Day Trippin' - Kuala Selangor

Last week I suggested we took a day trip to Kuala Selangor (about 70km from Petaling Jaya). After all it's about time we got to know our own country. Besides we were getting bored with the weekends spent at one mall after another. I googled the net and came back with the following;

The main attraction of Kuala Selangor are the fireflies but we decided to skip that for another trip.

Kuala Selangor is the old royal capital of Selangor. It was conquered by the Dutch in 1784, when they successfully attempted to expand from their base in Melaka to control the tin trade of Perak and Selangor.

Bukit Melawati is a hill overlooking Kuala Selangor and the Straits of Malacca. The Dutch destroyed the existing fortifications on the hill during their 1784 invasion, and built a European-style castle, naming it Fort Atlingsburg after their commander. The fort was fought over repeatedly by the Dutch, Sultanate of Selangor and later the British, until all that remains today are some scattered ruins.

We left home at 9.50am and took a slow drive using Route 54 via Sungai Buloh. It was a comfortable drive as most of the way were 2-lane roads and traffic was light. We arrived at the town about 80 minutes later. It is a small quaint town with a mix of old pre-war shop houses and some more recent shop lots. As we were hungry we grabbed a bite a Aunty's Kopitiam. After a light lunch we headed to the Nature Park. You can't miss it as there's a clock tower (pic) at the road leading to it. The sign reads "Taman Alam" which translated means, yep, Nature Park.

The park was founded in 1987 by the Malaysian Nature Society and the Selangor State Government. It is a massive 800 acres of forest reserve, a paradise for wildlife until Nicole started yelling. We paid RM4 (USD1.22) per adult (no charge for kids under 7) and proceeded to walk towards the nearest watchtower about 300 meters away. This tower is a 'brick & mortar' type but I we could see the inner tower was wooden.

About midway we passed a Caucasian family with two kids (around age 7 to 10) and Nic started muttering in her 'foreign accent' at the kids and blurted the word crazy. That was somewhat embarrassing.

We walked up the flight of stairs and found a young man clicking away with his 'pro-looking' camera. He didn't stay for long as Nic began yelling out for monkeys. She was not happy with the birds flying in the distance. According to the brochure, it is a habitat for otters, leopard cats, silver-leaf monkeys, macaques, local birds (98 species), migratory birds (57 species), reptiles, mud lobsters, crabs, mud skippers (this I saw plus tadpoles and little fishes) and insects (lotsa mosquitoes yeah).

We decided to skip the rest of the sites (rope bridge, egret/pangolin trails, mud flats, etc) but hope to return another day with insect repellant at the ready. Next stop, Bukit Malawati (Malawati Hill), the site of the lighthouse (pic) and remains of the Dutch fort (pic, cannons). You can either walk or take a tram. It's actually a tractor-driven contraption brightly painted in red and yellow (pic). Tickets are RM2 (USD0.61) per adult and RM1 (USD0.31) for children. We took the tram, which dropped us off at the top where we were greeted by dozens of Silver-Leaf monkeys. They are so named because the adults have a silver sheen on their fur. The babies however have orange fur (please click on monkey pic). These primates are bags of fun as they are so gentle. As soon as we stepped down the tram a couple of them came to us with outstretched hands and those 'puppy-dog eyes'. As we were empty-handed they soon abandoned us and went after the folks with food. Not wanting to be outdone, we bought some buns from the friendly vendor cum unofficial tour guide. He warned Susan not to reveal her buns (ha ha, could not resist that) as the monkeys would snatch them. So she put the buns in her handbag and gave up when the critters became too rowdy. I promptly took over and handed out crumbs. It went well until this young monkey jumped on my head. This monkey kept doing that the whole time. All said, it was fun.

It was about 3pm and we headed towards Pasir Penambang for some seafood. It was just a few klicks away, past the new bridge. We went to River View (pics above) as my research said the view was good. Right it was as a nice cool wind kept blowing at us from the South. This beats the air-cond joints we patronize in the city anytime.

After the meal we stopped by the shops selling seafood, both dried (pic) and fresh. We left for home at around 4.45pm. Despite it being a very hot day throughout we had fun and would like to return someday soon. This time we'd like to explore the park more and stay to watch the fireflies at night.