy pier and fishing boats negotiating a very crowded river.
Our next destination is quite a new setup in Sekinchan. It's the Sekinchan Coconut Farm. We had some refreshing coconut shakes with vanilla ice-cream and some coconut drinks.
After a good rest at this farm, we moved on to Mango King to savour some nice mango fruits and drinks. However, most of teenagers were more interested in taking photos at the paddy fields.
We stopped by the Nine Emperor Gods Temple and found out the fruit stall inside the temple which we visited on our last trip is no longer there.
Our final stop at Sekinchan was Redang beach. It was windy and the waves were strong. The beach was crowded with weekend tourists. The sights, sounds and smell of Redang beach were fantastic.
It was raining heavily when we were on our way back to Kuala Selangor and this delayed our journey. Originally we had wanted to have dinner at Route 5 Cafe but had to detour to Ong Kau Bak Kut Teh. It was a good meal though they got our order slightly wrong. We ordered mixed pork parts but we got only pork meat instead. The meal came up to RM 152 for 8 people. After dinner, it was back to our homestay for another round of karaoke.
Day 3
Waking up late on the 3rd and final day at Kuala Selangor, we decided to go for breakfast at Pasir Penambang. We ended up at Kuala Selangor Char Kuey Teow Hawker Stall. This hawker is featured in some YouTube videos introducing eateries in Kuala Selangor so we decided to give it a try. The food was good and it came quickly enough. A bowl of Char Just Teow costs RM 7 which is cheaper than most places in KL now.
The streets were quite empty on the last day of our visit as the holidays has come to an end.
Next, we went to Pasar Basah Pasir Penambang (i.e. wet market). There were lots of seafood on sale though the crowd was quite thin.
After checking out, we wanted to have lunch at Route 5 Cafe but unfortunately it was closed. So we took some photos instead.
As we wanted to try out something other than seafood, we went to 1188Sky Cafe for lunch. It's a cafe in a container and they also have some containers stacked up as accommodation for rent. The price was a bit steep and in our opinion not really worth the money spent. It would have cost about the same if we had seafood. The western style meal came up to about RM 211 for 8 people.
There were some shops selling fresh and dried seafood nearby so we took a stroll around the area where we spotted this pier.
It was time to leave Kuala Selangor but we are not going directly home. There are still 3 more destinations for us to cover on our way back.
The first is a beautiful temple in Bukit Rotan. Sri Shakti Dhevasthanam is a majestic Hindu temple sitting on an elevated piece of land. We took the opportunity to take some photos outside and have a look inside. We saw Hindu priests perform a ritual of bathing a Hindu idol statue with milk, oil and water. We also lighted some lamps and received blessings. It was quite a special ceremony.
The second destination is the Sasaran Arts Association, a place where local artists can collaborate and produce their creative work. Unfortunately, it was not opened. Luckily we were still able to take some photos around the compound.
Finally, we visited Pantai Remis, a beach located in Jeram. The beach was not impressive and was mostly buffered with rocks due to soil erosion.
Overall, it was a nice and enjoyable family trip full of fun, food and fascinating sights.
