Monday, October 5, 2009

A Drive around Sepang, Tg Sepat and Jugra (Sea, Lighthouse, Paragliding, Food, Fruits and Pau)

We took advantage of the long Raya holiday to drive around the outskirt of Selangor. This is sort of an educational trip for my kids, something that our family would do whenever time permits. From Subang Jaya we headed to the KLIA highway and passed through the F1 circuit. Our first stop after the Sepang town was ‘Sepang Corner Healty Fruits and Florist, Kg Batu 1, Sg Pelek’ orchard and stall. This is a popular spot by the roadside and you can see loads of customer patronizing this stall that sells mainly dragon fruit (red pitaya; Hylocereus Undatus; Vietnamese, Thanh Long). We had a great free fruit tasting experience and the owner was rather generous in serving the free dragon fruits sample. The red dragon fruits are nice and juicy. I took the opportunity to wander around the small orchard. Here are some pictures I took. Sepang Corner Helthy Fruits and Florist orhard and stall. 1) Bird nest house above the fruit stall. 2) Red Pitaya ice cream, anyone care to try?
Red pitaya flower about to bloom and.................an unripe red pitaya (dragon fruit).
1) Ripe Dragon fruit.................................................2) I don't know what fruit this one is!
Second stop, Bagan Lalang Gold Coast Beach, Sepang After a nice feast of dragon fruits and ice cream, we headed towards Sepang Bagan Lalang so called Goldcoast seaside. It was low tide so the sea water was nearly more than a kilometer away from the shore. There were many people braving the hot sun digging for tasty ‘kepah’ shellfish. We set out our picnic mat under a shady tree. My little daughter quietly sneaked away to a stall selling kite and bought a big bat kite. Of course she got a ‘lecture’ after doing this! I am not sure why they want to develop this place to be a tourist resort. I don’t see any toilet and bathing facilities except some run down stall. There is no proper car park and cars are allowed to go so near to the pedestrian walkway. The road leading to this tourist spot is very narrow! Furthermore, one has to walk so far out to sea during low tide to enjoy a swim, or is it deep enough to swim there? There are other more beautiful beaches elsewhere in Malaysia!
My daughter's bat kite...........................................using the kite to block some sun light! LOL!
The scenery at Bagan Lalang Gold Coast
Can you see hundreds of soap bubbles floating in the air? Third Stop - Tg Sepat Pau, Seafood and Prawn Fritters From Bagan Lalang, we moved on to Tg Sepat to eat the famous ‘pau’ (dumplings). Unfortunately, there were so many people queuing up for the pau and we decided to go for lunch in the nearby restaurant instead. We drove to the restaurants located near the jetty and it was packed with diners. Some of the patrons told us that they have to wait more than 2 hours for their food! Looked like we have to eat elsewhere! We did not manage to have our lunch here! Luckily my sister in law bought some ‘kerepek udang’ (prawn fritters) near the pau stall and it helps us to fill our hungry tummy a little bit. I forgot to take picture of the kerepek udang, but they tasted very nice and the prawn was very fresh. Yummy!
Fourth Stop - Viking Seafood Restaurant, Pengkalan Nelayan Permatang Pasir, Daerah Kuala Langat
Next stop, we headed towards Jugra and found Viking Restaurant at Pengkalan Nelayan Permatang Pasir, which is located not far away from the famous Beggar Chicken restaurant. As we sat down to order our food, the same group of people we met at Tg Sepat came in. Looks like they didn’t eat their meal too in Tg Sepat! Ha ha ha! We ordered a stir fried vegetable (Choy Tam), herbal beggar chicken, kepah (shell fish) with ginger, steamed red snapper and a pot of hot crabmeat tofu soup. The stir fried vegetable (Choy Tam) is nice but the serving is quite small. I don’t think the cook the beggar chicken using clay like the original one, because I could not smell any smoky aroma. However the chicken meat was very tender and well marinated. The Chinese herbs aroma and flavours were infused in the meat. Thumbs up! The kepah (shell fish) was cooked with ginger with a hint of chilli oil. The taste was quite good and the natural flavours of the shellfish were still intact in the flesh. The steamed red snapper was garnished with chili, spring onion, garlic, shitake mushroom and tomato. The fish is fresh but then the portion was also very small. The last dish that came was the crabmeat tofu soup. It actually tasted like shark fin soup. Nice! The total bill for five adults and three children came up to be RM106, which I think is a little bit pricey because the servings are a little too small. Anyway, at least the food in this restaurant is quite tasty! The Viking restaurant and scenery next to the restaurant!
Choy Tam, stir fried and kepah
Beggar chicken all wrapped up and after unwrapping the oil paper!
Red snapper (jenahak) and Crab Meat Tofu soup!
Fifth Stop - Bukit Jugra After a nice lunch we headed towards Bukit Jugra to see the light house up there. After maneuvering our car up the steep slope for around 10 minutes we arrived at the light house which is 146metres above the sea level. It was built in 1976 and the light guides ships in The Straits of Malacca. The lighthouse itself stands at a height of 25 metres. It is a nice view from up here. We can see many swallow bird nest buildings in the low lying areas around Jugra. It looks like bird nest farming is catching up fast around this area. The buildings that house the birds are really huge! We saw a few Para gliders resting at the Para gliders platform just below the light house. Due to its’ geographical location, Jugra Hill is a favourite place for Para gliders taking off with their free flying foot launched aircraft. The number plate of their car bears Singaporean registered number. Wow, these guys drove all the way from Singapore to paraglide at Bukit Jugra. The children were getting restless after a long day and we gave Soon Beng Longan orchard a miss this round.
Light house at Bukit Jugra
1) Can you see the white bird nest house? 2) Paragliders resting and having a nice cool drink!

