"A diamond is just a piece of charcoal
that handled stress exceptionally well"
My partner-in-crime for the outing.
Port Weld. Heard of that name before?
Sounds
like a familiar name that you had come across from your history
textbook, isn't it? Kuala Sepetang, as it is known today, had the first
railway line in the Peninsula Malaysia, linking it to Taiping. The
railway line, which took a year to complete, was operating between 1885
and 1941 to transport tin from Taiping to
Port Weld before they were shipped to Penang. But all that is left now
is a plaque along the roadside where it was once a busy and important
transit. A brief history of the railway line was inscribed on the
plaque.
Already
well known as the place to head to for a spot of fresh seafood, Kuala
Sepetang has much more to offer visitors. Just only an hour's drive from
Penang, it consists mainly of fishing
villages and its economy is driven by related industries such as fish
farms, shrimp breeding farms, boat building and also charcoal kilns.
Now, it is slowly becoming a popular eco-tourism spot for those keen on a
walk through the Matang Mangrove Forest, some bird watching at the
Kuala Gula Bird Sanctuary and naturally, a river cruise to visit some
fish farms, catch a glimpse of the Indo-Pacific Humpback dolphin and
after sunset, be enthralled by the magical blinking lights of the
fireflies.
This mangrove reserve
contains rich and diverse wildlife that provide nature lovers to visit
and explore its wetlands and resources.
Man-made wooden walkway that
winds through across a small portion of the mangrove forest for
visitors.
My
friend paid a visit to my hometown recently and being born and breed in
a big city, I brought him to experience stuff that he hardly get to see
at his place. We started of by visiting the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve.
Inside the forest, it is surprisingly cool despite the hot weather and
if you walk slowly and watch closely, you may be able to find mud crabs,
mud skippers and other wild life including migratory birds in the
wetlands especially nearer to the river.
This place lets visitors to get a closer look at the mangrove trees in Matang, which is more than 100 years old and has the distinction of being internationally acknowledged as the oldest and best managed sustainable mangrove ecosystem in the world. Not bad for a small town like this, ain't it?
Wooden houses on stilts
along the Reba River in the fishing village.
Posing at the boat jetty,
with the mangrove forest and Sepetang River in the
background.
Our
next stop was the nearby fishing village at Kuala Sepetang. Today all
the glory is left to the past, and it is just a small fishing village
populated by Chinese shopkeepers and fishermen. However, this humble
village is vetting more vibrant thanks to the growing interest in
ecotourism industry which is quickly expending for the past 3 years.
Among
the activities that visitors can look forward here is the river cruise
that includes watching a sunset while cruising down the river, dolphin
sighting, observing
eagles and egrets that are plentiful along the river especially when the
guide throws some chicken skin into the river for the eagles and
finally, fireflies watching. Boat services are readily available and
does not have to be pre-booked
as there are a number of boat owners who will make such trips as long as
there are interested customers.
Poser at one of the narrow streets in the fishing village.
And we selfied as well hahaha!
Our
hungry stomach was screaming at us already by noon and we stopped by to
have the famous prawn noodle, or Mee Udang Mak Jah in Kampung Menteri,
Kuala Sepetang. This is one of the must-have food when you visit Kuala
Sepetang and being a local, believe it or not I have never tried this
place before. So, this is the perfect time to give it a try and see if
it really lives up to its reputation. The popular Malay-style prawn
noodles has many driving up to Kuala Sepetang just to savour its
sweet-tasting broth, fresh firm prawns eaten with
yellow noodles sprinkled with aromatic fried shallots and chopped fresh
coriander.
Started
by Tijah Yusof or more fondly known as "Mak Jah" in 2009, this place
uses only prawns fresh from the sea or udang laut,
and not sourced from breeding farms or udang kolam. Even river caught prawns are deemed not worthy enough to be used for
their sweet-tasting broth. The family also believes the taste of udang
laut from Kuala Sepetang is far supreme with a sweeter taste and
none of
the stinky smells, since the waters around the river mouth is muddy and
not full of sand. This strict practice maintains the consistency of
their prawn broth, which is cooked for few hours in a huge pot.
Just before it's served to customers, the orange broth is heated up and
the prawns are lightly cooked in the broth. The hot orange prawn broth
is paired with blanched yellow mee, chopped coriander and fried
shallots.
This is a simple dish,
uplifted by two elements namely the reddish sweet-tasting broth and the
fresh, firm and sweet prawns.
Mee sotong biasa. The only
difference is the prawn is replaced with squids.
On the menu, you have their signature mee udang, in two sizes: biasa (normal)
or special. For the normal version, you can expect about six to seven
smaller-sized prawns, while the special version is a serving of five
larger-sized prawns. Prices for the mee udang biasa start from RM9 onwards. The mee
udang special and mee goreng udang special with the larger sized prawns
is RM13 each.
After
the satisfying meal, it was time to move to a place nearby to see
something we rarely get to see - charcoal factory. I have been here many
times previously but this place, which has started operation almost 80
years ago, will never fail to intrigue me to visit it time and time
again. Charcoal is made from wood and here, in Matang, the charcoal is
made
from greenwood (kayu bakau minyak) that has been harvested from the
mangrove forest reserve here.
The
factory does not look like a modern, high technology factory with
assembly lines but instead, it has a row of charcoal kilns –
beehive-shaped clay structures. Each kiln serves as an oven to smoke
the wood until all the moisture is drawn out before it turns into
charcoal. One of these charcoal factories offers a tour of the factory
coupled with explanations of how charcoal is made. We were there just
for a quick look, but ended up spending more than an
hour there. One of the workers enthusiastically explained us about the
stories and processes of charcoal making.
