3D2N Sekinchan family trip

Imagine a Sekinchan family trip.

Golden padi fields stretching as far as our eyes can see, all ready for harvesting.

适耕庄 Sekinchan is such a piece of abundance. Infact, 适耕庄 (Chinese name) liteally means land-suitable-for-farming, 鱼米之乡.

Sekinchan is in Selangor, 1 hour North of KL. It is about 5 hours, 440km from Singapore (estimated driving speed of 120 to 140kmh).

 

You know you have arrived at Malaysia’s rice bowl when you spot endless fields of padi.

 

鱼米之乡
鱼米之乡

Our Sekinchan family trip was timed to see golden Padi fields, estimated around mid May/Jun and Nov.

We did say Harvesting right, seeing monster tractors in action were COOL!

Right photo below, the padi factory. You will also notice many high-rise buidings designed to nest swallows and their saliva (燕窝 bird nest)

Rice Factory GPS (3.520942, 101.128885)

There are tours to guide you about padi process, from planting to harvesting to packaging and buying of  by-products (photos at Google link)

(L) 南天宫 (GPS 3.523699, 101.142036 )

 

The other highlight for us at Sekinchan was our accommodation. We were staying in container boxes!

Farm Ville Cafe & Homestay (GPS 3.500811, 101.111003)

Pretty innovative and abstract right, there is a small pool too!

We had more details about containers in this post, but you can see photos at Google link. (Just take note that the boxes can be hot during the afternoon, full blast the aircon)

 

This is view from our window, Green and yellow!

 

Map of Sekinchan attractions.

Image credit http://sekinchan.org

If you like nature, old-town, and lots of seafood, try Sekinchan. There are enough activities for families to enjoy a laid back 3D2N.

Sekinchan family Trip
Sekinchan family Trip

This is the famous Beach at Pantai Redang (GPS 3.502855, 101.094474).

You can swim but do not expect white sandy beaches.At the canal entrance, you can spot fishing boats heading out to the sea.

We spotted many “tree-houses” along the coastline. This beach is popular for kites and fishing.

Next up, Dinner. There are many stalls next to the beach area. The stalls are a bit run down, do not expect food court hygiene hee hee 🙂

炸騙集团 caught our name! The shop name means “deep-fried syndicate” haha.

 

Our “seafood dinner” consists of fried squid, prawn (is it mantis shrimp?). Total bill was only RM40, we ordered a second plate of squid as it was good.

 

You will not miss this Coca Cola landmark. Folks would climb up to second floor for a better view of surrounding.

Cool refreshments are always welcome 🙂

Breakfast was a 10 minutes walk for us to Sekinchan’s town area.

You will find coffee shops, bike shops and a wet market. This place is very crowded in the morning.

We did pass by a popular old school coffee shop. (Kedai Kopi )

Wanton noodle seems to be popular with locals.

Bike shops all along this street (GPS 3.506692, 101.106362), prices start from RM30 to RM50 (Quad bike) for 1 hour (or is it 2?).

 

This padi stack (or roll) Ah Ma’s house (Grandma) is popular for photo props.

阿嬷的家 The House of Ah Ma (GPS 3.50760, 101.10848)

You can find nostalgic stuffs and food, popular with souvenir hunters. This egg crepe is their best seller. It may look plain but it is tasty.

Mango King (3.52782, 101.13948)

You will likely see tour coaches before the mango trees.

We had the sweetest mangos ever, and busloads of visitors kept popping up. Try to enjoy the mangos under the trees, for enhanced novelty feel.

If time permits, visit “fishy” Bagan fishing village (3.506837, 101.094621)

Trawlers are back in port, and fishermen busy repairing their nets. Try to spot eels and other local catch.

After seeing the seafood source, seafood restaurants for lunch.

No1 favourite would be 建旗海鲜饭店 (Restoran Jiann Chyi, GPS 3.504834, 101.099031), but queues can be up to 1 hour! We ended up with neighbour “Hai Kang” .

We enjoyed our seafood lunch although Google Reviews are less positive.

After lunch, there are some shops selling local goods (土产). Do buy the normal or coconut egg tart but skip the cendol.

 

Cycling offers a good experience to exercise off the seafood calories. Fresh air, green landscapes, but do avoid the huge quad-bike haha!

We struggled to sustain momentum for this bike over an hour and we got 6 pairs of legs!


Quad-bikes does looks cool for family portraits and Instagram haha.

 

There are minimum cars on the road but we must still exercise vigilance. Just stop anywhere and pose with the padi landscape.

 

More details can be found on Sekinchan website http://www.sekinchan.org

Do pop by our Facebook photos, Day 1 and Day 2.

This trip was taken in May 2016, we are two years late 🙂
More about our Container hotel at this link.

.. read our 2018 Sekinchan Padibox stay

ps.. We would like to highlight another Fun pace near to Sekinchan. Do Google for 天空之镜 Sky Mirror. I enjoyed my sand-bank and clams exploration with my boy, blog post below.

