Kurauking’s Journal

When some of MyKlang forum members met recently, we realized that some were either not from this part or were not born yet when the changes swept through the town. Others may have not seen the town as we have seen it. And it is changing so fast that many old landmarks are now gone, disappeared forever from sight and soon from memories as well. Kurauking & me thought we will try to document as many places of interests in Klang/Port Klang as we can to give our town some history before they are forgotten. We need your help. Please share with us your experiences, insights, memories so that the tapestries will be richer as more weave their tales into them. If you do not want to do it here, please email, private message, call us or we can meet over tea to hear your story. We volunteer ourselves to make a start but we rather this to be a joint effort with all members contributing.

Perlama is a start. Now we continue with views of South Port and West Port from the sea as some of you may not have seen it from that angle. Kurauking was kind to contribute his boat and time for this effort. Hope you enjoy it and be free to use it to promote our town and share it with friends.

This shack housed the “Persatuan Pemancing Klang” (Klang Fishing Association). This is just a temporary building. All the buildings along this stretch of the waterfront front were torn down to be replaced with a new waterfront. So this hut was put up so that their members as least can have easy access to the sea.

It was just after 3.30pm and the tide was just coming in. You can see the pillars of the old jetty that was burnt a number of years back.

On our left is the building which house the new jetty to Pulau Ketam. The vacant building just before it used to be a 3 storeys building with a coffeeshop on ground floor which served an excellent curry laksa. The upper floors are used for a Chinese restaurant called “Port View”. For many years, it used to be a landmark itself. It was the best and most famous restaurant in town and ran by Hainanese owners and cooks. I had countless wedding dinners in that restaurant. On the first floor was an entire wall with a lovely picture of a naked lady made entirely of glossy mosaics. In my entire years of traveling, I had not seen another such picture. It is such a pity I don’t have a picture of it. Anyone who had a shot? A strange design for a Chinese restaurant but not so strange because this place are as much frequented by sailors and seafarers from all over the world who came by ship. Alas, it is now all gone.

If you take the main road (Persiaran Raja Muda) of Port Klang, and travelled along it you’ll come to the sea which is where the jetty is. There is the LRT station which is the last stop. This view is looking back at that road where we come from. The LRT station is now on the left. The train you see in the picture is carrying containers from North Port through South Port to West Port.

Kurauking carrying petrol for his boat. We have earlier pumped in the petrol in one of the station and carried it in his car (not the beemer) which stank of petrol all the way.

The water is now coming in quite fast. It should be enough to allow us to sail but first we must retrieve Kurauking’s boat.

This is the view of the new Pulau Ketam jetty which you will be taking if you want to go to Pulau Ketam.

Kurauking’s boat is the white boat at the far end. Since we cannot walk on water, he’ll have to find a way to reach it.

He went to retrieve this small boat (blue color) which is the water taxi to reach his boat. It is usually tied to the shack so that everyone can make us of it as this place do not have a proper jetty for you to anchor your boat. Everyone chipped in to maintain this boat for the benefit of all. A true Gotong-royong spirit.

Kurauking negotiated the sampan through the other boats.

He got onto his boat and attached the sampan to it. He then connect the petrol canister to the engine.

And drive his boat pulling along the sampan back to the shack to pick us up.

By now the tide has risen high enough for us to sail to sea and to those places too shallow to visit at low tide.

With a cigarette in his mouth, the cool sailor reverse through the crowded water to reach open sea.

This was all that remained of the old jetty. It was a very sorry sight for me for it was full of memories for me. I can still feel the crowd and hear the voices as they embarked and disembarked from the ships.

This is the ladder used to climb down to the lower floating platform to get onto the ferry.

When we were a teenager, it was compulsory that we will be here every Chap Goh Meh (15 days of Chinese New Year). In fact all the young men and women of Port Klang will be down here. In the old days, not many people throw anything though we talked a lot about it. It was more to see the crowd (opposite sex) and to take in the cool evening breeze. We did nothing yet it seemed so much fun in the old days. Now, this skeleton is all that is left of our memories. Before long, even this will be gone…

With the death of the old, a new jetty is born. You can see the crowd getting into the ferry in the new terminal in the extreme right of the picture.

