RK and I sometimes like to go on road trips because he likes driving around while I like roaming around. It’s normally a day trip with on-the-go itinerary (read: no itinerary), like the ones we did to Malacca, Ipoh, Tanjung Sepat, Sekinchan and Bukit Tinggi. At the back of my mind, I’ve always wanted to visit the Mah Meri in Carey Island and we were finally persuaded to go after reading this full-day itinerary blog post on www.parentwonder.com.
We only missed one location in the reference itinerary and added our own along the way. It ended up being a day trip to Carey Island, Jugra, Banting and Jenjarom within 6 hours, excluding drive time to and fro home in Klang. Sounded a lot but some were really quick stops so it can be replicated easily.
We had breakfast in Klang and arrived at Mah Meri Cultural Village at noon after a 40-min drive.
Mah Meri Cultural Village, Carey Island
I’ve visited the Temuan tribe in Kampung Pertak, Kuala Kubu Bharu during college years for assignment purpose; it was a field trip to the real village itself so it’s different from this visit to a cultural village. This experience was more similar to the Sarawak Cultural Village where there were exhibition centers and interactive activities for you to explore. Except, this cultural village was a lot smaller. It’s seven times cheaper too so please set your expectation right.
Not sure why there was a notice at the entrance quoting RM10/pax on weekend but we were charged RM7/pax as stated on the website, on a Saturday. Anyway, this was the price for walk-in. They offer packages up to RM200/pax with special ceremonies, lunch, guided tour and cultural show. [website]
Within the small cultural village compound, there were huts housing various activities for you i.e. blowpipe, leaf origami, wood carving, arrow and bow, and musical instrument. I am guessing you have to be friendly (start by speaking Malay) and show initiative to want to try out the activities because they didn’t invite us to try anything. We entertained ourselves. We were the only visitors when we arrived.
If you’re into anthropology, the cultural village is worth a quick visit.
Banting
We didn’t explore any other landmark in Carey Island and headed to Banting for lunch. We were supposed to try stir-fry mushroom with abalone and pork but we missed it because I thought it was a noodle. It’s actually a dish to go with rice. Long story short, there was miscommunication and we only realized it after ordering from another stall. At least we got to watch the chef cook for others and smell the super fragrant omelet everyone ordered.
We couldn’t find anything else to explore in Banting and so we headed to Jugra after I discovered several historical sites to visit via Google. Banting people, please update Google with interesting places to visit and eat.
Jugra
Jugra, which was an impromptu town discovered after lunch, turned out to be my favourite destination during this day trip.
Jugra used to be a royal town before Klang became one. It is filled with multiple historical sites like a police station turned museum, ruins of the district office, a vacant palace, an old mosque that the Sultan used to attend (under renovation during my visit) and abandoned ammunition store. There was even a lighthouse atop Jugra Hill which overlooked the Langat River and the Straits of Malacca!
Jugra Insitu Museum
The best place to start a tour around Jugra is definitely this in-situ museum at the foot of Bukit Jugra. It used to be a police station that has been restored into a museum about Jugra and the historical site. My knowledge, curiousity and excitement about Jugra have to be credited to this museum. It was informative, interesting and well maintained, despite not charging admission fee!
I had lots of fun at the museum. The place was beautiful so I took quite a few photos too. No hype but worth it!
Bukit Jugra Lighthouse
We then drove towards the lighthouse at the top of Bukit Jugra, not knowing we would drive past the remains of Jugra district office.
So we drove up the hill to visit the lighthouse but I forgot take a single photo of the lighthouse because I was mesmerized by the view in front of the lighthouse! The lighthouse is pretty too by the way.
I believe the same hill is the location for paragliding too; saw signages when we drove up. And people hike this hill as well; not sure if there’s a hiking trail or people just walk up the tarmac road — it’s quite steep.
Istana Bandar
The palace looked so pretty~! It’s gated. We arrived just in time before the closing (5pm on Saturday and 3pm on Sunday). Even though we were free to roam around the 40 rooms in the restored old palace, we didn’t because the interiors looked empty. Besides that, there was no one except us so it was a little eerie to explore. Not that I’ve heard any stories but it’s a vacant rustic palace after all.
The architecture is beautiful. And because you are allowed to actually roam around the palace complex, I can’t help but think that Istana Bandar is such a great place for photography.
Right next to Istana Bandar was Masjid Diraja Sultan Alaeddin but it was under renovation when we were there. Not sure if it’s under restoration for tourism or it’s just under renovation as a functional mosque.
Jenjarom
I’ve only visited Jenjarom for Dong Zeng Temple during Chinese New Year because it’s famed for its splendid decorations. This round, however, we went to Jenjarom only for the food recommended in the blog we read.
It was close to 5pm when we arrived at 飛板面 Flying Pan Noodle. It’s opened at 5pm but it was already serving so we sat down for early dinner; we were hungry already anyway. The order came very quickly but we tried to eat as slow as possible because we wanted to wait for our next stop to open at 6pm!
Oh man! This 油條 youtiao was so good! Easily the best we ever had; or at least it became our new favourite because it had a distinctive taste. It’s not about the way it’s fried; it looked really normal but it tasted very different. What did they put in the dough? We packed a few home and I was so distracted the entire journey because the entire car smelled so yummy.
Loved this awesome end to our day trip. We could see ourselves returning just for the youtiao on random days. LOL.
Anyway, let’s end the post with little fun facts on geography.
- All these places are actually located in Kuala Langat district in Selangor, even though people always say Pulau Carey in Klang. Kuala Langat is right next to Klang but it’s not Klang.
- The famous Kang Guan Restaurant people go to when visiting Carey Island is located in Teluk Panglima Garang that is right next to Carey Island. The restaurant is at the border of Teluk Panglima Garang and thus the close association to Carey Island.
- Carey Island is part of mukim Jugra.
- Istana Bandar is named after its mukim that is called Bandar and thus shouldn’t be translated to “town palace” even though that’s the literal translation.
- Bandar is another mukim and thus Istana Bandar is not in Jugra.
I don’t know what mukim Jenjarom and Banting fall under because they are surely more popular than their mukims.
Anyway, as far as tourists (like me) are concerned, I’ve spent a day visiting places in and near Jugra, Kuala Langat and it has been fun! I hope more people discover this historical gem called Jugra. I wished I was brought here for history lessons in school; I may actually like history this way.
p/s Google Map locations are hyperlinked for most locations. See underlined location names.