No Hassle Day Trip @ Kuala Sepetang (十八丁), Perak

The beauty of Perak, has often been represented by Ipoh, the Hill City. The tourists flock to Ipoh for its amazing architecturally-aesthetic old town, panoramic mountain view and of course, its heavenly food and drinks. Indeed, Perak is an amazing state in Malaysia. Now, I am not going to talk about my hometown today, but a nice place nearby Ipoh - Kuala Sepetang (十八丁), formerly knowns as Port Weld. It is about 1 hour drive from Ipoh ~ A nice getaway for people who like to experience this coastal town.

Let me present a very simple day trip plan for those who are interested to just go for leisure. Our case was we had a bunch of people on the road along with a cute baby. Thus, we could not be going for over-adventurous journey. The itinerary for the day trip was as follows: 

Time	Activity
8.00 am	Breakfast at Ipoh
9.15 am	Matang Mangrove Swamp Reserve Park
12.15 am	Lunch by the riverside
1.15 pm	The Charcoal Factory
2.30 pm	Heading to Taiping
3.30 pm	Going back to Ipoh
4.45 pm	Reach home and rest

Of course, after having breakfast in Ipoh, we then departed, which the journey to Kuala Sepetang was about 1 hr. The drive was very leisure, as it took more than 1 hour for us to reach the Matang Mangrove Swap Reserve Park, using a GPS. This mangrove was actually an acclaimed conservation site in Malaysia since 1906. In fact, due to its low fame, the place was actually quite clean and scenic. More importantly, the infrastructure of the mangrove was well-built and planned for family trips. 

As you can see, the trees were amazing grown, forming different heights of canopies. Anyway, this also made a perfect place for wedding photos too. For natural lovers, this is definitely a must-visit landmark. 

From site to site, the conservatory was linked with wooden path and bridges. Thus, the trail could be easily completed, which required minimal stamina. After strolling a few hours there, we made our way to the restaurant! We were extremely excited about the food, because Kuala Sepetang was and still famous with seafood/ riverfood!!!!!

Thus, we reached Sepetang Seafood Restaurant. It was based on Google and pure luck when we found this place. But, we really did enjoy the scenery because it was just located at the side of the kuala. Beautifully situation by the river, we actually could catch all those nice views from where we were seated. You could reach the riverside if you wanted to....

First and foremost, we complimented the food for their freshness. Indeed, it was a total different experience eating there because their raw materials were indeed one of kind fresh! Therefore, the way the restaurant prepared them were really less seasonings, salts and MSGs. LOL......The fried and steam fishes were awesome. The clamps were well-steamed with the essence being retained. The taufu, was just okay. So, it is recommend to order seafood dishes! Last but not less, we ordered a few nicely done steamed crabs!!!!!

Given the portion, taste and the freshness of the crab, this dish was highly recommended! To us, the overall bill was very much reasonable! We don't mind going there again, just to get their seafood. 

Yes, this was the scene taken from the restaurant. So, you bet you will be able to have nice seafood and a perfect view of the ports. After the scrumptious seafood feast, we had gotten our full selves to the next and final destination - The Charcoal Factory!

What was so unique of this factory was, it still retained manual charring process. This also means that the operation relies heavily on the manpower, with conventional kiln, as a way to produce the charcoal from the mangrove forest. Hahaha, as an engineer, I understand the time and power required to produce a kg of charcoal, which was not cheap based on such old technology. Yet, this heritage and knowledge was the fundamental of our advanced technology. It was pretty fascinating to see how the whole process worked. You can even buy yourself some charcoals!

I managed to capture some nice pictures. Though, we visited at a wrong timing, because the harvesting of the charcoal was over at the time. As you could see, blocks of mangrove woods were processed and prepared to carbonise. 

To end my post, here is the view you will encounter when you visit. The mangrove was harvested when they reached a certain age range. But, the replanting was performed to ensure that this would not disrupt the environment. In a way, this was a green way to produce charcoal despite of their outdated technology. 

Ipoh Boy Journey, sign out!

Do comment if you have any questions ^^