Port Klang Views #17 - Round The Island Of Pulau Indah.

We passed by this boat fishing near the beacon. They must have lasted through the storm. These fishing kakis are really hardy guys. Wind and rain does deter them not as long as they get a bite from the fish.

On the opposite side of Pulau Indah is North Port which is mainly a container port and those are huge unloaders for unloading containers.

We have now passed by the mangrove swamp area in Pulau Indah and reached more developed parts. I am not familiar with some of the construction and if did not make any comments is because I do not know about it. But I will show the pictures anyway for you to have a complete photographic journey and hopefully filled in the information later in the picture. Any help from readers would be appreciated. This I believed is a ship repair yard.

This looked like another government marine department.

Ship repair yard.

We now sailed to deeper water and the water was getting choppier.

We could see big ships either sailing to either one of the ports. There was a large container ship and we headed towards its direction for a closer look.

Photo from Kurauking gallery.

That’s me being caught taking photo of the container.

After rounding it we left it and once again headed for the shoreline of Pulau Indah.

A jetty but we do not know for what purpose. Was surprised to see a few children there.

We left it to continue tracing the coastline of the island of Pulau Indah.

To be continued...

Port Klang Views #15 - The Rain Stops, A New Journey Begins...

The rain finally stopped. After the continuous din, there was a new quietness. The air was crisp and clean and in spite of the approaching dusk, a sharpness to the views.

Everything was wet but no longer drenched.

Though dark clouds still hanged low, rays of light were also breaking through clearly visible against the dark background.

We paid our bills and stepped out of the restaurant ready to begin our journey anew. Now that the rain had stopped, these fishermen could once again repair their boat. An older man was showing a younger man the trick of the trade. Wonder if they were father and son.

We got in our boat. I took the cut off bottom of a one liter mineral water bottle and scooped water out of the boat as Kurau guided the boat to head for open sea again. We sailed towards the railway bridge.

These fishing fans did not let the rain deter them. With the rain gone, they came out of their shelters from which they had continued fishing and now fished in the open. They greeted us as our boat neared the bridge again.

One of the "tahan lasak" (lasting) fishing kaki coolly watched us. I salute these guys who are made of stern stuff.

We passed under the bridge and into open sea. Among the dense swirling dark clouds, a ray of light had punched through lighting up a specific spot in the sea. It looked kind of dramatic. I urged Kurau to move there. If we can get under, we may become enlightened.

Our boat headed for the spot of light. "Father, forgive us for all our sins for we have seen the light." Then we remembered, wrong religion for us. :)

Port Klang Views #13 - Under The Pouring Rain.

Caught in a little hut by the river while rain is hammering down is - not boring. In fact, it was quite pleasant. The world took on a hazy bleary look as if cloud has descended down on earth. Like a veiled lady, what is left to a little imagination is even more beautiful. It felt different as the cool damp wind brushed against our slightly wet body. It smelt different as the salty sea breeze is diluted by the clear water dumping down on us. Somehow it reminded me of the old days when in the bar we ordered "sky juice" instead of water. In a macho world, it was a less feminine term I guess. Or was it more romantic to impress the ladies that we have some intellect when we have none. The best time for reflections is a rainy day. But getting back to the story - in spite of the rain, there were much activities going on. You have just seen a couple of fishermen taking their boats out in the rain. Here are more scenes, not everyone ran indoor to hide when the sky opens up. I could sit here and looked at the rain, the river for a long, long time without tiring.

The fishing village at high tide.

It will take more than rain to deter the fishing enthusiasts huddling on the bridge or under it.

If you look carefully, you can see the fishing “kakis” (enthusiasts) squatting on the pillars supporting the railway bridge. They must be soaked to the skin. They must also be enjoying the rain. It would be impossible to explain the pleasure to those who don't immediately understand. Only way is to drag them into the rain and left them in an open field to remind them that once when they were a kid, they too enjoyed the rain. What makes it different now they are adult? I won't mind being with the fishermen under the bridge.

A heavy rain doesn't last forever. A light drizzle can last what seems to be an eternity. That is why the Hokkien called it the "Hou Lam Hor" or "crying rain". As the rain lightened but still heavy, the earth took on a new clean appearance.

The lyrics of this song played in my mind "I can see clearly now that the rain is gone". It has not exactly 'gone' as it will take a while yet but I could see very clearly already.

This is an interesting scene. Fishing under an umbrella under the bridge in the rain.

Contrary to what some believes, the world did not go to sleep when it rains. As what this guy is doing -"Row, row, row his boat. Gently in the rain. Merrily, merrily, life is but a dream". What different dreams we all have. His is to fish in the rain.

While his mates scooped out the water before his boat took in too much water.

And this boat went speeding by. You may be surprised at the great amount of activities going on. Try getting wet again. It is fun. If not for our cameras and that we need to continue with our work, we won't mind getting wet ourselves that day.

To be continued...

Port Klang Views #6 - The Royal Selangor Yacht Club

This is the Royal Selangor Yatch Club opposite Pulau Hailam. It was founded in July 1969 and called "Port Swettenham Yatch Club". Before Port Klang was thus named, it was called Port Swettenham after Sir Frank Swettenham, the first resident general of the Federated Malay States. In 1972, it was renamed Selangor Yatch Club. On its 20th anniversary, His Royal Highness the Sultan of Selangor gave its new and current name - "Royal Selangor Yatch Club". In 1992, a fire destroyed the clubhouse and it was rebuilt in 1996.

Many Port Klangites are not aware that the public can come here for a meal. There are members' privileges but you can eat in the restaurant. The food may not be great but there are few places in Port Klang that can provide a better atmosphere. I have held two conference dinners in this restaurant and the leisurely ambiance more than make up for the food. Participants are always impressed when I host a dinner there. Maybe, we can hold a MyKlang community meeting there someday. It is a good place to hang back, have a chat and get to know each other better.

The big expanse of white roof and wood interior made this place stand out next to the blue sky and grey water. It is simple and eloquent.

It is the most striking building in the waterfront. A new waterfront for South Port is being created. Hope that it will do justice to this building.

We have doubled back as our purpose this trip was to explore the coastline of South Port and as much of Pulau Indah as we could. So we once again headed back to South Port. We will leave the Klang River for another day, hopefully.

This is the current custom office and some of their boats. A new custom complex is being built at the southern edge of Pulau Indah and we hoped to sail past it later.

This is the repair dock for the yacht.

This ship is carrying buoys to be deposited into the sea. So far I have seen three bright colors - green, orange and yellow. Wonder if the color has any significance?

Kurau is even more excited about this place than the yatch club. Once built, this location will be the new home for the Port Klang Fishing Association. He will be sure to be spending quite a bit of time here.

To be continued...

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...