A (kinda) Different Mothers' Day Picnic - Part 2

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.

Mr State Rep, if I may say so, what's the idea behind this billboard? May I recommend my Dad to redesign your thingy?

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.

Oh yes.....fish and fish everywhere....

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.

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!

More fish...and crabs too...OK, so I loooove seafood.

Interesting building this is. It's a music school. I thought it's a giant keyboard.

Dilapidated fisherman house next to a swiftlet bungalow. Bird's nest is big business in this area.

There's a larger and proper fire brigade station in the area but this one is where the fire volunteers congregate - looks so rustic.

Fishing depot in the fishing village?

Colourful fish boxes at the fishing depot.

Another interesting building that used to be a movie theatre, I was told.

Hey birdy.....saw flocks of them near the fishing depot.

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.

Does this mean we are going to sleep here next time instead of Atuk's place?

We stopped by a roadside stall selling these delicious fruits....items for the picnic basket.

Look at how big that mango is!

Close up of the mango pile. They are all local fruits, from surrounding villages.

More and more mangoes, the brown tuber is what the locals call keladi (yam or taro).

Oh yesss! Local corns. I love them steamed, grilled or boiled. Or even cooked in sweet coconut milk....yummmmm...

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!

A (kinda) Different Mothers' Day Picnic

Scene 1: Bedroom
Time: 6.00am
Date: 8 May 2011

Mama: Angelina, wake up sleepy head...
Angelina: (one eye open) Hmmm....five more minutes, purrrlease....
Mama: If you don't get up now, I'm going to take Nikki instead of you....
Angelina: OK OK...I'm awake now....(stretch, lick, flick tail) Where are we going?
Mama: Didn't you say you wanna go for a picnic?
Angelina: Not this early....can't we go around lunch time?
Mama: Nope, we have to start early as it's about one to two hours of driving, depending on traffic.
Angelina: Wow! I love riding in the car. Are you or Dad driving?
Mama: Dad. Hey...he's still asleep.
Angelina: Wake up, Dad!
Dad: Huh???

Scene 2: In the car
Time: 7.00am

Mama: You two sure took your own sweet time to get ready, eh?
Angelina: Mama...you know...I'm a girl. I got to do heaps of girl stuff before we can go out. What's your excuse, Dad?
Dad: No comment.
Mama: Like father, like daughter.
Angelina: Relax Mama....are we going to your village, Mama? Are we going to "visit" grandma?
Mama: Yes, we are. I want you to know your roots and family too.
Angelina: Wow! I like that. Are we there yet?
Mama: We haven't even left our area.
Angelina: Sorry....I'll go snuggle in the back seat then.

Scene 3: Mama's Village (destination of the day)

Wow! Rice plants! It's fruiting now.....

This mimosa like creeping plant is edible. The locals call it kangkung puteri or susupan.

The rice ears upclose. Rice comes from this? Awesome...

Dad's hard at work...that contraption is called "kunci air" or water lock (weir???) that controls water as and when needed by the irrigation canals.

See how clever the villagers are? Instead of using concrete, they use mangrove stakes as bank reinforcement, it's organic and environment friendly too.

I used the zoom lens to capture this. That big tree with large leaves on the left hand corner is a breadfruit (local name: sukun) tree. This tree can be found in abundance in the village. 

I think this an abandoned old village type house.

Back to the rice plant - some naughty snails laid eggs here. They're pests and causing headaches to the farmers.

Dad's hard at photography work again.

Dad chatting up two guys who were spraying rat poison in the rice field. They must be thinking: rice paparazzi?

I like this shot. So, I put it here. I think this is part of the water control system.

Another nice shot I took. Dead guava tree against the blue sky.

A lonely banana tree....hey Monyet King, it needs a monyet as accessory.

We got to take some of these papayas home. They are sooooo delicious!