Showing posts with label Seafood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seafood. Show all posts

Friday, February 29, 2008

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...


Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Port Klang Views #4 - Bagan Hailam.



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...