Trip to Tanjung Sepat

We woke up at about 7AM or so. Which is considered very early for a Sunday. By the time we got ready, it was already ten past eight. So, while I dropped wife off at MacDonalds, I drove on to fetch my 2nd SIL. And after that, it was fun all the way!

Fun did you say?

Yes! Fun! Fun all the way!

Well, it was fun until I missed the exit for KLIA from the Seremban Highway. This was partly my fault because my Wife and her sister were conversing in Mandarin which forced my brain to work overtime trying to make sense of what they're talking about. But eventually, we still made it and rendezvous with the rest of the in-laws outside the Police Station. They commented we were quite fast since they 'just' arrived as well (and no, I did not speed). The original plan was to meet up at the KLIA Toll exit and proceed to the final rendezvous. Since we missed that, we used the GPS to guide us straight to the final point instead.

And where is that place? Tanjung sepat.

This is a small fishing place just southwesst of Selangor. A lot of tourists came not just for the fishes but also for the Longan, Dragon Fruits, the Ganoderma and mushrooms. Oh, and also the wonderful seaside restaurants too.

As you can see, the girls were very excited with the
early morning trip.

But it wasn't until one of their favourite Aunt came
everyone shared their MacDonalds (except me)

Tanjung Sepat Market
After finding the tour guide, we were led to the first stop, which is the Tanjung Sepat market. Here, you can get the freshest catch as they were brought in straight from the boat.

By the time we got our act together, we reached
the market about 11, which in terms of marketing
etiquette, we're very late.

Still, most of the stalls are still open

Someone was interested in a very
weird fish caught by someone else

Can you see all the fish in this basket?
Aha, but you cannot just buy the yet.
Not yet, anyway, until I explain why.

When the boat docks, the catch are then collected
and sent to the market. Here, you can see how it
is being delivered by those slightly irritated motor
cyclists who have obviously experienced too many
tourists blocking their way as they keep horning
us when we were standing near the ramp. I was so
tempted to just rush over and kick his bike over.
Then slap him with some fish.They prefer to horn
at open mouthed gawking tourists rather than just
tell since to move aside as this is already routine
for them. Why waste time?

Anyway, once inside, they will unload the crates
and no, its not over yet.

There is one more step to go before you
can see these fish displayed on the counter

Yes, they have to sell their fish to the middleman
before customers can get their hands on the fish.
Here, you can see the tour guide slapping her
forehead because she missed out on the 12Kg
puffball and the white albino octopi in the auction.

As eager customer looked on, the slave was
being kicked for not sanitizing his hands
before tipping all the fish onto the floor.

In the meantime, out of boredom,
a beauty contest was being held
outside where the winner gets to
have my MacDonalds burger

While the temperature slowly rose, I got everyone
into the car and turned the aircon on. It was alright
until I placed an undergraduate at the driving wheel

Joo Fa Trading's Coffee Powder
Who would have thought that right in the middle of a narrow street full of houses, there is a shop making and selling coffee powder? Well, this is one of them and the aroma coming from it was heaven. Forget CoffeeBean and Starbucks, this is the real thing. One whiff of the aroma and you'd instantly regret spending so much on those pussy drinks.

Since everyone is using Mandarin, which is a challenge to me, I will do my best to translate the process that took place.

If it wasn't for the sign, we would have missed
the place. And this is how it looked outside

The process start with that every normal person
would do; pick up the coffee berry and pretend to
be an expert by looking at it intensely

After realising its not going to get them any chicks, they
chuck the berries into this machine where it separates
men from...er, the beans. Its a stripper machine.

As a last ditch attempt to get chicks for the night,
one would just spread the beans onto a table and
let it lie there until bus loads of unsuspecting
tourists come through the door.

Thats when you heat up the big wok and
splash it about with lots of water to create
those mysterious mists as seen in movies.

And when its clean, you dump in the coffee
beans into it.

And it is roasted over charcoal fire.
Due to severe manpower shortage,
it is now OK to use machines to stir
the beans as authorised by the local
Coffee Bean Association International

Once roasted, the beans would have to be
grinded into powder before putting into
bags for sale. Since a steamroller is too
big to fit into the house, a small grinder
will suffice.

And there you have it. Free coffee all round.
Truthfully, once you take a sip, you're hooked.

And everyone rejoiced

Since the kids are already high on sugar, its
actually a very bad idea to give them coffee.

Coffee beans being dried in the sun.

The Longan Place
Next on the list is the Longan place. I am not going to name this place nor mention it too much as there is a story here.

The place is not easy to spot as it is very deep into the
land, and with no visible markings its easy to miss. Oh,
with so much 'traffic' the road is quite bad and sometimes,
you have to give way to other cars, unless yours is bigger
or you have a long convoy to back you up. But all bets are
off when you drive a bus.

Everyone knows that they grow on trees
(except me)

Although the place feels large, I have the feeling
that its not very big

However, once I looked at the other side, the place
just goes on forever.

Bus loads of tourists came and went without buying much
which is a bit funny. Later on, I found out that some of the
crab apples I bought were not that tasty.