Sky Mirror in Malaysia is SUPER FUN

 

 

Sky Mirror in Malaysia is SUPER FUN

Have you heard of Sky Mirror 天空之镜 before?  This exotic term is new to me too, but Google and IG hashtags provided some Fun clues 🙂

From Day 1, another term Blue Tears (蓝眼泪) was also new to me. It goes to show Malaysia has many more corners for us to explore and hike.

Continuing Day 2 of my solo trip with Boon Yee (read about Day 1 Broga Hill), we headed to the town of Bagan Datoh (Kuala Selangor). The small jetty near our chalet is called “Kampung Sungai Burung” (GPS 3.976111, 100.707292).

You only need to know that Sky Mirror was the best activity in our itinerary, and it it is FUN for both kids and adults. The two videos in blog below are enough to send my family there again.

No 1 Activity : Posing with your reflection is seriously Fun, anything Goes!

Sky Mirror photos
Sky Mirror photos

Look at our Instagram video and you will know how much FUN we had in 2.5 hours! There are many hermit crabs running around too 🙂

 

Looking at the map below for reference, Sky Mirror (estimated GPS 4.020000, 100.718333) is about 20 minutes boat ride North from our chalet (9 Island Travel Agency), or South of Pangkor Island (point 4).

Sky mirror map

Qiong(1) Ah! Our 20 minutes boat ride was filled with anticipation. Those who need extra adrenaline can opt to sit in the front row (bow). Kids could not wait to jump off the boat.

Fourth image credit Adventures Village

Sky Mirror sandbank was our playground, leave your inhibitions behind and just have FUN. No need to be shy as everyone will be trying to post Cute or Epic :p

There is a sense of Freedom on the temporary island. The sandbank is only exposed during low tide (on certain days), do check with travel agency for best timing to visit.

catching Hermit crabs Malaysia

Before we reach the sandbank, I hinted to Yee we are visiting a “swimming-pool” in the middle of Strait of Malacca :p

 

We heard the entire sandbank could be as big as 100 football fields! Where do you wish to run again haha?

More camera tricks 🙂

You just need some creative juices and reflection to snap the best shot. If you are clueless on how to pose, just Google for examples 🙂

You will not go wrong with Instagram Boomerangs ( my favourite 天空之镜 pose, but it is Bolivia’s salt lake)


3 images above credit Adventures Village

 

 

No 2 Activity at Sky Mirror is digging for your own lunch! Although kids would argue that this is the best activity!

It was a challenge to see who can fill up their basket with lala first. You will see small crabs, hermits and all sorts of shells in our collection, but we only harvested the lala for lunch.

The mud is soft and therapeutic and after catching the first shell, there was no stopping!

Image credit Adventures Village

 

Sky Mirror’s fun experience went beyond my expectation. Boon Yee was reluctant to leave the “island” too.

Not listing mud spa as Activity 3 as no one cake their face with the black mineral :p (Sashimi is out too)

 

Back at the jetty, souvenirs for you and me, we would recommend the prawn crackers.

You can buy relatively new camping tents too ! We heard 500 tents need to be sold due to closure of Pulau Sembilan, you can Google “Pulau Sembilan camping”. A huge loss for travel agency, a steal for the adventurers 🙂

 

Remember the lala which kids were busy digging earlier. Just tell the chef your table number 🙂

 

Look at the tantalising seafood platter! We were all hungry after a Morning of Fun!

Video (YouTube link) : Check out our second Sky Mirror video below

Tips  (Day 1 itinerary here):

-Walk barefoot
-Leave your heavy bags in room or boat. Just bring water, sunblock lotion and camera

-Do check with travel agency (ours was 9 Island) for best time to visit (I would rate their customer friendly attitude 4/5)

-Plan for minimum two hours on the sandbank

-We did not see anyone swimming, I guess lala harvesting and photo sessions are enough to keep everyone entertained

*Wear your Brightest clothes for best effects. Do not place your barang barang infront of you during the shoot, unless it is a photo prop

*Taking photos with reflection is a skill. You need to find “still” water for best reflection. You need to avoid photo bombs (there could be 100 visitors on the island!)

-Travel agency will provide the colourful props, windmills, umbrellas, Sky Mirror sign etc
-Kids life jackets are available

**Check out Broga hill and Bagan Datoh Day One and Two photos on our Facebook album. FUN is guaranteed!

-Our “2D2N Malaysia Unlimited” trip was booked with Meetup Group “Adventures Unlimited”, itinerary here . Join the Village (Facebook group) to link up with like-minded kakis

-Check out some other bonding activities with my kids.
Boon Kang 3D2N (Farm at Koref), Taman Negara with Boon Wee, 2D2N Broga Hill and Sky Mirror with Boon Yee

天空之镜 we miss you !

ps.. There are actually two Sky Mirrors in Malaysia. We went to the one at Bagan Datoh. Google 天空之镜 Sasaran (Kuala Selangor) for the other site

We visited Sasaran Sky Mirror in 2018 Nov, no lala here!

Refer map above, it is located 30 minutes South of Sekinchan #point 5 (GPS  3.214722, 101.192500 , Jetty area around Kuala Selangor GPS 3.342418, 101.250803).

*Read our 3D2N Sekinchan Paddy fields adventure here and here