These two concrete slopes also brought back memories. They were allthat were left of the warehouses that temporary stored the catches from the sea before dealers came to collect them. They were sorted, boxed and iced here. The buildings are now gone. We are now in water. We will be riding towards Bagan Hailam and the Yatch club in the direction of the bridge connecting North Port to the mainland.

1. Kurauking said these will be extinct soon. Modern shipping has no requirement of them. They were supposed to catch the ship’s line or something like that. No comprehendo. KK, help out.

2. Cargo ship from Indonesia unloading goods.

3. Passengers getting on board the jetty to Pulau Ketam. Have everyone been there yet?

4. Ketam beauty looking on as Ketam Big Size carry heavy box. Who do you want to be?

5. Kurauking’s kaki. He waved to them but then he waved to everyone. Some waved back. Others just gave him dirty look (he must have caught that fish they wanted).

6. Definitely Kurauking’s kaki. A hat with sides that cover the sensitive ears, long sleeves, no sun block, no shelter, a little mad – had to be, under the hot afternoon sun waiting for a bite. I pity, Kurauking empathy.

7. This ship won’t be sailing anymore.

8. Whereas this rickety jetty looks just about to topple over.

9. Piling is being done to build a new waterfront. Go there quick to have a last look at its untidy beauty. Soon you’ll not see this anymore. You can see the Indian temple at the background.

10. Port Klang’s Marine Department.

Next, we head over to Pulau Hailam. This is actually not an island but more a peninsula. The other end of Pulau Hailam is the esplanade and the Port Klang Golf Resort. It is so-called because most of the inhabitants that used to stay there are mainly Hainanese. Their houses are built on stilts and their livelihood is the sea. In the old days you could get one of the old lady in the sampan to row you over to the other side from the mainland by just paying 20 cents when I was a boy. It was a very pretty sight with all these sampan rowing its way to and fro. There was no bridge connecting the river then and that was the only means of transport. That all changed when North Port was developed. Not one but two bridges were built and Tanjong Harapan was born.

Temple on the sea. When the tide is up and the brightly colored temple seemed to floating on the water besides the boats, it is a pretty sight.

This is one of the many restaurants that lined the waterfront. This place became known for its seafood restaurants. Today, it is not as popular as it was about 5 to 10 years back. Having your food with the sea kissing you is good for appetite.

Another temple.

A sloping jetty. By now a storm cloud was slowly gathering threatening to bring our expedition to an early end.

We continued with our work and hope the wind will blow the clouds away from us. What do you think? Did it rain or did it not?

Brightly orange colored buoy to mark shallow water. Pulau H-A-I-L-A-M is in the background. Oh oh, storm clouds continues to darken. The wind is picking up.

This is how the Hailam folks lived. Please don’t ask how they “pang sai”.

We’re heading towards the bridge that connects the mainland to Tanjong Harapan and North Port. I had fished there before as a kid and caught nothing except puffer fish. Still it was fun. I cycle all the way from Port Klang because all I can afforded is pedal power. And no fancy fishing rods, just line and a hook and dead prawns stolen from the dining table.

Along the way, we saw this white stork taking off. What a graceful flight.

Then we saw more of its friends, some fishing among the mud, some perching on the trees. These two are gliding down to join its friend.

We passed by this abandoned boat that must have anchored there for quite a while. Kurauking and his friend was discussing it and its scrape value. Don’t understand a word they said.

They were again pretty excited about this jetty but to an uninitiated, I was more excited about the storks.

Cranes criss-crossing the sky.

As we turned back from this spot, I noticed an interesting sight. Two crows were trailing a sea hawk as if attacking it. They then did aerial acrobatics with sometimes the hawk in front and something behind. It would have been interesting to see the conclusion of their aerial dance and to see if this was indeed a play or an attack. If any bird is the aggressor, the crows look more like the aggressor than the hawk!

One of the reason I said that is because much later in the trip, I saw a crow actually chasing a much bigger stork. These Port Klang crows are a real terror!