Still, what attracted me to this big 'shed' was the platform
as I imagine this would be how I would do up my house if
I do get the chance to buy a warehouse or a studio building

Before going off, there were some longans on the
ground which Kristine and her cousin played

Never knew we were being watched and so, someone
went and picked some longans across the fence even
though there were some notices telling everyone not
to do so. what came next was unexpected. The owner
scolded him for being "takda moral" and promptly
snapped the whole branch of longans clean off to let
it fall off the ground, as though it was tainted. Most
surprisingly, the guilty fellow held his temper. My
told me about this later and I thought they were
talking to the owner since I know jack about Mandarin.
I told my Wife, "Thank goodness I did not understand
Mandarin or else." They he scolded was very uncouth
bordering on being an uneducated lout.

Road side Pineapples
One more stop before lunch. A roadside stall selling pineapples. And this is not just any stall too. They have pineapple chili sauce (or was it just pineapple sauce?) and even pineapple jam. I was more interested with the mangoes until the man came overe and invited me to have a chunk. Wow. it is sweet! There is no sigh of sourness or any reaction to my tongue. So, I wanted to have some. As they're selling Rm5.00 for one, it took me quite some time before Wife agreed. Since she predicted she would be the one doing all the peeling which she hates. (Well, she was right about that. Ha ha ha!)

Sadly, I forgot what species these pineapples were and
so, its not going to be easy to look for them outside here

Lunch at Ocen Seafood
Finally, it was time to have lunch and the tour guide brought us to Ocen, which I think, is again, hidden away in the residential area but its actually a seaside. What is so nice about this place is that it has a jetty.

A lot of customers came to this place.

While the rest of the family took care of the food, some
of us decided to explore the jetty.

And before you know it, the food is ready. Sometimes,
food arriving on time can be bothersome. Ha ha ha ha!

Our very own appetizers; longan and durian

The food kept coming non-stop and they're
delicious. If you're there, do order the ohjen
which is basically oyster with fried egg. If
you have eaten the ones in Penang and other
places, this one is really different. Very very
different as its basically full of fresh oysters
and bits of eggs (usually, its the other way round)

After the meal, the girls wanted to continue exploring
the jetty which I gladly took them.

The jetty is made of two parts; the cement walkway
and then toward the end, wooden planks. While we
were walking towards the boats, Kaelynn looked down
at the planks, saw the deep water between the cracks
and got frightened. So I distracted her with getting her
to sing some songs and random "la's".

While we were there, I decided to take some actual
photos. As the girls were in a very good mood, I got
some very good ones.

And now, I am going to show you how much I
sucked at Photography. Yeah, I tried my very
best to take bad photos all the time. And with
years of practice, I think I have become an
expert. You could even say, I am a pro.

Damn. I still can't remove the UV lens that
got stuck with the circular polariser. So, you
can see them on the four corners.

I was supposed to take multiple shots with
different WB to try some HDR but I forgot
about it since it was time to get back to the
restaurant.

Impossible Life

The Lone Rider

Ganoderma (Ling zhi)
Here, at the mushroom farm, we get to see how mushrooms are cultivated and then harvested. The most important is that I finally get to touch a ganoderma. It was all very interesting and informative but after we left, I realised I did not buy any ganoderma powder.

Ganoderma mushrooms on display

Here., in the dark and damp area, we can see how the
mushrooms are being grown.

Unfortunately, the kids were more interested
in the bikes. They charged Rm30 for 30 mins
and Rm50 fo one hour. Where to bring these
bikes, I have no idea.

They have a jetty too. But once you've seen one,
you've seen them all and so, with the lunch in my
stomach, I was too lazy to go out there again and
not only that, I am starting to notice the sun-burn
on my neck from the first jetty.

They also have a stage where the children used it
to full effect, staging their own shows. Later on, it
was swamped with other children who also loved
the idea, same as when we were with the bikes.

Like every tourist tra... er, place, they have their
own shops as well. Here, we bought a lot of weird
ganoderma drinks.

Tanjung Chips
This is a very interesting place as this where they make those potato chips. Tapioca plants have their skin removed and then thinly sliced before being processed. I did not take any pictures here as I don't think its appropriate to do so as its very easy to 'steal' their technology. Anyway, we bought a lot of chips and it has nothing to do with the World Cup. Its actually meant for my colleagues. While we were there, we got the opportunity to eat fresh crispy chips.

Dragon Fruit Farm
Another farm by Arowana Malaysian Food just like the Tanjung Chips above. By now, the kids are sleepy and so, I stayed put to look after them and this is the last stop anyway.

Again, this is another part of the country where
its not easy to spot.

So I tried my GPS. First, Nokia's
OVI Maps gave me this detail. No
one updated the map to show the
direction to the place nor even
put its name.

Garmin XT was even worse. I'll
bet no one from MalFreeMaps
came here to do any mapping.
So, I'll just save the coordinates
instead. But if you ask me, I don't
even know how to help map GPS
data.

Kaelynn was sleeping on my lap after
we realised that its not possible to fold
the rear car seat anymore as we have
bought a lot of things.

In the end, by the time we came home, it was almost
half-past six. With a slight sun burn to the neck and
a great tired feeling, I really enjoyed this trip. Oh and
yeah, my wife was right; seh ended up doing the
Pineapples. ha ha ha ha ha!