During the Raya break, we didn’t go for any holidays except for day trips out of town. The 1st one we took was to Kuala Selangor and Sekinchan.

The girls upon knowing we’re going to Kuala Selangor, requested the hubs to stock up on peanuts so we could feed the monkeys. We fed some Silvered Leaf Monkey at the entrance of Kuala Selangor Nature Park sometime last year, and the girls wanted to go to the same spot to find the monkeys.

None were found in the afternoon heat. The girls’ spirit were deflated just for a moment… As we exited the Nature Park, we saw some of them at the foot of Bukit Melawati.

Unlike the common Macaques that we see in KL, Silvered Leaf Monkeys or Silvery Lutong are friendlier and have a more gentle nature. We could almost pat it when we gave them food, and they never grab, only picking the food from our hands.

The baby Silvered Leaf Monkey have golden fur babies, we spotted a couple of them. When they grow older, their fur then becomes silverish grey like their parents.

4 pack of peanuts later, we headed to Sekinchan. Seems that the planting season has just begun.

Some farmers are lucky, such a tranquil place to live in.

We heard of this paddy processing factory, PLS Marketing, that sells pearl grain rice. It’s a big factory which is opened to public, and they have a section which sells the vacuum packed pearl grain rice which is produced in Sekinchan, and also other local Sekinchan produced (vegetable, yam etc). A good place to visit, and to stock up on locally produced rice.

The factory has machinery running which hulled and polished rice, good for the children to see how the rice they eat become that state from a grain. There are lots of stacked bags of rice, which I think make a nice backdrop for photography.

After visiting the factory, we brought the girls to a husk hill, which is formed by all the disposed husk from the factory. From a far, it looked like a sand dune.

The girls had so much fun making ‘husk angels’, rolling on the husks etc.

(Beware! After we’re done here, we were all itchy. Zaria even had an allergy reaction on one of her eye. Both Zaria and I have rashes on our legs which I think was probably caused by some mites on the husks).

(PLS Marketing (M) Sdn Bhd, Lot 9990, Jalan Tali Air 5, Ban 2,, 45400 Kampong Sekinchang, Selangor, Malaysia. Tel : 016-205 6558. A map on how to get there can be found here.)

We then moved on to Redang Beach. A tiny stretch of beach in Sekinchan. It’s of course not as nice as the Redang Beach in Teregganu, but a beach is still a beach, and it drew quite a big crowd during this holiday season.

We wanted to dine at one of the seafood restaurants in Sekinchan, but there’s a new set up at the beach which attracted us. Bar Beach Grill, which is opened by a group of like-minded youngsters who grew up together in Sekinchan.

The place provides you a BBQ stove (with red hot charcoal), table and chairs, and you just have to order the food from them to BBQ. As Sekinchan is a fishing village, our plates of prawns, squid, skates, and clams (lala) were really fresh and nice. No seasoning required, just taste from the sea.

One of the owner and her boy friend entertained us with some songs, and the girls decided to join in too. Zara did her Adele, acoustic version.

And the girls were quite thrilled to be able to cook for us too (fuchuk or bean curd skin being BBQed can be so tasty).

Having dinner at the beach has its advantage. The girls had a chance to explore and pick up some shells at the tide pool nearby while I cooked dinner.

(Bar Beach Grill is located at Redang Beach Sekinchan. Contact : Darren 014-9305724, Jack 016-3443330. Opened during weekends and eve of holidays)

Our regular fish monger is from Sungai Besar, and we’d been asking him if the rice in the padi fields of Sekinchan is ready for harvesting, as that would be the best time to visit the padi fields. When he told us early November that the padi fields were turning golden, we planned for a trip there.

We went on November 15th, leaving the house around 10am. Stopped over for early lunch at Ijok, and then headed towards Sekinchan which is after Kuala Selangor and Tanjung Karang. Next trip there, we’ll leave later and head right to Sekinchan for late lunch/tea instead as Sekinchan has more to offer.

Girls were excited to see the padi fields when we arrived. Green fields with sheaves of golden grains.

There were some White Egrets among the fields and Kingfisher resting on power lines.
(Daddy was complaining that he could only take shots like this as he didn’t have a telefocus lens)

The excitement didn’t last for long in the midday heat. I was the first to get into the car and blast the aircon. We went to an air-conditioned cafe, Mamawe, in Sekinchan to shield from the heat. Surprisingly, the food and drinks in Mamawe was quite good!

About 4:30pm, we went to the fishing village in Sekinchan, as around this time fishermen would return with their catch.

Boats were arriving, and there were lots of activities in the fishing village.

Loads of fish being transported to sorting area.

Fishermen sorting out fish according to size.

Fishermen gutting yellow sea eels for fish maws.

Gigantic skate.

Girls called this fisherman The Death Angel (of the fishes).

Baskets of sorted fish.

The girls now know where the fish served on the dinner table came from.

Daddy wanted to go back to the padi fields before sunset, as this was the best time for photography. So we went back to the padi fields which was just about 10mins drive from the fishing village. In deed, it was more pleasant to walk around in the evening than midday.

We spotted some wedding photography being taken place. Wedding shot couples actually need to get their shoes dirty to get nice shots among the fields.

The photographer found a good spot with beautiful clouds… I’m sure the shots he took would turn out great.

The photographer told us they would be heading to the beach for more photo taking, he told us to head there to view the sunset as well. The name of the beach? Redang Beach! And how to get there? Just head towards Sekin Resort following their sign boards.

We drove passed by the fishing village again.

Redang Beach, Sekinchan, is just a small beach, with rough white sand, but many families were there to enjoy the sea breeze.

The attraction besides the beach is two tree houses probably built by locals, with hammocks made out of fishing nets installed. I took a nap lying in one hammock, while Daddy watched over the girls play.

We had a nice dinner at Wan Lau Seafood Restaurant which served home style seafood dishes. No photos but the food was quite good and for four of us, we paid ~RM40 for 2 slices of fried red mullet (Hongzhou).

It was a good day trip, and we managed to show the girls the sources of their food. I’m sure we’ll return again.. if not for the padi fields, we’ll be back for the food.

Note :
Do bring along an ice-box to purchase some fresh catch from the fishing village. Ice is provided by some vendors.
Here is a good website of Sekinchan, which you can check out for restaurants.
And you can download a map from here showing you where the Sekinchan restaurants are located.