Port Klang Views #5 - Up The Mouth Of Klang River.

There are brightly colored buoy to mark shallow water of the heavily silted River Klang which opened out to the sea off Port Klang slightly further down from this point. Bagan Hailam or Hailam Village is in the background. The storm clouds continued to darken and the wind was picking up.

This is how the Hailam folks lived, wooden houses in stilts among mangrove trees. However, amenities are quite basic and hygienic conditions are lacking.

We headed towards the bridge that connects the mainland to Tanjong Harapan and North Port over the Klang River. I had fished there before as a kid and usually caught nothing except puffer fish. Still it was fun in those days with no computer games. I cycled all the way from Port Klang because all I could afford is pedal power. And I did not even have a fishing rods, just line and a hook and dead prawns stolen from the dining table.

Along the way, we saw this white stork taking off in a graceful flight.

Then we saw more of its friends, some fishing among the mud, some perching on the trees. These two were gliding down to join in the fun. These storks are not from this part of the world. They are migratory birds that flew here during the winter months. Soon they will once again disappear back to where they came from. And we will miss them.

We saw this boat abandoned in the middle of the river. It must have been anchored there for some time. Wonder who owned it and why did they left it there to rot. Why don't they just scrape it? At least something can be salvaged from it.

There were more docking bays for boats.

Construction cranes criss-crossing the sky.

We did not reach as far as the bridge. Just before it, we turned back and headed back to Port Klang. As we turned away from there, I noticed an interesting sight. Two crows were trailing a sea hawk as if attacking it. They then did aerial acrobatics with sometimes the hawk in front and something behind. This went on for some times. I was not sure if they were playing or who is attacking whom.

It would have been interesting to see the conclusion of their aerial dance and to see if this was indeed a play or an attack. If any bird is the aggressor, the crows look more like the aggressor than the hawk!

One of the reason I said that was because much later in the trip, I saw a crow actually chasing a much bigger stork. These Port Klang crows are a real terror! Klang and Port Klang are quite badly infested with these noisy but clever birds. However, because of their numbers and dirty habits of picking at rubbish, they are pretty much a nuisance. The local authorities have tried various methods but none has proved really effective against these smart birds that can sense danger, evaluate traps and loudly warned each other. If one bird is injured, all the other crows will fly around in circle above the injured bird but always out of range of the pellet guns. I had seen them taunt hunters by diving at them and then swerving away just beyond the gun's range. The hunters knowing this always work in pair with one hidden away but the crows will soon get wise to any ruse. You can fool them some of the time but you cannot fool them all the times.

To be continued...

Port Klang Views #4 - Bagan Hailam.

This is a continuation from - Port Klang Views #3 - Along The Shore Of South Port, Port Klang.

Next, we head over to Bagan Hailam or Hailam Village. This is actually not an island but more a peninsula. The other end of Bagan Hilam is an esplanade (where in the last post, the Chap Goh Meh was held) and the Port Klang Golf Resort. It is so-called because most of the inhabitants that stayed there are Hainanese. Their houses are built on stilts and their livelihood is the sea. In the old days you could get one of the old lady in the sampan to row you over to the other side from the mainland by just paying 20 cents when I was a boy. It was a very pretty sight with all these sampan rowing its way to and fro. There was no bridge connecting the river then and that was the only means of transport. That all changed when North Port was developed. Not one but two bridges were built and Tanjong Harapan was born.

A temple on the sea. When the tide is up and the brightly colored temple seemed to floating on the water besides the boats, it is a very pretty sight. And at night when only the temple lights are visible and reflected on the ink black sea, it is really beautiful.

This is one of the many restaurants that lined the waterfront. This place became well known for its seafood restaurants and city folks from as far away as Kuala Lumpur will drive all the way here to savor its cooking. Today, it is not as popular as it was about 5 to 10 years back. Having your food with the sea breeze kissing you makes for good appetite.

Another temple in idyllic setting. The torn temple flags fluttering in the wind.

Another seafood restaurant amid the wooden huts of the inhabitants. How would you liked to have freshly cooked food served in this setting?

We continued with our work and hope the wind will blow the clouds away from us. What do you think? Did it rain or did it not?

The view of the temples and villages from different angles from the sea.

Though it looks relatively healthy, Bagan Hailam is also a dying village as the young people moved away from the village to seek a better live. With their departure, the village is losing both its inhabitants and vibrancy. Also, development is encroaching ever nearer to the village. One day, with most of the inhabitants gone and the place too attractive for developers, this village too will be memory of past. I know it will happen. I just hope I would live to see it.

To be continued...

CNY: Chap Goh Meh #3 - Chap Goh Meh In Tanjung Harapan.

When we reached Tanjung Harapan, we were caught in very bad jam. We moved forward inch by inch and for a long period of time were at a complete standstill. The place was very crowded. How different it was from South Port where we came from.

