Part 2 - Magical Mangrove Beach

And the adventure continues.....

An unknown species of fiddler crab with a pincer as large as its body makes it look as intimidating as a heavyweight champion boxer   

Low tide at the mangrove beach in Tanjung Tuan that late morning

Some of the fiddler crabs that were scurrying on the rocks covered with bright green algae at low tide 

A potential rival fiddler crab with an enormous pincer 

Dead pieces of coral (above and below) - sad evidence of bleaching, an effect of climate change 

 Vanilla ice-cream at Tino's

The Gelato at Tino's Pizza, a restaurant hidden in one of the one-storey shoplots in the busier part of Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan (as pictured above). The last time I had ice cream here was in 2014 during Raptor Watch weekend which can be read HERE - it was creamier than a Magnum but whether or not it really tasted like the famous ice cream in Italy, I think I have to leave it to a local Italian to confirm this - the owner of this shoplot is of Italian nationality but I didn't get the chance to confirm it first-hand that day. In the meantime, there was a good review from TripAdvisor about their food HERE. The Ring-legged fiddler crab is one of the species that can be found in Malaysia, with a very important role that they play to maintain a healthy ecosystem in a mangrove beach such as Tanjung Tuan. 

The Bridge over the River Linggi

No crocodiles were seen that afternoon lazing around on that narrow strip of exposed sandbank

A river that runs through Negeri Sembilan towards the sea. Crocodiles still inhabit this river. 

Kuala Linggi - a small group of people were seen fishing nearby the bridge with prawns as baits. A crocodile had found itself unfortunately washed ashore onto to the road on top of this bridge during the bad floods that affected parts of Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and KL in December 2021. More about that can be read HERE. No crocodiles were seen that hot afternoon but the close encounter with that reptile last year and the (dashed) hope of seeing one on a normal day either swimming in the river or basking in the sun on a sandbank in Linggi, reminded me of a poem about this fascinating creature by Mr. Lewis Carroll the author of Alice in Wonderland:-

How doth the little crocodile

improve his shining tail

And pour the waters of the Nile

on every golden scale

How cheerfully he seems to grin

How neatly spreads his claws

And welcomes little fishes in

With gently smiling jaws.

(Lewis Carroll)

Tanjung Tuan and the Lighthouse Part 1

                              Dinner at an authentic Chinese restaurant is getting the front-page limelight in my blog. It was worth the 45-minute wait with the waiter visibly stressed by the unexpected crowd of hungry folks in Lukut that Sunday night. We could hear her yelling every 10 minutes from the kitchen although it was not clear what she was upset about. Note to self - BOOK a table in advance and order dishes beforehand should I bring my family and friends here for the next trip:) It was going to be Hari Raya Aidiladha the following day which is a public holiday throughout Malaysia (and Singapore) so that could have contributed to the larger turnout that night. Almost 8 out of the 12 tables were occupied by Indian families. Good to know they too enjoyed the local Malaysian Chinese cuisines:) Malaysia is a multi-racial country although my nation has been in the front pages of many international newspapers and featured in many news portals, for all the wrong reasons. We need to leverage on diversity and appreciate the uniqueness of our natural heritage. The covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc throughout the entire world. A comedian joked that we were grounded by God for two years. 

I ordered seafood taufoo but what was served looked like Japanese beancurds with minced pork. The piece de resistance that night for me was the prawns in salted egg sauce (as pictured at the top of my blog). If I had a piece of mantou bun, I would have wiped that plate of prawns clean off with the last bit of bun - it was very tasty. Kudos to this restaurant in Lukut, Port Dickson, named Mei Jing! They officially opened on 21 June 2020 according to their Facebook page. Find out more about this restaurant HERE. This was a brief escapade from KL. I had just completed the second semester of my MBA online distance learning course and needed a short break to remember what it was like to travel again.      

    Seeing this Cape Rachado lighthouse again post-pandemic lockdown was pure joy! 

