So, after a trip to Hulu Selangor, I decided to
head to Kuala Selangor last Saturday which also happened to be exactly seven
years after my first visit (Saturday, 11 October 2014). I had planned to ride
the MRT to Sungai Buloh and changed for the Selangor bus no. 100 there. I left
micasa at 06:50 and was at the platform about ten minutes later. I was
surprised to find that the final destination of the train was Kwasa Sentral and
not Sungai Buloh. I went down to ask and was told there was a problem with the
announcement board but went down at Phileo Damansara to ask again. It turned
out that three MRT stations after Kwasa Sentral would be closed from last
Saturday until the Putrajaya MRT route is completed (yup, of course the station
closure would have to happen that day). I waited for the next train and at
Kwasa Sentral went to find the complimentary feeder bus to Sungai Buloh.
I went up the Sungai Buloh station and walked past the Komuter entrance and took the pedestrian overhead bridge to cross the road. I was relieved to see a few people already at the bus stop as it meant I didn’t miss the bus. I ended up waiting for half an hour, getting panicky by the minute. You see, I’d already booked and paid for a trip from Sky Mirror WorldTour for my friend and her three young kids and myself and we had to reach the assembly area by 10:00.
The bus finally arrived at 08:40 much to my relief and we arrived at Bandar Malawati bus terminal less than an hour later. Which meant Google Maps info that the bus frequency is every half an hour and that the journey time from Sungai Buloh KTM station is 90 minutes is out. The bus fare was RM5 and you have to pay in cash.
My friend and her kids were already waiting at the
bus terminal and we drove to the assembly place near the Monkey God Temple. The
girl at first couldn’t locate our names until we told her we made our booking
online. Anyway, we finally boarded and were off at 10:22. All of us needed to
don a life jacket. The ride started off as uneventful but quickly turned bumpy
that it felt like we were on a rollercoaster.
We finally arrived at our destination, Sasaran
Beach, after 20 minutes. We got down and waded to the ‘beach’ which is actually
a vast sandbar that appears above th sea surface during low tide, allowing
visitors to indulge in unparalleled views of the sky and sea. We had to wait
while the tour rep who accompanied us set up his ‘studio’. The tour reps dug in
and built a ‘fort’ and after a while it became apparent what they were doing
heh.
We were the first to have our photos taken and he
gave instructions how we should stand and pose. It was a fine day, pretty hot
and bright and sunny. I had slathered on some sunblock before leaving the boat
but I still wore my hat and used my umbrella. After we were done, we walked
around and played at the water’s edge while waiting for the others to finish
having their photos taken.
We finally left at 12:20 and rode the boat back to
the jetty. They somehow forgot to serve us the promised refreshment (alas we
didn’t see anyone at the jetty we could ask) so we drove off to find a place to
have lunch. We stopped at Mee Udang Banjir Kuala Selangor (near to Warong Soto
Pasir Penambang) for lunch. There were so many people there and we had to wait
a long while for our kuay teow prawn noodles. I wouldn’t have minded waiting if
it tasted good but it was disappointing. It didn’t taste as how I envisaged
prawn noodles should taste like at all.
It took a while to queue to pay too and by the time
we arrived at the bus terminal, I was told that the bus for KL had just left
%^#)*()+!~ The next bus was due at 15:30 so I decided to wait. It was a hot and
humid wait and while the bus did arrive at 15:30, the driver and conductor went
off to have their lunch first. I didn’t blame them but didn’t expect the same
driver and conductor to immediately drive back to KL. As it turned out, I
boarded the same bus I came in (I noticed the empty hand sanitiser in the bus),
same driver and same conductor. I asked the conductor to alert me when we
reached Sungai Buloh KTM station as I wasn’t familiar with the landmarks. This
time, it took an hour to reach Sungai Buloh KTM station.
I wouldn’t mind visiting Kuala Selangor again. If
only the wait for the red Selangor bus number 100 wasn’t a long nightmare.
