Not too far from Mama's village is a town called Sekinchan. It has a thriving fishing community as well as rice farming activities. Mama and Dad made a little detour just so we could be more adventurous. And I love it as I get to exercise my camera clicking paws more.
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| Mr State Rep, if I may say so, what's the idea behind this billboard? May I recommend my Dad to redesign your thingy? |
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| As usual, we'll look see if there's any stray around. There was this black beauty at the market place. Looks like he's been hurt in the past. Hmmm....maybe he was hungry and wanted a taste of the really fresh fish and the fishmongers weren't too happy about it, eh? But kitty needs to eat. |
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| Oh yes.....fish and fish everywhere.... |
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| The locals call this siput sedut (lit. trans: sucking snails????) coz you have to suck the shells to get the flesh out. Slimy stuff but yummy. Usually they're cooked in hot chili and coconut gravy, or stir fried with chili. |
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| Aaaahhhh.....cuttle fish or squid....whatever it's called, I love it. It's so fresh that it's body (tube) seems translucent. This fresh, best grilled! |
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| More fish...and crabs too...OK, so I loooove seafood. |
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| Interesting building this is. It's a music school. I thought it's a giant keyboard. |
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| Dilapidated fisherman house next to a swiftlet bungalow. Bird's nest is big business in this area. |
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| There's a larger and proper fire brigade station in the area but this one is where the fire volunteers congregate - looks so rustic. |
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| Fishing depot in the fishing village? |
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| Colourful fish boxes at the fishing depot. |
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| Another interesting building that used to be a movie theatre, I was told. |
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| Hey birdy.....saw flocks of them near the fishing depot. |
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| Another kind of birdy.....Mama forbids me from chittering at them! The birdies are bigger in size than me. They may think I'm their lunch instead. |
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| Does this mean we are going to sleep here next time instead of Atuk's place? |
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| We stopped by a roadside stall selling these delicious fruits....items for the picnic basket. |
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| Look at how big that mango is! |
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| Close up of the mango pile. They are all local fruits, from surrounding villages. |
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| More and more mangoes, the brown tuber is what the locals call keladi (yam or taro). |
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| Oh yesss! Local corns. I love them steamed, grilled or boiled. Or even cooked in sweet coconut milk....yummmmm... |
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| The stall also sells steamed and boiled corns (see that big steamer at the front of stall). |
Angelina's Notes:
1. Mama's village (
or rather my maternal grandma's village) is called
Kampung Sungai Sireh (literal translation:
Betel Leaves River Village) in the Rice Bowl of the state of Selangor. The district is Kuala Selangor (
Selangor Estuary) while the county is called Tanjung Karang (
Coral Cape????). So, the address would be Kampung Sungai Sireh, Tanjung Karang, Selangor, Malaysia.
2. The main activity in this area is of course, rice planting. As Mama's village is also the location of a MARDI rice research station (MARDI - Malaysian Agricultural Research & Development Institute), the farmers here have become somewhat the guinea pigs. They get to be the first to plant a new variety, use new fertilizer or even new ways of planting and harvesting. Wayyyy ahead of other parts of the country.
3. Side activities - coconut, mango, corn, breadfruit, vegetables, cooking herbs like lemongrass and galangal, fresh water fish farming, sugarcane, cockle farming and sea fishing.
4. Latest craze - birds' nest production where humongous brick "caves" have been erected all over the place. These "caves" are where swiftlets come and build nests using their saliva as building materials. These nests are said to have certain medicinal properties and fetch very good prices. Hence the huge interests. But these "caves" are spoiling the landscape. You can see them dotting the rice fields. I'd use the term Sybaritic eyesore!
5.
purrr.....meow!
