Weather was absolutely great - clear blue skies and cotton-white cumulus clouds. The air-conditioned coach weaved past deep green plantations of oil palms, coconut trees and sleepy rural homes.
We soon arrived at the vast hectares of padi (rice) fields at Sekinchan. 3rd largest crop grown in Malaysia after oil palms and coconuts. Unfortunately, the padi had just been recently harvested. Instead of miles and miles of lush green fields, we saw only brown and barren land. Then, we were given a brief tour of the germinating, planting and harvesting processes which ended with purchases of white and brown rice on offer.
Lunch was scrumptious affair comprising fresh seafood offerings which the town is famous for due to proximity to the sea.
With tummies filled, we proceeded to the next destination of Kubu Melawati (Fort Melawati), a historical hillock overlooking the Selangor River estuary where it was necessary to guard against invasion by Dutch and Portugese forces during the 16th + 17th century respectively.
It was a warm afternoon as we made our way up the hill on a motorised tram car which took less than 10mins. There to greet us was a whole community of Silvered Leaf Monkeys (Silvered Langur) monkeying around. And they were mischievous - so everyone was alerted to mind their spectacles, cameras etc... in case they get snatched by these fearless primates.
Then headed down to the small scale aquarium and aviary which was part of the hill's attraction.
Our destination for the afternoon was at a Bird Nest factory at Kuala Selangor where we were shown how the swiftlets build their nests in the factory's "bird hotel", harvesting of the nests, cleaning and sales (very expensive, of course) of the much desired product especially by Asian Chinese communities.
Really tired by now, all that heat and all the walking (unfit is me!). It's dinner time and we all boarded the coach to a popular Chinese restaurant in nearby Ijok. It's speciality is 'beggar-style' food. A simplistic cooking method whereby meats like chicken, duck, pigs trotters, tasty glutinous rice etc. are individually wrapped in foil, encrusted in clay and baked to perfection in a charcoal kiln. Delicious!
Dead tired upon arrival home. Gluttony was the name of this trip...
p.s. very pleased to find 3 different specimens for blog, coming up soon!
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