The Royal Selangor Yatch Club

This is the Royal Selangor Yatch Club opposite Pulau Hailam. It was founded in July 1969 and called “Port Swettenham Yatch Club”. Before Port Klang was thus named, it was called Port Swettenham after Sir Frank Swettenham, the first resident general of the Federated Malay States. In 1972, it was renamed Selangor Yatch Club. On its 20th anniversary, His Royal Highness the Sultan of Selangor gave its new and current name – “Royal Selangor Yatch Clbub”. In 1992, a fire destroyed the clubhouse and it was rebuilt in 1996.

Many Port Klangites are not aware that the public can come here for a meal. There are members’ privilege but you can eat in the restaurant. The food may not be great but there are few places in Port Klang that can provide a better atmosphere. I have held two conference dinner in this restaurant and the leisurely ambiance more than make up for the food. Participants are always impressed when I host a dinner there. Maybe, we can hold a MyKlang community meet there someday. It is a good place to hang back, have a chat and get to know each other better.

This place is so picturesque that I cannot resist shooting more pictures of it. The custom’s boats are parked next to the club.

We streamed away from the club.

The custom building and some of their boats.

Repair dock.

This ship is carrying buoys to be deposited into the sea. So far I have seen three bright colors – green, orange and yellow.

Kurauking is more excited about this place than the yatch club. Why? Because this will be the new location for the Port Klang Fishing Association. Kurauking’s new home by the sea.

These boats sat like a pair of Mandarin Ducks in the open seas affectionately close disregarding the rest of the traffic.

We took a loop and headed back to South Port wharf. You can see the storm clouds being blown towards the direction we are heading. “Hope it don’t rain”. Out in the water, we can only hope isn’t it? There is no shelter in the open sea or is there?

The tall building in the background is the old building of Federal Flour Mills. It has now been shifted to Pulau Indah. The tall round concrete structure are silos used to store grains. It is sad to see the sorry state of the building after it has been vacated. Some of the side paneling has been torn down (probably stolen) leaving ugly gaps. The end visible to us is the Feed Mill and the Flour Mill is at the other end. This is one of the most successful and largest food company in Malaysia and their products goes into most of the food you eat everyday be it roti chanai, noodles, bread, cakes, cookies, biscuits, paus, etc. Their two most famous brands are “Blue Key” and “Anchor”.

This ship is an ugly rusty bucket.

Contrast it against this grand old dame. There is a beauty in wooden ship that iron ship just cannot match. Though it is unpainted and undecorated, it possessed a natural beauty that is a delight to behold.

The front end of the ship. Not sure it the cargo is waiting to be loaded on or had just been unloaded.

Just a simple ship – so simple that it looked almost like a enlarged toy.

Up on the wharf was this worker in his bicycle tapping away sms. Notice the pillars that hold up the wharf. We will go hunting for things beneath it soon.

Further down was a security officer recording some information in his notebook. Maybe he is noting down Kurau’s particular as “suspicious sightings”.

We looked under the wharf as directed by Kurauking, not know what to find. And there we have them. Two men on the bank fishing – this would not be permitted area for fishing. Kurauking knows all the spots because he had fished in all of them before.

This is another view of FFM Berhad that produce all your wheat flour. Notice the bottom of the wharf. Crazy Ikan wants to take us under them.

We passed by this crane lifting what appears to be a pipe. Socoil factory is just behind this and they and other companies probably used this pipe to pump palm oil to bulk ship.

Passed by this brightly colored vessel. Its construction is different from other ships. Not sure what it does.

This ship was still loading or unloading cargoes. Was surprised that they are still doing it when rain threatens to pour any minute now. Usually, when rain is so eminent, the captain will stop any activities because he is responsible for the cargoes.

We have by now sailed to the end of the wharf. You can see the railway bridge ahead. It is already raining in some areas by now. The dark streaks are rains.

First we go under this bridge.

Then we turned the boat around and aimed for the narrow hole that did not look wide enough to accommodate the ship. We asked Kurau if he is sure. He laughed which did not put us at ease at all.

