A day in Sekinchan

And parts of Kuala Selangor.

If you don't know, Sekinchan is famous for its paddy fields.  Many people come here to take pictures of the glowing fields when the rice is ripe or full grown in lush greens.

As I am an 'awesome' photographer/blogger wannabe, my timing couldn't have been better. It was just the turning of the season when the fields have been plowed and there is nothing to see. Quite like a wasteland.

On a plus side, it was a rather sunny day. Very good for photography.

These are so uniformed, so in line as they are planted using machines. I never really thought about where my rice comes from but after this trip, there is more appreciation, knowing that the entire process takes months before it ends up on my plate.

There is this Chinese belief that if you leave any rice behind on your plate (even one or two), your future partner will have equally bumpy face. It's most likely just a scare tactic to get the kids not to waste their food. If not, hey, Mr Right, can you just stop leaving them rice behind? Think of all the starving kids in Africa. Actually, screw that. Can you just appear in my life already?

A little hut with a sign that translates to "volunteer fire patrol". Not sure if it is still in use.

Quaint suburban life. More like village life. A colleague and I discussed about the merits of city life and there wasn't much. High living cost, constant traffic jam. Why didn't we just go back to our little kampung and just lead a peaceful life instead?
I suppose we all just want better things in life. But, that doesn't mean a village life is all that bad. Life is more relaxed. You get to take your own sweet time. People are (more likely) friendlier. Having said that, my last time living in a suburban (Ipoh) was more than 2decades ago. Things may have changed now. I don't know. The unfortunate thing is there is nothing in the suburbs that will compensate us enough to afford the luxuries that city life has made us accustomed to.

On a somewhat related note, I have to admit that Tony Abbott's remark on the Indigenous lifestyle is spot on:

 “It’s not the job of the taxpayer to subsidize lifestyle choices. It’s the job of the taxpayer to provide reasonable services in a reasonable way, indeed, to provide high-quality services in a reasonable way and then I think it is the responsibility of our citizens to shoulder the usual duties of citizenship.

It is the responsibility of every Australian parent to send his or her children to school – Indigenous people no less than everyone else. It’s the responsibility of every Australian adult to look for work if you are capable of work, and, yes, while you are looking for work, the government will pay you unemployment benefits, but what we can’t do is endlessly subsidize lifestyle choices if those lifestyle choices are not conducive to the kind of full participation in Australian society that everyone should have.”

Come on, you opted to live in a remote area where infrastructure is almost non-existent or economically not viable to build.

We took a detour to Kuala Selangor on the way home after lunch. A frequent stop on the way to Ipoh before the highway was ready, it's a sleepy fishing town. The place reeks of the sea though there are many other tourist attractions.

Food is most probably the most popular of them.

Firefly is a close contender. I went on a night cruise once with my family to watch fireflies in the swamp. We sat on a sampan powered by a low engine so as not to scare the insects. You get to see them in groups like mini Christmas lights twinkling away. It was a short ride. Scary enough that once is enough.

Like Klang, the place has a river/sea that you can pretend to be all romantic. Sorry, my brain is not working. Too many cells committed suicide today.

Will I come again? Most likely no.
I am just a city girl at heart.