---

Frankly, albeit having been to Kuala Selangor on two occasions (Petronas’ orientation camp and homestay program), little did I know about other interesting places in Kuala Selangor. In fact, the only interesting place I know of being associated to Kuala Selangor is Kelip-kelip Kg Kuantan or the Fireflies of Kg Kuantan.

When Dan Arif asked me to sign up for #TSDayOut to Kuala Selangor, I promptly tweeted @TourismSelangor to register. For those of you who have no idea what #TSDayOut is, here are some explanations. #TSDayOut is a social media campaign by Tourism Selangor in order to promote tourism industry in Selangor. #TSDayOut is a hashtag(for twitter) for Tourism Selangor Day Out. In fact, #TSDayOut to Kuala Selangor is a fifth #TSDayOut. Previously, #TSDayOut has organized a day-out to Pulau Ketam, Bukit Broga, Uluhati-Bamboo Rafting and Hulu Langat.

As the event day approached, I woke up extra early to charge my cameras and set up my bag for the trip. When Dan Arif and I arrived at Pizza Hut, Lucky Garden, there were already aplenty people waiting for the bus to come. We quickly grabbed some food from the nearby 7-Eleven. Realizing we still had to pay for parking on Saturday, we walked back to where we parked the car. On our way to the parking lot, we were stopped by an old lady whom I believed was on a routine morning walk. She asked why were there many people gathering at the Pizza Hut. I told her, we are going to Kuala Selangor jalan-jalan; event Tourism Selangor. She responded, “Manyak best, boleh makan angin.” Off she went, leaving us smiling behind her back.

As the participants continued to flock Pizza Hut, we registered our attendance by signing a sheet of paper passed around by tourism officer named Dian. Not long enough, we were on board the bus heading to Kuala Selangor. Hurrah, it was as if we were going for a school trip. Dian welcomed us by a brief introduction and afterwards handed over canned drinks and button badges on which we were required to write our names or twithandles.

After reading the War of the Running Dogs, I was fast asleep only to wake up when the bus came to a stop. I was made to understand we had not reached Taman Alam, but there were interesting monuments nearby. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I alighted the bus noticing an old beautiful-looking wooden house in white colour just by the road side. And Pos Malaysia board was highly perched just below the roof level. To evince that it was a post office rather than a mere beautiful looking traditional Malay house, stood two post box; yellow on the right hand side and red on the left hand side.

Behind the post office that had me enthralled is a temple under construction, name of which as I learnt from the construction board is Kuil Sri Maha Mariamman, Jalan Bukit Rotan, Kuala Selangor. The superstructure that rises in 5 diminishing stages reminds me of the late-Dravidian superstructures in the form of the main gateway of Virupasha Temple in Hampi, India. Just a stone throw away from the site, there is a small temple which we entered to snap some pictures.

The journey continued to Taman Alam Kuala Selangor. Upon reaching there at 10.30a.m., we were briefed by Tourism Selangor representative, En. Fazli and Dian who reminded us to take as many photographs we could and submit 5 photos by the end of the outing. The theme was colours.

Then, representative from MNS, Mr. R. Nagarajan, took stage as he briefly introduced us to Taman Alam Kuala Selangor and its denizens. Taman Alam Kuala Selangor is home to famous water birds (local and migratory), smooth otter, silvered leaf monkey, long tail macaques, leopard cats, mudskippers, mud lobsters, river dolphins, rare species of butterflies, glow-in-the-dark snails and three species of fireflies. Calling for responsible tourism, we were then told we were tasked to clean up the mangroves area. The rubbish was swept by the current to the mangroves and stuck at the muddy area during low tide.

At 10.45a.m., we were provided a pair of boot each to change and a pair of glove to wear. After the jungle house rules briefing by Mr. Nagarajan, we ventured deeper into the jungle, at least 4 kilometres to the spot on which we had to clean up. The trees were old with parasite trees branching out from all directions. I did not know about the rest, I have been a jungle girl ever since but I have never seen a tree branching out downward. Here they were plenty!

We were then given a gunny sack each to put the rubbish in. We walked through the boardwalk about 200 metres and then descended down the steps to start our job as ‘responsible tourist’. It was within 20-minute that I had in my rubbish collection the followings:- 3 pairs of slipper, half a dozen of bottles, an oil plastic container, polystyrenes, plastics, and other things which my mind could not register. I even had difficulty to carry my gunny sack to the steps and in fact, I had to ask for a gentleman’s help to carry my gunny sack up. He later offered his gunny sack of a lesser collection for me to carry to the collection point. How thoughtful!

After leaving the rubbish at the collection point, we were given a hostel to freshen up and kampung food for lunch – all sponsored by Majlis Daerah Kuala Selangor. We were again briefed by Mr. Nagarajan, this time a detailed explanation as we had seen with our own eyes what are mangroves, peat swamp etc.