We drove straight for the hole accompanied by the hideous laughter of our insane captain…

We drove into the dark hole that appeared too narrow for the boat.

Underneath the wharf, it a completely atmosphere from the open sea. The world seemed helmed in and the waves lapping against the pillars echoed eerily through the cavern. The boat bumped and scrapped against the side.

The mad captain pulled against the upper beams to urge his boat forward.

With a groan, it propelled itself towards the light.

And we slided out into the open sea again. This is the hole through which we exited.

By now, it had started to drizzle so we headed for the railway bridge for shelter.

At this stage, the rain was still not heavy so we thought we could stay under the bridge temporarily to wait it out. Noticed that there were a number of guys fishing on the bridge.

But it suddenly rained in earnest and the bridge offered scant protection. The rain just poured down on us. We made a rush for the Perlama restaurant to take shelter there. The fishing kakis cheered us on while they celebrated the rain’s arrival. For them, the fun’s just begun.

We were beginning to get wet. I covered my camera as best as I can but still continued to take shots under the cover of my hat.

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A well written article on The Story of Perlama by iGhost(see post)

What I remembered about Perlama, in my youth are the large number of sawmills all situated at the end of Jalan Kem. The road led to a dead end with houses and a temple (which is still standing there) among sawmills. Don’t know why but the place seems a hostile place to a young boy with the close community there staring fiercely at strangers. That was the impression I got. Kurauking may find that place much friendlier than I did.

To go to Perlama, took the Jalan kem road. Kurauking’s shop is at the start of Jalan Kem. When you read the end of Jalan Kem and look back this is what you see. What is most important is that do not take the bridge up the flyover, on the right of the pic because that will take u to West Port. When you’re approaching the flyover, Socoil Oil Palm factory is on your left – just go straight. Look back and this is what u see. There is a very small round-about at the end. The first turn is to Perlama. Take the second turn slightly ahead.

As u round the round-about, this is what u will see. The pic show part of the roundabout. The bridge leading down is if u are coming from West Port way. The small turn is just slightly ahead before the end of the bridge …

Got to go to work now. Will post more later. The computer was freaking slow last night so could not upload the pics. Only manage a few this morning. The story of Perlama to come later. Stayed tune.

The following posts you will see what is left of the town. If you reach the end of the road, you will hit Perlama and you can still see a fishing village there.

Not everyone has deserted that place. A few fishermen have returned after they moved out as they still find love for their old home. They have been paid to move out. But have since return and use this place as a ‘temporary’ base.

They built this hut just under the flyover to West Port.

I asked this fisherman who is cooking fish why he returned. He said he still prefers it here over the new place they moved to. His other friends concurred.

This is the view of the river. The river is not a pretty one. I tried to take it from its best angle but you will be disappointed if you expect it to be as nice as the picture. Still there is beauty in the most desolate scenes as you can see in the couple of pictures below.

The river at low tide and abandoned boats.

Sad picture of decaying boats abandoned long ago. Once they must have rode the waves but now past their usefulness, they didn’t find a proper burial place.

Once a bustling place of activity, now a ghost town full of past whispers carried by desolate winds.

Just a few houses are still occupied. I heard some voices as I walked past this building. Curious eyes viewed me through the gaps of window wondering why I have come a-visiting this forsaken place. Those that stayed behind had their reasons. Why does a stranger comes around?

This empty temple still stands looking as it did those decades ago when I wandered in. There are no incense burning. The inhabitants of this place have deserted it as the gods they were praying to must have deserted them.

I walked to the back of the houses fronting the road. My footsteps the only sound on the wooden platform over the muddy bank. The woods rotting from ages and neglect. I saw an altar tilted on a broken leg. No offering made to the diety that once reside here. Has it died from starvation too? I looked back at the flyover that span the river, with cars speeding overhead. How incongruous it looked amid the depressing scene.

A town at the dead end of a road and a bar across a dirt path leading from it. I bend under it determine to walk until I cannot proceed further…

This sawmill is still being used and timber are stored in neat stacks. But there were no one around. I just walked through it and continued walking…

The roof of this warehouse is on the verge of totally collapsing and the owner has not bothered to repair it for what is the point?

