A short diversion, going to Kuala Sepetang for seafood dinner, ended up caught in a massive traffic jam for about 2 hours, a few kilometres from the tunnel, because of an accident.
There was a trailer next to our car. My wife noticed the address, Bagan Serai and asked the driver, 'kawan, awak kerja Soon Fatt?' After breaking the ice, she asked what happened and he told her there was a bus involved in an accident, based on his handphone conversation with a friend in front. Blah, blah, blah. Then the driver said, he works for xxx, a Malay name which I read earlier on the side of the lorry! What made her think that there is only one Indian driver who is working for one and only (?) transport company in Bagan Serai? If it was written Soon Fatt, then at least it was understandable she made a mistake in recognizing a different person, but a company with a Malay name mistaken for Soon Fatt! Female logic?
Anyway, back to Kuala Sepetang. We have been there thrice recently. It all started when I mentioned about the phone shop woman who spoke enthusiastically about her first visit with her in-laws. About her first taste of scampi (known locally as 'lai liu har' or 'prawns which wet themselves' and how she enjoyed fish which she normally does not like, and of course, the wonderful crabs cooked in different sauces. She even claimed that the prawns did not start allergic reaction to her husband!
On our first visit, we found instead the one without the upper deck. We had rice porridge with shark meat, two small scampis (at Rm8 each), mini octopuses and a vegetable. A few weeks later, we went to the same restaurant with my wife's sister from KL, and we had two bigger scampis (at Rm12 each), mini octopuses, a type of clams, a fish and a vegetable.
Today, coming back from Penang, SP could not resist going there again, this time to try the restaurant with the upper deck. We had rice porridge with shark's meat and shark's liver, a type of shells which require sharp toothpicks to dig out the meat, and a vegetable.
We could not help but compare what we had in Kuala Sepetang, with what we had in Matang, where we used to have seafood porridge.
In Matang, the particular restaurant which we used to go to, the porridge costs Rm10 per head but the porridge portion was bigger, not the meat portion. Now we realized the latest one we had just tried provided much bigger portion of meat but less porridge at Rm9 per head, which was better value.
Between the two restaurants in Kuala Sepetang, the low deck one has decent toilets, but not the upper deck one, which bathroom door did not have a latch, while the toilet cistern is without cover and one has to dip one's hand in to lift the little string to flush the toilet! The door latch left much to be desired, being improvised with a broken plastic chopstick! On our way out, we noticed some framed newspaper cuttings of write-ups about the restaurant on the side of the staircase. It baffles me why the publicity did not prompt the owner to do something about the dismal conditions of the toilets!
We have decided that for ourselves, we would go for the upper deck one, but when entertaining some foreign guests, the lower deck one will be favoured simply because of its decent toilets!
Having seafood dinner next to the river mouth where we can hear the sound of motorized fishing boats come and go, birds like eagles looking out for their prey, the smell of the river water, while watching the sun sets, must be one of the few natural experiences which would appeal to those who love a rustic way of life.
By the way, we have just been to Kuala Gula recently too. It was the same trip with my sister-in-law when we had lunch at Kuala Sepetang and dinner at Kuala Gula! We did the same as when Alex and Paul were here the last time, except the boat trip. The government run resort complex is being completely renovated! Anyway, we bought Rm20 worth of crabs and took it to one of the restaurants to cook for us. We were charged Rm7 per dish for cooking (we had two types: sweet and spicy and 'kum heong') and we ordered a vegetable and plate of noodles as well. Because of the heavy lunch, we could not finish the crabs and noodles and had them packeted for home. This is going to be the place for crabs if any of our friends asks for it!
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If you're not going to speak up, how is the world supposed to know you exist? “Orang boleh pandai setinggi langit, tapi selama ia tidak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan dari sejarah.” - Ananta Prameodya Toer (Your intellect may soar to the sky but if you do not write, you will be lost from society and to history.)
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