Tanjung Tuan (Cape Rachado) - view from the lighthouse

  

On my way back to the beach after a good view of the coast from around the lighthouse area. There was a fruiting tree, nearby the lighthouse which was visited by the Red-eyed bulbul, Pink-neck Green Pigeon, Olive-winged bulbul, Asian Glossy Starling, of which I have noted down via Checklist at Ebird Malaysia HERE. The historical background of the Lighthouse (built by Dutch in 1817 who succeeded the Portuguese conquerors, before the British colonial masters took over subsequently from the Dutch) is provided in the Port Dickson Municipal council website HERE . The invisible lines of the borders between Malacca and Negeri Sembilan were well-marked by notice boards, at the entrance to the road leading up to the lighthouse, at the stairs toward the lighthouse and the entrance gate of the lighthouse perimeter. Bukit Batu Putih (Hill of White Rocks - will come up with a more colourful name for this site when I get there!) is the next place for me to explore and hopefully I’ll be physically fit with proper trekking shoes to walk on rocky terrain soon.

High tide at the beach on foothills of Tanjung Tuan Recreational Forest.

Trip Down Memory Lane at Pinto Noodles

It has been a roller-coaster ride from 2020 to 2022 with two years of lockdown taking its toll on many Malaysians. When the borders began opening, Inter-States travel resumed, as usual, and workers return to offices with the notorious traffic jams returning to Kuala Lumpur as we enter the endemic phase. Short holidays like Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Hari Raya Aidiladha, Labour Day saw an exponential increase of vehicles on the roads with bumper-to-bumper traffic along the PLUS highways. The tourism industry returns to life, with hotels fully booked, shopping malls packed with the public returning to shop (with a renewed vigour or vengeance I wonder, as if released from the "prisons" of their homes during the lockdowns and making up for lost time), flights overbooked, hair saloons busy with customers (I was turned away with the friendly suggestion that I book a day in advance via Whatsapp message to secure a place) and lakeside park in Kepong filled with walkers on a Saturday. It was a serendipitous moment because I then discovered a place called Pinto Noodle, a Thailand restaurant specialising in Chiang Mai food. Located in an intermediate shop lot within Fadason Garden, Kepong, it was easy to imagine myself being in Thailand when I ate at this restaurant. PINTO is the transliteration of Tiffin from the Thai script (ปิ่นโต). The tissue holder, cutlery box, bottled condiments with Thai fish sauce and pencil holder added to the feel of being in Chiang Mai, the city at the northern tip of the Land of Smiles. I started flipping through the menu, pronouncing the Thai names of the dishes out loud in excitement with my heart bursting with happiness seeing the picture of the Mango Sticky Rice (Khao Miao Ma Muang) as it brought back the memory of the unforgettable dessert I had in a food court in Bangkok's shopping mall, in 2012. I had only visited Chiang Mai once when I was practising as a lawyer in Johor with nature-loving friends from Malacca and Negeri Sembilan and this was years before 2012 (hint - Social media and Messaging Apps such as Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram etc had not existed back then). We had travelled to Bangkok by train from Butterworth, Penang spending the night on the train where the seats were converted to a bed. The train stopped at Haadyai where food and fruit vendors came on board to sell us dinner which we happily bought and ate with relish. The train station in Bangkok had clean bathrooms and we could pay a modest fee for a hot shower before we explored the city through the Chao Phraya riverboats. We travelled by boats, buses and pick-up trucks from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai before returning to Bangkok by bus. It was a nostalgic trip filled with so many unforgettable adventures. I doubt my present circumstances will allow me to repeat the journey to Bangkok by train. To save time, flights to Bangkok and even Chiang Mai would be the only option at this point in my life. Doing my pre-travel planning and homework will be a must and websites like KLOOK could come in handy. In the meantime, I get to imagine what it would be like to visit Thailand again through a simple dinner at Pinto Noodles in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

                                          My imaginary trip to Thailand began when I sat down that evening at this wooden table Pad Kra Pow Moo (Stir-fried Pork Basil with rice & fried egg) on a distinct plate which I ordered was yummy! No room for dessert that evening. Love the frames alongside the wall of this restaurant, colourful sweets & authentic food in tiffin carriers, stupa (with a Buddhist monk & a running dog), Ovaltine & Coca-Cola ads included.  Som Tam salad is prepared by one of these cooks, the traditional way via pestle & mortar. I didn't order any salads this time round, yet.