Right. Late last week, an idea of visiting the car-less fishing village of Pulau Ketam [Crab Island] came to me almost suddenly. After reading about it online and in the papers, I was determine not to waste the weekend living the suburban life. My mother agreed to it and on the morning of Saturday the 12th, after having breakfast at a Nasi Tumpang joint, we took on the NKVE and reached Port Klang [South Port]. My mother had earlier announce that it's just going to be a 'survey day' and I didn't know we were actually going to reach the island. But we did, using a tiny, air-conditioned longboat-looking thing.
The journey took about 40 minutes, through some channels of mangrove swamps. Upon reaching Pulau Ketam, there would be fishing villages with trawlers parked in front of the fisherman's house on stilts [like everything else on the island].
At the jetty, there were many bicycles parked, mostly unlocked. I immediately got excited finding out that there's a Groningen in this country of single drivers.
To enhance your coolness, an 'I [heart] KL' t-shirt won't do. Get one of these:
Further down the road was the island centre. I could buy salted fish, crackers, dried seafood and candies with excessive additives, but I didn't. There was a restaurant calling us to occupy one of the tables, so we had a typical lunch of assam prawns, chilli crabs, oyster omelette and Teo Chew fish. And as usual, we had to doggie bag the leftovers.
After lunch, I went off by myself to lurk about the island to see all the bicycles, gaudily-painted houses and men pushing generator-powered carts full of supplies from the docks to their homes, under the blazingly-hot sun. Let these pictures speak for themselves.
That's pretty much everything that makes up Pulau Ketam. But there's one more thing - trash. It's almost everywhere, sadly. On an island where everyone cycles, no pollution-churning lorries and factories, the best way to get rid of your ice cream wrapper is to let it fly off to the seabed. Well, it's not entirely Pulau Ketam-ians' fault. There's no rubbish bin to be found. Makes me wonder how they get rid of their garbage. And maybe calling it the country's own Groningen is a bit too much.
Everyone's doing their own thing, cooking their catch, relaxing on their balconies, chatting under the shade of a faded banner [there are no trees here] and working on their boats. I bet no one, no one, has heard of Kasimir Malevich.
I rejoined my mother who was chilling out near the police station by 3 p.m. We were ready to return to the mainland. But before that, a picture by the letterbox.
I will never ever wear a black outfit with a necktie the next time I travel to a non-air conditioned place.
I slept for awhile during the journey back to the port. Then, I saw an open-air boat taking in passengers. This should be the way to cruise! Nevermind, the next time I go to Pulau Ketam, I'll take this. I won't be bringing my bicycle, too, because Pulau Ketam rents them for RM 5 per day.
Don't travel by car to Port Klang because the highway tolls charge too much and it's way cheaper to take the Komuter. I think I'll be back again within this year, because cycling through Pulau Ketam's neighbourhood is way more fascinating than, say, PJ Old Town [in some ways].
Oh! How could I forget the ending typographic shot? Here's a typical sign you can find hung above shops.
1 comments:
Fantastic overview of Pulau Ketam! Your photos manage to capture the essence of the island. I love every single photo in this website.
Cool neon-colored doors by the way!
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