Subsequent to four years of struggling :'D, finally I made my way to obtain an engineering bachelor degree from UCSI University, KL, Malaysia. I attended the convocation ceremony on early of August this year, my complete family members came too including my mom, dad, three sisters and my grandpa. Their presence made my convocation ceremony a perfect ending to wrap up this memorable four years university life.
Of course, it wouldn't be so perfect without the presence of crazy bunch (yes everyone must has it through university life) who got me drunk on the night before ceremony (thank to them I was late to attend the convocation), faculty pals whom I went through the insane engineering formulas with, and of course the staffs and lecturers.
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| These bunch are insane. Drink till drop and I was late the next morning. |
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| I am not in faculty photograph. I was still sleeping then. |
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| However, luckily I still managed to receive the roll with my own hands. Thank you UCSI University. |
After the convocation ceremony and hours long photography session in front of UCSI legendary fountain in South Wing Campus, sad to admit it was time to say goodbye to those best pals, in fact up until today this was the last time I met them.
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| Craziest Indonesian bunch! When can I see you again? |
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| Faculty pals. We got through creepy engineering equations and survived! |
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| Nothing is more meaningful than my family's presence. |
Through this occasion, me and my family planned to spend a week to look around Malaysia specifically in vicinity of KL & Selangor. To make the trip easier and more convenient to my grandpa, I rented a Proton Exora car from my ex-internship colleague for RM100 a day (this is considered VERY cheap in KL). Most places we paid the visit are common tourist destinations such as Bukit Bintang, KLCC Twin Tower, KL Tower, Tian Hou Temple, Batu Caves, and Genting Highland, except the last one which made this journey a truly amazing one, "Sekinchan".
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| Twin Tower KLCC, KL, Malaysia |
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| Tian Hou Temple, Midvalley District, KL, Malaysia |
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| Batu Caves, KL, Malaysia |
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| Chin Swee Temple, Genting Highland, Malaysia |
Sekinchan is not popular among international tourists, myself had never heard of it before I started to pursue my degree in Kuala Lumpur. One day, I was shocked by my college senior's post in Instagram with caption "Bagan", the picture itself is ice boxes (usually to store fishes) on traditional wooden floor, the background looks exactly similar to my hometown Bagan Siapi-api. Immediately I thought she went to visit Bagan Siapi-api, but when I looked closer she wrote something else in her caption "Sekinchan". I went to search online and found out apparently not only Indonesia has Bagan but Malaysia has it too, located within Sekinchan town. From here I was so much wondering on how Sekinchan looks like and is it truly look similar to my hometown. Will there be any amazing similarity therefore relationship between Bagan Sekinchan and my hometown Bagan Siapi-api? Through my convocation occasion, I invited my family to witness another version of Bagan whose existence we don't know all this while.
| Sekinchan Map |
Sekinchan is a small town located about 100km from KL city center. It takes 1 and half hour drive from KL city center via Latar Expressway. Alternatively one can take bus from Pudu Raya Station in KL with destination to Sabak Bernam. However, referring to malaysian-flavours and also my personal experience, it is more encouraged to drive yourself or just book a day-tour-van for easy access across all tourist spots in Sekinchan via couch-van-rental. I didn't see any commute bus going around Sekinchan, therefore I assume there is no public transport available especially for non-local tourists. Although you can rent a bicycle and ride it across whole town (which sounds fun!), but believe me you can't do this in tropical country. The weather here is either extremely hot or raining heavily, especially in the middle of paddy field where no shelter can be found.
The name of Sekinchan itself came from phonetic of "适耕庄" which means "Village Suitable for Farming". With fertile soil and suitable weather, Sekinchan has highest rice production rate per acre throughout Malaysia. Moreover, Sekinchan is indeed a land of abundance where not only its land is producing rice, but locals are primarily depending on its sea resources too. Sekinchan's tagline "鱼米之乡" which means "Land of Fish and Rice" presents the magnificent of this seaside town.
Here I list out 8 things we did when we arrived at Land of Fish and Rice, Sekinchan.