Kurau was rightly worried about finding a parking space. I was not at all worried except getting to the center of the activities where the esplanade opened out to an observation deck and where a replica of a sailing ship was placed. Opposite this was the entrance to the Port Klang Golf Resort. Kurau’s jaw dropped when I drove straight in, the surprise in his face was priceless and almost worth the yearly subscription I paid but did not make use of.

This was the riotous condition there. Cars double and triple parked. Hawkers were doing roaring business. And the huge crowd milled around, looking at people launching Kong Ming lanterns and each other. There was hardly any space to move. If this is the first place in Malaysia a foreigner was to land, he will think that the population is 99% Chinese and the average age to below 20.

The first thing that hit us as we came out from the club was the sound war blasting on from about a dozen cars with specially soup up audio system. They were turned up at full blast and the deafening sounds were coming from all sides. The sound was so loud that they literally vibrate you. BOOM!!

Though the entrance to this replica ship is closed at night, it did not stop the crowd from finding a way up.

Some more mischievous chaps behaved dangerously trying to impress the girls with their antics.

But the majority of the crowd were well behaved and were justenjoying themselves. Many of those who came in group will buy one of the lanterns and wrote their wishes down. Then, they launched it with much laughter. It was a pleasure even for those who watched.

There were many such groups celebrating the last day of Chinese New Year to end it with a great flourish.

Groups after groups, almost non-stop sending off their lanterns.

The Kong Ming lanterns were a relatively recent introduction, maybe 5 years but not more than 10. Before that, no one in Malaysia and Singapore launches sky lanterns. I guess they were first introduced here by religious (Buddhist) orders. It was a good means of raising funds whereby donor buy the lanterns in the name of charity. They were originally all white in color. These days, it has become very commercialized and the favored color as least during the Chinese New Year period is red.

But where there any one throwing oranges? There were but not as many as expected which was a let-down given that this was the tradition on which the Chap Goh Meh was founded. Here is a girl writing down her wishes (telephone number?) on her orange before throwing it into the sea. There was also one new negative element which I dislike. There were people who went into the water to pick the oranges. Maybe they were curious and wanted to look at the messages which were an invasion of privacy. Surely, they did not want to eat them. There was even one guy with a fishing net. Sigh…

But even among joy, sadness and disappointment were never far away. This group of young boys and girls had set up their lanterns after happily written down their heartfelt wishes. They got together and prayed before letting go of their lantern.

The minute they released it, off it went. With plenty of cheering and clapping and excited laughter. Their pleasures were contagious and their happiness rubbed on to the others watching. They cheered as it took off with vigor. Their wishes were bound to be fulfilled.


As it drifted off to sea, it drifted too close to the stone pillar. There were shouts of concern and frantic appeals. It brushed against the pillar, struggled and then lifted free off it. There were tremendous cheering and everyone were happy. But it was not to be a happy ending. When the paper lantern compressed against the pillar, the side caught fire. Even as it floated up, the sides burned. There were cries of dismay as the lantern burned and lost altitude. Then it lost height and dropped into the sea not far from the shore and sank.

The look on the youngsters' face told it all. There were great disappointments. And among the superstitious, they will wonder if this portend a bad year ahead. I shared in their disappointment but they were not the only lanterns that failed that night.

This was a shot I took from above the ship.

From there, I observed this family got together to launch their lantern. It was nice to see a family together in action.

They released it and off it sailed taking their wishes with them. Of all the launches I saw that night, this was my favorite.

CNY: Chap Goh Meh #2 - Kong Ming Deng/Sky Lantern.

The most spectacular event in Tanjung Harapan is the almost continuous launching of sky lanterns called “Kong Ming Deng” or “Kong Ming Lantern”. Kong Ming is more popularly known as Zhuge Liang, the famous strategist of the “Period of the Three Kingdoms” (184AD – 280AD). It is said he used these sky lanterns to send signals to his troop. Whatever the truth, it is a fact that these lanterns came to be named after him. The original shape of the lantern is said to resemble the hat that he wore.

I saw three types of lanterns being sold on in Tanjung Harapan, two rounder versions and a taller style. The taller version costs RM30.00 which is a lot to be paid for something that can be constructed so cheaply. However, as no one fly a sky lantern alone, the cost per person is quite reasonable. The smaller and probably cheaper lanterns looked suspiciously liked they are made from plastic. If it is, then I think that is very bad as it only contribute to polluting the environment as these lanterns will eventually comes down. On hind sight, I should have checked but I was too busy taking photos to think about it. The correct materials should just be fire-proof paper, thin bamboo strips and a heating source.

All who bought the lantern would scribbled down names and wishes on the lanterns before lighting it and sent it up to the sky praying their wishes will come true. Though almost all the lanterns took off successfully, there were a few failed ones that crash landed not far from the shore bringing cries of dismays. The tall lanterns took off the fastest while the rounded floated up more gently. The esplanade of Tanjung Harapan is ideal for launching the lanterns as a seaward bound breeze took these lanterns safely out to sea.

The following sequence will explain how the lanterns are launched –

To be continued...