There are still some small businesses that make use of river transportation.

So some of these wooden houses are still standing. But everything is so eerily quiet. It gave one a strange feeling. I had not had this kind of sensation for a long time but there are so little place these days where silence reigned. Yet this is not in the deep forest so the feeling is quite different. I can only described it as the feeling of walking through a dead or dying place.

While here and there you find tenacious clinging on to life, yet you feel it slipping away. The end is near and it is inevitable. A forgotten corner of Port Klang that not many remembered except as memories of the past.

This owner of one of the warehouse had a chat with me. We talked about the town, its heyday, the inhabitants and what is left of it. I asked him about some building at the back of his place that looked like a number of individual classrooms. He told me they are horse stables. He told me of how during a bad flood one year overflowed the bank and drowned all the horses. Standing here on high ground looking at the river at low tide that appeared merely a stream several feet down, it is hard to imagine that the water could rise that high. As the wind shifted through the lalang, I imagined hearing dead horses neighed.

The reasons why I took so many photos of Perlama is because I wanted to capture it before it all disappear. Wished I had my digital camera and had visited the place before a large part of it were gone. Still, no use crying over split milk. At least, I was there in its dying throbs and could hear some of its fading voices. I felt a responsibility to document its dying moments to preserve its memory. It is part of the history of Port Klang. I wanted to capture what is left of it before it is totally erased.

 

 

 

I started my walk that hot afternoon next to the school across the swamp from Felda refinery (which itself is opposite APM for those not familiar with Port Klang/Pandamaran). I thought it will take me half an hour or less. But by the time I was done I was badly sunburned and totally parched as I was not prepared for the nearly 3 hours walk. At a few points in the journey I wanted to turn back but something compelled me to complete the journey as I may not be back or it may have changed by the time I did. That was in 2006. I intended to write it in my blog at one point of time but this look like an opportune time to do a write-up. It is not as good or well organized in the rush as I would like but sometimes timing is more important than quality, I hope.

Certain part of the journey were a bit scary as I was alone in unfamiliar terrain and not sure where the road will lead me or what I may encounter. I was apprehensive of shadows and had to ward off a pack of snaring dogs and tormented by a flock of crows (they don’t like you pointing camera at them). Almost at the end of the walk, I stumbled on the concrete jetty and the Perlama restaurant which led to this post and tonight ’s dinner. Perlama meant more to some of us than others but it deserved to be told as it is the story of all small towns in all parts of the world.

(I would like to document more of the threatened places of Klang/Port Klang. So if you know of any noteworthy buildings/places of interests that deserved to be remembered, let me know and we can take a walk together. Let us try to preserve them, even if only in print. The history of the places we resided in is also our history and something worthwhile to pass down. I cursed myself that I was not aware of the demolition of that historic mamak mosque at the top of the Indian street in Klang. I don’t even have one photo and now it is gone for ever. And for what? To build another shiny mosque in place of the old one. They are demolishing history with bulldozer. Nothing is safe these days. Not hills (eg Klang Hill), not river, not valleys. Before they all disappear in the brutal onslaught of development, let us do something. We need your help. So please PM me if there is anything u would like to save.)

 

 

 

 

This is the start of my river bank walk.

The side of Sekolah Agama Rendah Taman Kem as seen from the path.

“Why do you take my picture if you can’t give me a copy?” he wisely asked. As I did not want to make a promise I have no confidence of keeping, I just smiled. He was the first person I met on the track and he volunteered much information about this place. He told me about the crowded village that once hugged the bank which have all been demolished and are now just rubbles. He said each hut was compensated RM7,000 to move out within a couple of months. But it has now been years since the destruction and nothing has happened.

Later in my walk, the fishermen told me much the same thing and which was why they have returned to re-colonize the place. That uncle in the motorbike told me of a consortium’s (with local government blessing) plan to develope the whole section into a residential/commercial center. Which was why the village were evacuated but nothing happened. Sounds familiar?