1. Look for Accommodation
The first thing that came into our mind when we reached this small town is : Where are we going to stay tonight? Luckily as one of the fastest developed tourist destination in Malaysia (recently name of Sekinchan went viral when Hongkong TVB Drama 单城双恋 took most of the scenes in this town), it offers plenty options of accommodation starting from resort, hotel, container hotel, villa and private homestay. Complete information about accommodation in Sekinchan can be found on www.sekinchan.org. I contacted several homestay owners and chose Sekinchan Homestay owned by Mrs. Xie because she offered most economical rate for 7 people stay. Despite from one need to climb up narrow staircase to reach this flat on second floor, it provides very comfortable stay especially for those who came with family : three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a small but comfy living room and kitchen with complete utility set. And it turned out really perfect as it's strategically located only few meters away from magnificent paddy field.
--Room rate : RM210 per night (includes extra bed, 7 people)
--Mobile No : +6012-2802023/+6019-2523483
--Email : sekinchanhomestay@gmail.com
--Mobile No : +6012-2802023/+6019-2523483
--Email : sekinchanhomestay@gmail.com
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| Comfy living room. |
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| It has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. |
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| Kitchen with complete utility set. |
2. Breakfast in Sekinchan Traditional Market
To date Sekinchan still retains its taste of old times, morning breakfast at the traditional market is a must in Sekinchan to witness daily routine of locals which has existed for decades, even centuries. We washed up early in the morning and walked towards traditional market (50m from Sekinchan Homestay) to find out which tasty option it has to offer.
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| Hunted local treats for breakfast. |
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| Daily morning routine in Sekinchan Traditional Market. |
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| Shoplots in Sekinchan still retains its taste of old-times. |
3. Ride Bicycle Across Endless Sea of Paddy Field
Riding on bicycle across thousands acres of paddy field is a perfect stretch to start the adventurous day in Sekinchan. One of the bicycle rental shops is AMG Bicycle Rental, this uniquely decorated shop is located next to traditional market, it's funcky beach style decoration immediately caught our attention when we walked out of traditional market. There are a lot of types of bicycle to choose from, ranging from RM10 to RM50 per hour. We chose to rent the family bicycle which can carry up to 8 people for RM50 per hour. Riding bicycle was the most memorable moment to our trip in Sekinchan, our teamwork was really tested as we need to work together in paddling this vehicle for kilometers long to reach Paddy Museum. First few hundreds meters was very exciting as we were still curious and charged up, desperation came when we need to paddle back to return the bike under striking sunlight. After all, it's a perfect challenge to build the teamwork. Along the way, one can encounter several interesting spots such as Ah'Ma House and Paddy Museum.
Ps. Make sure to play with the bicycle as early as possible, it was not really fun to paddle under striking afternoon sunlight although you can always include sense of humor to every situation. :'D
--Family Bicycle Rental : RM50 per hour
--Family Bicycle Rental : RM50 per hour
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| The first hundreds of meters was a fun part as we all charged up. |
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| Riding bicycle is most memorable moment in Sekinchan. |
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| Grandpa as captain, we paddled under his instruction. :D |
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| Manual U-turn requires great teamwork. Well done! |
4. Visit Paddy Gallery
Sekinchan paddy gallery is a one-stop-shop for tourists to know more about rice plantation and processing. After kilometers of paddling we eventually turned up at paddy museum, paid RM5 entry ticket per person and got a small package of rice as appreciation token. Despite from the rice processing factory itself, the entire gallery is considerably small but comprehensive. We were briefed the complete information of paddy's life cycle, continued to processing, packaging and a brief history of Sekinchan was presented in this 50 meters-square gallery too. Subsequent to gallery, we were lead to a shop at lower ground which has wide varieties of rice product for sale.
--Entrance fee : RM5 per head (inclusive a pack of rice)
From this gallery we got to know there are two planting cycles in Sekinchan per annum, and apparently we came to Sekinchan at wrong timing, paddy field planting cycle is as follow :
Sekinchan paddy gallery is a one-stop-shop for tourists to know more about rice plantation and processing. After kilometers of paddling we eventually turned up at paddy museum, paid RM5 entry ticket per person and got a small package of rice as appreciation token. Despite from the rice processing factory itself, the entire gallery is considerably small but comprehensive. We were briefed the complete information of paddy's life cycle, continued to processing, packaging and a brief history of Sekinchan was presented in this 50 meters-square gallery too. Subsequent to gallery, we were lead to a shop at lower ground which has wide varieties of rice product for sale.