The paragliding launching platform

Map of the route taken in this round trip through F1 Circuit, Sepang, Sg Pelek, Bagan Lalang, Tg Sepat, Morib ,Jugra, Jenjarom, Banting.

23 comments:

Christine said...

lovely post Pete, I'm going to have to come back and re-visit. I've seen that dragon fruit in the Chinese supermarket here, interesting to see the actual tree. Malaysia looks beautiful. I now remember that my cousin had once sent me some lovely photos of them snorkelling in Redang.

suituapui said...

What kepah?...Only the shells! You already ate all of it! Hahahahahaha!!! So nice to go out on a family outing once in a while. No photo of you in your red skimpy speedos? Hahahahahaha!!!

wenn said...

wow..u hv such wonderful weekends..great..

ladyviral said...

A very long post!

Looks like you and family got a lot of fun!

The beach looks nice and the kite blocking sunlight hahaha!

Pete said...

Christine : The red dragon fruit is nice and sweet. The white flesh ones are not sweet. Redang is a nice place, now easier to travel there because Berjaya have built plane landing facilities there.

STP : Wah, skimpy speedo.....xxxxx cannot show lah! Then no ladies want to visit my blog anymore! ha ha ha! LOL!

Wenn : Thks Wenn, it was a nice outing!

ladyviral : Ya, hv to use the kite to block some sunlight, my daughter wanted to play with the sand! Very hot day!

Anonymous said...

Pete, the drive to Sepang Gold Coast is very, very far oh. I went a few months ago and another time was in the earlier part of this year. There's a coastal road to Sepang too via Klang, where you can see villages along the way.

The road signs to Sepang Gold Coast via KLIA is very poor. I got lost few time before finally found my way there.

smallkucing said...

Fancy having to wait 2 hrs for food.

The choy Tham and the rests of the dishes look delicious. Any contact number ka? Price wise ?

Pete said...

Mei Teng : I was lost a few time too, but now more familiar with the place. Agree, signboard is a problem in this area, how to turn it into a tourist destination!

Smallkucing : Viking is quite fast serving the food. I don't have the phone number but Viking is located on the same road to the famous Jugra Beggar chicken. You won't miss the sign board!

Donna said...

oh.. family trip!!
i love family trip too with the condition, all expenses paid by daddy..
hahahha...

mommy to chumsy said...

looks like a fun trip with lots of good food. is the beach clean?

CheaHSan said...

Wow great family trip, now I can see a "Badman" flying Batman kite..lol Ah 'kepah' reminds me of the good old days when we dived deep into the muddy shores in B'worth beach with the water at chest level to catch them. Real good experience..

Pete said...

Dolly : No wonder 'daddy' hair all white....he hehe!

Mommy : Beach not really that clean. Most of the shops were closed because of Raya.....so hard to wash up after playing in the sea!

Bro Cheah : He he he, the good old days.....got swim without trousers or not? ha hah ha ! LOL!

mNhL said...

We have that 'bat' kite too! We bought for RM10 at Seremban City Park. It really looks nice when it is high up in the sky. Don't scold your daughter la..she just want to have some fun! A great family outing.

Pete said...

mNhL : Hah, I think she paid RM15 for it....sudah kena potong...LOL!
At home got so many kites already....bird kite, triangle kite, eagle kite, traditional kite....some more she buy.....so kena 'lecture', ha ha ha!

smallkucing said...

Thanks Pete :)

Pete said...

Smallkucing, you are welcome!

Ayie said...

very fruitful day! so much sights to see and tasty dishes! i miss eating clams =(

Pete said...

Ayie : Agree, a fruitful day....the kids got to see lots of things!

Anonymous said...

hi There.. mind to share the map on those places that u've visited above ..

Pete said...

I will try to come up with a simplified map. Stay tune!

Unknown said...

thanks.. pete..

mnhl .. u know the blogger here ? or just post only ? i think i know u leh

Unknown said...

hi pete.. thankss

mnhl.. i think i know u .. haha..

Anonymous said...

wahhh.. thanks for the MAP