By Anthony Dylan
Last month, I shared with you our first road trip in 2023 taking the trip down south with a short stop in Seremban and a short spurt to Tangkak before settling in Melaka. Touching three states. Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor.
In just about a month since, we decided to head up north using the western coast as we had a friend who invited us to spend a night at their little guest bungalow in Lumut, Perak. We decided that we would spend a night there and splurge a bit for once with a night in Pangkor Laut Resort.
We headed off rather early in the morning just so that we could take the road westward from Subang Jaya to Klang for breakfast. We found a quaint place where locals go to near Klang Parade Shopping Centre called “Soo Ser Yuan.” They have good vegetarian kopitiam fare which includes wantan noodles, noodle curry, rice dishes, nasi lemak, bao and even fried or soup noodles.
Waze mentioned that it would take about 3.5 hours with traffic for about 190km. We made our way onto the West Coast Highway and passed through the town of Kapar and headed up towards the town of Kuala Selangor and Tanjung Karang. The scenery changed to one with lots of paddy fields and slight glimpses of the Straits of Melaka. We believe that the major economic activity is rice farming with being fishermen a close second.
Kuala Selangor can also lead you to the famous Kampung Kuantan fireflies park and the famous photo taking Kuala Selangor Beach which is also known as the “Sky Mirror.” This patch appears at low tide and is in the Straits of Melaka! Yes, you must take a boat there from the jetty. The photos here are near perfect mirror-like reflections if taken correctly.
However, we did not detour to these two places as we left them there as options for our next trip. The next stop brought us to the small town of the famous paddy planting area of Sekinchan which we drove past as we wanted to ensure we reached Sitiawan by lunch time.
The roads were not that busy, but the slower pace made the journey take time, which we did not complain. It allowed us to enjoy the sights which we would never be able to see when we used the major North South Highway. As we had time before lunch, we went to the “Hock Chew So Mee Shua (konpian)” which is a village house located in Kampung Cina Sitiawan. They make their own mee sua and we bought a few dried packets. We then made our way to the Long Mun Chai Vegetarian Restaurant for lunch. The vegetarian fare had clever use of sweet and sour mushrooms, mixed vegetables, tofu and fried rice.
After that, we made a drive to the famous Tua Pek Kong Temple which majestically faced the Straits of Melaka. It is located at Pasir Panjang and has nice walking ground. Along with a 7 storey Pagoda, you can see a row of giant white stone statues including Tua Pek Kong himself, flanked by other deities, tigers, lions and monkeys. The ground is beautifully landscaped and with man made rock and cave formations. This place is definitely a must visit for anyone heading up to Sitiawan.
Our last visit for the day was to the Sitiawan Settlement Museum which is in Kampung Koh. Entry to the museum is not expensive as it costs only RM5 per adult and seniors are charged RM3 only. Funds go to the management of the museum which belongs to the Methodist Church. This museum is the only museum that provides a great historical education of the early settlement of the Fuzhou or Hock Chew People in Sitiawan. The exhibits are rare and have been supported by the proud community of Sitiawan. This is another must visit when in Sitiawan.
We headed to our friend’s place in Lumut just reaching back before 6pm. Their place in Taman Bukit Maju overlooks the Sungai Lumut shoulder splitting Sungai Lumut Kiri and Kanan. The views were nothing but fantastic everywhere you looked. They built two single storey bungalows on their property. One was their own stay and one for close friends and family guests. The all-wood bungalows are made in reference to Javanese architecture. We spent some time watching the sun set with a glass of gin and tonic before we washed up to ready ourselves for dinner.
After spending a lovely evening with dinner, wine and gin we turned in and woke up to have a round of homemade breakfast with tea and coffee at the outdoor gazebo facing the same impressive views of the river from above. We then made our way to the Marina to check in at the Pangkor Laut resort jetty which then arranged for us to head to the resort via their hotel speedboat.
This was the first time we ever splurged on our holiday accommodation and to be honest, it was worth it. All the accommodation was either clustered on stilts in the sea or on the hillside and garden area. The topography remained nearly the same as is. The main Emerald Bay Beach is located to the east side of the island as the resort is on the west side. There is even a villa named after the opera singer “Pavarotti” as that was the actual one, he stayed in on the hill. Ours was also on the hill but of course, not that one. Meals were addressed by their chef who advised us on the vegetarian options and even created special meals.
We left Pangkor Laut Resort the next morning and had lunch with our friends at a place called “Come to Eat” before fueling up at his brother’s Shell Station in Lumut. We headed back and made one stop at Sekinchan Paddy fields to get some rice and the famous mango smoothie to cool down the sweltering day.
Travelling on the road is a wonderful experience. It is something that you should try as there is so much to discover. We are planning for a next one but still looking at the possible routes in the Peninsula.