--Entrance fee : RM5 per head (inclusive a pack of rice)
From this gallery we got to know there are two planting cycles in Sekinchan per annum, and apparently we came to Sekinchan at wrong timing, paddy field planting cycle is as follow :
- Field turns into greenest : March-April, September-October
- Harvest, field turns to yellowish : May-June, November-December
- Resting period (Not recommended to visit) : January-February, July-August
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| Paddy Gallery, Sekinchan, Malaysia |
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| Witnessed rice factory operation in real. |
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| The gallery provides comprehensive information about rice. |
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| A brief history of Sekinchan is also presented. |
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| Classic households were also presented in gallery. |
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| "你多久没有和家人一起吃饭?" |
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| Drinking product from gallery, sour and tasty. |
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| Taro ice cream from the gallery shop. |
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| A pack of Sekinchan's rice is inclusive in RM5 entrance fee as appreciation token. |
5. Visit Ah'Ma House
On the way paddling back from paddy museum just few tens of meters before reaching AGM Bicycle Rental, we encountered this retro-decorated wooden store on the left hand side whose name plate says "阿嬤的家" simply means Grandma's House. Ah'Ma 阿嬤 refers to grandmother in Chinese Hokkian dialect. This is a modern old-fashioned store specialized in reviving products from old-times including local treats, hand-made biscuits and traditional tarts. Its main product is 阿嬤鸡蛋糕 Ah'Ma Cake whose recipe is a legacy from grandmother of current owner. To me, this was so much interesting because I could find a lot of sweets I used to consume when I was a kid back then. And for sure this will apply the same to my friends from Bagan Siapi-api or any Chinese populated town at east-coastal of Sumatra (generally referred as Cipul in Indonesia, stands for Cina Pulau meaning Archipelago Chinese).
--Entrance fee : Free of Charge
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| Baking Ah'Ma cake is in progress. |
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| A legacy from owner's grandmother, Ah'Ma Cake. |
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| "Angkimpo", I used to eat a lot of this when I was a kid. |
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| This store is putting effort in reviving old-times products. |
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| The interior decoration in Ah'Ma House. |
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| One word. Classic! |
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| Ride bicycle to Ah'Ma House in Sekinchan. Checked! |
6. Eat Seafood in Bagan Sekinchan
Bagan is a fishery district at coastal part of Sekinchan where most inhabitants are fishermen whose livelihood is depending on sea resources. Although riding bicycle to Bagan is possible, but we chose to drive instead because it was hot sunny afternoon and Bagan is located at the other side across Sekinchan protocol road. I was really amazed with how similar it looks comparing to my hometown in Bagan Siapi-api which once was the biggest fishery in Asia (unfortunately it was not anymore). Bagan is a perfect place to find lunch/dinner, it provides plenty options of seafood restaurant with considerably cheap price, as sea resource is abundant here. We had mouthful of seafood for only about RM70, worthiest meal so far considering it's pure seafood. Furthermore, one can jump on to fishing boat deck/fishery market to take cool photograph however we didn't manage to do so due to time constraint meanwhile Bagan Siapi-api has a lot of this anyway :'D.
--Seafood cuisine : about RM70 (7 people)
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| Source : www.malaysianflavours.com |
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| Source : www.sekinchan.org |
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| Restoran Bagan Sekinchan. Source : www.sekinchan.org |
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| Bagan, a fishery district in Sekinchan. Don't you think it looks exactly the same like Bagan Siapi-api, Sinaboy and Panipahan? Source : www.panoramio.com |
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| Despite from the Proton car on the right side, I couldn't find out any difference between houses in Bagan Sekinchan and the ones in Bagan Siapi-api. |
7. Make Tons of Wishes at Redang Beach
After delicious seafood cuisine, one can continue to explore Sekinchan at Redang Beach which is secretly located at west-coast within vicinity of Bagan district. We found the access to this beach is quite kinking (that's why I said "secretly located"), however as long as road signs are carefully followed there will be no problem at all. Apart from sandy beach, a temple with big wishing tree next to it really caught our attention. I could see several posters with photograph of spirit medium are distributed around the beach , obviously Sekinchan still intensively retain its culture and religion. We paid a visit into the temple and most importantly hanged our wish ribbons on to that iconic wishing tree. Along coastline, Redang Beach is decorated with several tree-houses, food stall and recycled hanging chairs.
