“Let’s go to Sekinchan”, Jac said to Jeannie and I. “They have the best curry mee.” My immediate thoughts, “all the way to Sekinchan for curry mee?”

“It’s one and a half hours drive away”, I said.

Jeannie: “Yes. It will be exciting. We can go see the famous padi (1) fields. There are travel documentary films made about Sekinchan and its padi fields.”

“Yeah, yeah; let’s go”, said Jac. “We can go this coming Saturday, she said.” “It will be fun”, she continued.

It was Thursday, 2 days from Saturday when this suggestion was brought up. Even if I didn’t want to go (which I didn’t); these two ladies had two days to work on me to get me to go. Sigh! Padi fields, muddy, water clogged, mosquitoes, insects….

Met with Jac at her place at 9.30am. From them, we got in her Porsche Macan for the drive up to Sekinchan.

We got onto the NKVE highway, drove North and got off at the Sekinchan exit. From, there, it was an area we had not been through before. We got on another highway heading towards Kuala Selangor. It was like visiting a whole new world of living, an area dotted with people living along the way, passing through towns more like villages upgraded to tiny towns.

We crossed several bridges over rivers and by time we got to town, we were greeted by a fairly long jam. Jac was a bit flustered by the jam, couldn’t believe it for a small town.

Based on the information from travel bloggers; this place that sells that “famous” (I didn’t want to use that misused 6 letter word again but had to to emphasize how famous this was) curry mee, closes for the day at 11.30am.

We got to the market place just in time for the last bowl of this “famous” curry mee. To be shared between the three of us. I didn’t think it looked that extra ordinary to be famous. Last bowl left was because the whole market place closes for the day around that time. Jeannie and Jac tried this curry mee and thought it to be ordinary.

I had conlo mee with wanton soup. The conlo mee had a nice presentation to it, different from most others. It tasted quite nice, too.

I think the curry mee was meant to be famous in Sekinchan or the best that Sekinchan had to offer.

We decided to drive around town after brunch in search for a preserved calamansi “what-cha-may-call-it” lime with sour plum, which is supposed to be good for sore throats. It seems the calamansi juice that is sold in Sekinchan is really good. This refreshing drink of sweet sour plum and calamansi juice is a refreshing drink on its own, too. You can drink it either with hot water or as a cold drink with ice cubes.

We drove all round town, to the medicine halls and sundry shops, but could not find it. Until we came across this shop that sold cookies, snacks etc.: “Sekinchan Kayapo”.

This shop looked good from the outside. Its inside was even better. It is a restaurant in the evening because it has tables and chairs inside, as well as outside. It had a nice setting.

Once we were done with shopping, we headed to what Sekinchan is most probably best known for: its padi fields. As we were coming into Sekinchan earlier on in the day, we could see the padi fields to the right of us.

The padi fields were in a nice shade of green. We don’t know at what stage of growth this padi was at before harvest. We spent a few minutes there, then decided to head back home. Though there was a bustling fishing village nearby, it never crossed our minds to go there.

I found it an interesting thought that the people here, in Sekinchan; are in most ways happy with their way of life. Kuala Lumpur (KL) is the nearest city to Sekinchan even though it is some 90 minutes away. The Sekinchan-ians don’t seem to be attracted to KL. Maybe, it’s good to know that KL is nearby whenever it is needed as a getaway.

NOTE:

1. Sekinchan is a small town located in Sabak Bernam, Selangor, Malaysia. Sekinchan is Chinese for “suitable for planting“. It is a lively fishing village and is one of the major rice producing areas in Malaysia. Wikipedia
2. Padi (paddy – Oxford langauges spelling) is rice stalks before harvest. Oxford languages states it as (i) “a field where rice is grown”. (ii) rice before thrashing or in the husk.