Repeating his call for tourists, Malaysians and foreigners to be responsible tourists to conserve the nature, he asked questions for us to ponder – “Why come to Kuala Selangor to collect rubbish? Why not confine to the four corner of our home?” He explained about wetlands and the terrains which consisted of highlander, mountain low, peat swamp and basin. He also listed benefits of wetlands, in no particular order; supply of water, biodiversity, ecosystem services, tourism and economic gains, nutrient and pollutant retention, recreation, flood control and storm breaker etc. Just as much as those are good points for a good environmental essay, it is pertinent for us to pause and ponder on the impacts we might subject ourselves to should we continue being ignorant about the importance of wetlands and its protections. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, act with circumspection.

At 2.45p.m., the colourful tram awaited us for a ride up the hill of Bukit Malawati. My first impression as clouded by stories of people who had been to Bukit Malawati was it was full of obnoxious and cheeky long tail macaques stealing food and belongings. The tram jolted a stop in between the entrance to the Historical Museum of Kuala Selangor and a row of cannons. Two monkey food sellers tried to persuade the passerby to buy the food. Under the radiant sun, it is a wise idea to quench the thirst by eating ice-cream which can be bought in front of the wakaf building, the Baitulhilal of Bukit Malawati.

Next to the Historical Museum (said to be the first place to visit if you are learning about Selangor history), is the light house which was built in 1907. It has two levels where the lower part consist of a twirl steel stairs from bottom to top and at the top level, there is a big rounded flat bulb. They lit the bulb from 7p.m. to 6a.m. the next morning. The light house is used as a compass and also as a signal to the ships passing through the Malacca straits from all directions. You cannot go up the light house unless you get permission from Jabatan Maritim Negara.

The monkeys were extra friendly that they did not fear human beings at all. In fact, they dared ask for more food and even grabbed from the hand of the beholders. They stood side by side with brave tourists who actually bought food from the cycle vendors.

We continued to Batu Hampar, which is not a waterfall, mind you! It is actually a bedrock situated at the end of the Sultan’s palace garden. It is a solid piece of stone that resembles a four square table. It is believed that the bedrock was used to beheaded traitors of Sultan. Another opinion is that the stone was a place of relaxation for Sultan Abdul Samad to view the township of Kuala Selangor.

Another interesting place to see near Batu Hampar is the “bleeding tree”. The myth has it that a ‘dayang’ had sex with a foreign trader. It enraged the Sultan that he so ordered for the ‘dayang’ to be beheaded and the blood to be spread nearby. It was believed that the blood was spread to the tree with a big bark. Tourists come to Kuala Selangor to scratch the bark with a stone to see it bleeds, and I came to see it bled with my four eyes. And yes, it did. But for the myth, the scientific study will show the blood is actually the resin of the tree.

Next was Taman Ikan Air Tawar which is just adjacent to Taman Alam Kuala Selangor. The sensational hit is definitely a toman fish with ‘Allah’ word on its body, which was featured in the prime news the night before. The rest were aquariums of fishes from different species. Further down, a greenish pond with small pavilions around can be easily spotted at the compound. What caught my attention was a pond towards the end of Taman Ikan Air Tawar which was full of lotus plants; 3 blossoming lotuses spotted.

We were then brought to a pottery making factory, V.N. Ramadas Trading – Periuk Tanah Asli. I roamed the compound and area to take good pictures while the rest tried their hands on pottery making. According to the owner, he received a grant from the government to buy modern machines in 2000. Previously, he still used the traditional way to make pottery.

We were then taken to Riverview Seafood Restaurant for a seafood retreat. Crab cooked with milk, steamed fish, green curry crab, buttered fried prawn among others. Food was great. We grabbed the opportunities to get to know new friends and exchanged stories. As they said, good food, good company is life’s most civilized pleasures. It was here that I learnt Orang Laut of Sabah asked for dolphins and dugongs for dowry.

A journey to Kuala Selangor will not be complete without a cruise over Sungai Kuantan to see the fairy world of fireflies. It was a tad bit scary even for a second time trip. The last time I went, I remembered having a powered boat. This is only a small wooden boat with a capacity of 4 people. The boat fee has been increased to RM50 per boat. We had to wait for our turn as the queue was long as it was a Saturday night. If you have sharp eyes, you could even see the fireflies from the floating platform. For an obvious reason, I saw darkness.

The boat rules are such that you have to keep silent and do not try to catch the fireflies. Remember, they are the endangered species. The brighter light comes from the male fireflies so as to attract the female ones. The fireflies will stop twinkling when you have your lights on. They shy away. The best time to visit the fireflies is from 8.00p.m. to 11p.m. before the skies clear out.

This is an amazing experience altogether. Kuala Selangor is definitely a must see for local and foreign travellers. There’s much more than just historical cities like Melaka and Penang. Just dig a little deeper and you will find many interesting places waiting to be discovered behind your backyard. One day tour to Kuala Selangor is enough, although you may want to consider joining any of the homestay program available in Kuala Selangor.

Thank you to Tourism Selangor for an eye-opening trip like this one; your efforts in promoting the less beaten paths in Kuala Selangor are applaudable.