--Entrance fee : Free of Charge
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| Sekinchan still retains intense culture and religion. |
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| The board says "I LOVE SEKINCHAN" |
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| Be prepared to get sunburn. Make sure to bring sunblock along. |
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| My grandfather with Strait Malacca behind him. |
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| A lot of temple's flags were seen at the sandy seaside. |
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| Swinging on recycled chair, hanged under tree. |
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| My mom and dad on lucky tree-house 幸运小红屋. |
| Interactive 360 Street View of Redang Beach. Click on map to adjust perspective. |
8. Take Photograph at Paddy Field
No one shall leave Sekinchan without taking photograph with its endless sea of green carpet, paddy field which spans across thousands of acres. Especially under hot sunny day the paddy's green will be enhanced by striking sunlight perfectly collaborates with clear blue sky, a magnificent view that everyone should witness and capture in Sekinchan. Unfortunately we came at the wrong time, August is post-harvest resting period when only tiny left-over germs are visible on throughout the field. However, landscape is still amazing so I decided to take my graduation portrait in the middle of captivating paddy field.
--Entrance fee : Free of Charge
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| Graduated in the middle of paddy field. Checked! |
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| Me and my three elder sisters. |
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| Can't resist the magnificent view, my dad graduated too. :D |
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| White Proton Exora, accompanied us during whole journey. |
Sekinchan can be enjoyed as a one-day-trip, it's more advisable to stay over one night to fully charge up for next morning activity. We were all amazed with what Sekinchan has to offer, especially in regards to its similarity with our hometown in Indonesia, Bagan Siapi-api. After enjoyed Sekinchan thoroughly, we headed 80km south to Klang in visiting our relatives. It gave much broader perspective that there must exist some kind of relationship between towns along east coast of Sumatra and west coast of Peninsular Malaysia mostly in regards of very close geographical location, and it has been proven with similarity between Bagan Siapi-api and Bagan Sekinchan.
If you are spending holiday in Malaysia, I truly encourage you to pay a visit to Sekinchan rather than common tourist destinations that we've known all this while. Especially for you who are similar to me (classified as "cipul"), I guarantee you will be amazed by the similarity between Sekinchan and your hometown. If there were no English signboards, toll road and Malaysia national flag, I would find no difference between Sekinchan to my hometown in Indonesia.
After 8 Things We Did in Sekinchan, we :
- Have our family teamwork significantly increased
- Feel totally accomplished
- Have our paddling skill amazingly increased
- Know the hardwork behind our daily staple, rice
- Have a brand new amazing experience in visiting Malaysia
- Were fully satisfied with what Sekinchan has to offer
- Witnessed another Bagan despite from the one we have in Indonesia
- Know what to recommend if someone asks "Where should I visit in Malaysia?"
The answer to last question is definitely : Sekinchan, Land of Fish and Rice
More information about Sekinchan can be found HERE.
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Lastly, as a bonus I'd like to share how do I get hotel room in Genting Highland as cheap as RM44 per night equivalent to IDR140,000! Even guest house at the opposite of my home in Pekanbaru charges more than this!
The secret is to book hotel room online via www.rwgenting.com, payment must be made immediately through Malaysian banking service or credit card is also acceptable.
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| First World Hotel room as cheap as RM44 per night in Genting Highland, Malaysia |
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| You will be opted to sign in as member to reserve the room |
In order to successfully reserve the room, one has to sign up as member
and it can be tedious especially for non-Malaysian. I myself had
difficulties in signing up even when I was still a student in KL, but at
the end I got it through after repetitive identity document check. It
may becomes easier now, please feel free to give a heads up if you need
help or more information.
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References :
www.sekinchan.org
www.malaysianflavours.com
www.alwaystravelicious.com
www.wikipedia.org
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