 

Imagine the hundreds of families living on houses on stilts going about their daily lives in this wasteland. I would think anything would be preferable to this.

Where you see rubbles on mud once stood kampung houses.

The crows didn’t like me or my camera. They harrased me for much of the start of my journey as if they have a grudge against what I was attempting to do. At the end of my walk after 3 hours, I met another flock of crows and they did not like me either. What have they against me? Is it because they “makan cili padi’?

On my left are the destroyed huts with forlorn jetties, abandoned boat skeletons and remnants of human inhabitants half buried in mud and on my right are the crowded quarters of low cost flats judging by the amount of clothings left hanging on the rails to dry. I had my feelings but I will keep them to myself.

The path led me to his bar across the road to prevent bigger vehicles from driving through and a surprise. Beautiful flowering plants grown on either sides of the path. That was the last thing I had expected after the gloomy start…

The path led me to this surprise discovery. Amid the drab surrounding was this brightly painted building standing out with landscape and beautiful flowering plants and trees. What a difference a man can make. I salute this sluice gate master who has an eye for the aesthetic. He made all who crossed the path to pause and admire all the more because of the surrounding.

Some of you may not be aware but a large part of Port Klang you are walking on and driving through today were mangrove swamp once. Which is why the Gate Master job is so important to control flooding. The whole area from Kao Shampoo to Sekolah Menengah kebangsaan Tengku Ampuan Jemaah (opposite Sekolah Dato Hamzah-my old school he he) up to the shell station on Persiaran Raja Muda Musa were all mangrove swamps. This included APM & Felda refinery.

I used to go to the swamp at the back of Sekolah Kebangsaan Pelabuhan Kelang (used the google map introduced by Peanuts) and swam in the muddy water that smells worse than a wet dog. When you walked in the mud your leg will sink into into it to just below your knee. You got the sick feeling of being sucked into it and you thought “quicksand!” Take 10 steps in this condition and you will be totally exhausted. But those days, we have no TV (that’s right – NO TV!) so we play with nature and I think the better for it.

There was a huge wasp nest hanging on one of the gantry connecting across the river to the other bank.

They were fed by the fruit trees planted by the Gate Master. I like fruit trees, I don’t like wasps. But one can’t have one without the other, can we?

So the walk already yield surprises. It was getting hot and I did not bring along water or even a cap. I reached a junction where I can walk back to my car but I decided to preserve on…

This was the first of the abandoned boat that I saw along the way.

This is another one half hidden among the mangrove plants. I saw a few people scavenging. What can they be scavenging after so long among the muds?

I walked further along until I came to the back of Socoil refinery. The road ahead is long and deserted and at one stage, I hesitated and wonder if I should continue.

 

 

 

From a distance, I saw these two workers with an oxy-flame. What could they be cutting in this deserted spot?

When I reached nearer, I saw a barge half-buried among the muds. Only then did I realize that they were metal scavengers. With metal costing so much, it was worthwhile for them to dig our the barge and cut them piece by piece. Hot, hard, dirty and especially smelly job.

The river at low tide. And the rubbles was where part of the village formerly stood.

As I round the bend, I saw ahead the overhead bridge that span the river and under which stood the town – Perlama just beyond the builidng with the zinc sheets looking like a patched piece of cloth. This took the story back to its starting point. If you have the time, pay it a visit for it won’t be there for long. Kurau and me went to document the Pulau Ketam jetty two days ago and it was sad to see most of the old landmarks that we knew so well as a kid were all gone. Port Klang is changing and it has lost a lot of its old charm. For old timer such as me, it is all kind of tragic.

“The Sunset On The Railway Bridge.”

Hare some shots from the railway bridge at sunset. There are a few places where you can get good shots of sunset for your assignment but my favorite is the railway bridge you saw from Perlama Restaurant. In fact, I named it “Sunset Bridge“. The first series of photos are some of the things you can see if you go a bit earlier and explore the place. The next series would be the sunset shots. Here goes –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Sunset Over Railway Bridge – On A Cloudy Evening.”

 

 

 

 

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