Charcoal kilns at the
charcoal factory in Kuala Sepetang. Each of these are about thirty feet
in diameter and thirty feet high. The amazing thing about these kilns
are that they are built by hand by
craftsman from China without any architecture drawing design. The master
building simply builds them still "out of memory and experience". They
are made from clay bricks with clay (not cement) mortar
bonding them together. The reason is that clay cools down at a slower
rate and thus maintain the heat of the kiln longer.
This particular kiln has its front opening sealed off, there are logs
inside in the process of turning into good quality charcoal.
The
charcoal factories are build next to narrow man-made canals that link
to the nearby rivers such as Sungai Sepetang, Sungai Kapal Changkol and
Sungai Reba, which enables the mangroves logs to be brought into the
factories by small boats. However, they can only be transported during
high tide; hence this process can only be done twice a month.
The
logs are harvested from nearby mangrove swamps that are not part of
the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve. There must be many of these swamps
around as the mangrove trees takes about thirty years to grow to a
suitable girth (8 to 9 inches in diameter) before they can be harvested.
The mangrove that make the most suitable are those from the salt water
swamps. For each tree that is cut down to be processed into charcoal, a
young
sapling is planted as replacement so there is no danger of depleting the
mangrove forest entirely.
The logs are then lined up
outside each kiln ready for the next round of production. These logs are
approximately five feet long and sorted out by their
diameter. Those of suitable diameter for making charcoal are stripped of
their thick bark; the narrower ones will be used as fuel to provide the
heat to make the charcoal.
The uncle who was there to
explained to us step by step the process of charcoal
making.
Happy boy standing at the entrance of the kiln.
The
logs are lined inside the kiln, standing vertically on clay blocks.
These clay blocks allow for a gap between the logs and the floor; the
logs are also spaces such that there is an inch gap between them. These
gaps allow heat to circulate evenly in between the logs. These stacking
must be done skilfully lest the logs come tumbling down like a stack of
dominoes.
Once
the kiln is full of logs (about 70 to 80 tons of logs), the previously
man-height opening is partly sealed of with clay mortar made of laterite
soil until only a smaller opening about 3-foot high is left. The
smaller logs are now used as fire-wood and are burnt only at the
entrance (probably extending up to four feet inside the kiln. Other than
this opening, the kiln has only a few small piped openings at the top
to vent out vapour/smoke. This minimise air (basically oxygen) from
entering the inside. Without oxygen, the logs heats up without burning
until they are super dry and turn to charcoal. The temperature inside
the kiln can reach up to 220 degree Celsius.
Jason tried to carry one
of the logs, which weigh up to 50 kilograms.
However, the uncle showed us
how professional does the trick with just 3 fingers. Yes, three
fingers.
The secret equipment he
uses, according to the uncle, is his magical mini skirt made of gunny
sack.
And here you are, just three
fingers to carry such a heavy log and he still have one hand holding a
clay block which will be used to support the log inside the
kiln.
The process is in fact
very simple and complicated at the same time. It's all about the right temperature, so the process have
to be monitored 24 hours a day. Slight temperature drops or overheating
with just a few degrees can waste all the logs in processing.
The
first stage of this process takes around 8 to 10 days.
The log condition inside the kiln is determined by the feel of the
smoke
that comes out of the holes of the kiln. The workers have
such an experience that they can tell on the feel of the vaporized
water
how the condition of the log is by taking a whiff on the smoke.
After 10 days the cone is completely sealed off with clay bricks and
clay mortar. They clay used to construct the kiln allows it to cool down
at a slower rate. The
baking process continues on a temperature of around 83 degree
Celsius.
It takes another 12 to 14 days to complete.
Then the cooling process starts, this takes another 8 to 10 days for the kiln to cool down to room temperature before the hole is opened. In the meantime, the internal heat is in the final process of turning the logs into good quality charcoal that looks shiny black as all the water is now vaporised out of the wood. The original 70 to 80 tons of logs will produce 13 to 14 tons of charcoal. There are several such kilns in this factory; each at a different stage of charcoal production.
The
finished charcoal is stacked at another area, ready to be packed and
sold. Almost 70 percent of these are exported to Japan as local demand is not high. Charcoal
made from wood other than sea mangrove are apparently not so dense and
as such burn off faster.
Taking a selfie inside the factory before we left.
Then the cooling process starts, this takes another 8 to 10 days for the kiln to cool down to room temperature before the hole is opened. In the meantime, the internal heat is in the final process of turning the logs into good quality charcoal that looks shiny black as all the water is now vaporised out of the wood. The original 70 to 80 tons of logs will produce 13 to 14 tons of charcoal. There are several such kilns in this factory; each at a different stage of charcoal production.
As
can be seen, the factory itself is built from mangrove wood. Nothing
goes to waste, even that little vapour/smoke that is vented out is
condensed into a balm. This balm is suitable for healing burns and
lacerations. The firewood cinders are also collected and stored into
drums. These will be sold off, where these cinders are recycled for use
in slow burning fire. The ashes are also collected and sold; the
purchasers wash, grind these down to powder to make carbon pills!
After a fun and interesting
day, we decided to take a coffee break at Starbucks.
And somebody just won't get my name correctly.
Though I didn't manage to bring him to the legendary Taiping Lake Garden or the Taiping Zoo, Jason mentioned in his blog that it is his next favourite town in Malaysia after Kuching. Hope he had enjoyed his short time here!
Sending Jason off to KL.