Sighting Treasures in Sekinchan

        Always on the lookout for landscape photography opportunities, Derrick suggested spending a weekend in Sekinchan. Approximately two and a half hours away from Ipoh, Sekinchan is a small town in Selangor. The name in Chinese means "village suitable for plantation" and this explains why Sekinchan is one of the major rice producing areas in Malaysia.
        Sekinchan is fast becoming a magnet for tourists. We were lucky to be able to secure a room for the night at the Harbour View Hotel, a modest but clean hotel right smack in town. Despite the name, it does not offer any view of the harbour or beach. But we chose this hotel because of its proximity to the paddy fields, the reason for this trip.
        We city slickers were excited to see the golden yellow paddy fields. We had arrived at the right time as the paddy was ripe for harvesting and we were able to catch the harvester tractors in action. Derrick donned his boots to trudge into the fields for closer shots while I was content to enjoy the sunset and the rainbow in the comfort of the car.

 

 

"I'm coming for you!"

The paddy, the machine and the rainbow

        Besides paddy planting, Sekinchan is also a fishing village, hence the abundance of fresh and cheap seafood. Visitors are spoilt for choice as there are numerous seafood restaurants. We decided to have dinner at Ten Tian Lai and were not disappointed. Both of us agreed that the steamed grouper in a sour spicy sauce, steamed la-la with ginger and wine as well as the butter fried prawns were ooo-la-lla indeed.
        Our hopes for peaceful slumber were dashed as a bus-load of schoolkids had also checked into the hotel. They were shouting, rushing in and out of their rooms and banging the doors. I seriously considered barging out into the corridor, demanding to know which school they were from and threatening to lodge complaints to their principal. In the end, I did nothing of that sort but some vicious kicking on the room door by Derrick stunned and scared them a little.
        With seafood aplenty, enterprising villagers have churned them into various types of crackers. 

One of the many brands of crackers in Sekinchan

Besides the mundane fish and prawn crackers, there are sotong and la-la crackers as well. Every crunch reveals freshness but the la-la crackers get my vote.
        If fruits are your cup of tea, Sekinchan is the right place to be. Orchards are in abundance, as are roadside fruits stalls. We dropped by at Wah Chai Mango King, which is a village house selling all types of mangoes. 

Take your pick of the mangoes at Mango King

To cater to lazy bums like us, they also sell cut, ready-to-eat mango slivers in packets. Big thumbs up to those sweet and juicy mangoes!
        Another tourist attraction in Sekinchan is the Redang Beach, made famous by "Outbound Love", the TVB romantic comedy serial starring Ruco Chan and Aimee Chan. The seaside itself is nothing to shout about but the many colourful tree houses

The famous red tree house at Redang Beach, Sekinchan

that dot the beach make it a unique experience. And it was in one of these tree houses that Aimee spent the night with Ruco (in the drama serial, of course!).
         After this visit to Sekinchan, I am convinced that treasures can indeed be found in one's own backyard. Sekinchan, you have not seen the last of us!