The trip to Sekinchan is actually our first trip outside of our usual safe zone namely sibling and relative house since the COVID19 pandemic started. It was also one of the few trips that will take us a day to go and come back home and yet still be able to do some activities. It is cheaper as we don’t have to book any accommodations so we can use the cash for something else.
Read these first:-
- Personal Break 101: One Day Drive To Lush Green Sekinchan Part 1
- Personal Trip 101: On Long Pangkor Island Break Part 3
- Personal Trip 101: On Long Pangkor Island Break Part 4
- Kota Bahru Rush 2011: Craziest Thing 2011 – Part 2
Green Lush Paddy Field
After the superb lunch, we headed towards the huge paddy field not far from the restaurant as this is the must-visit place in Sekinchan.
We had to go through the small narrow roads before reaching the junction to the Paddy Gallery which houses the paddy processing plant, rice shop and a small gallery on the paddy processing process.
Some of the huge machinery in this Sekinchan paddy processing plant but was not opened to the public to wander around because this was an active paddy factory. However, we were able to get a good shot of the machinery and the plant from the first place of the paddy gallery where there is also a small museum.
A minute ago before this huge truck came in was the place for the tourists. They were basically mingling around before noticed this truck driven into the weighing machine in the front. It was a good thing the workers are alert enough to “chase away” the tourists from this spot before the truck came in.
Some of the items in the museum reminded me of my childhood time but then again what this has to do with paddy?
The so-called Paddy Gallery which sells tickets for RM5 per adult is nothing to shout about but then again, you will get a small pack of Sekinchan normal rice as a souvenir which is good. If you are not keen on this souvenir, then avoid paying RM5 for the Paddy Gallery and head straight to the actual paddy field outside.
Serious Question on SOP Enforcement
As often, when things are going really well, you will come across an idiot who will screw up the moment. The same happened as we are waiting in line to buy the tickets for the Paddy Gallery. Social distancing was hardly practised but we tried to keep some distance away from the large group.
This family immediately caught my attention as the guy was wearing a cowboy hat and also they jumped the queue to head to the front of the line. Then I noticed something that left me speechless – the head of the family I presume was not wearing any mask in the public area. He may be an educated man but in this case, he was nothing but an idiotic moron, exposing others to possible infection.
The close-up shot of the idiot without the mask and surprisingly the worker at the front did not seem to be alarmed by this as he was talking to this family. Feeling quite pissed off, I was about to confront this guy when suddenly he pulled out a mask and put it on.
Seriously the management of this place needs to buck up in enforcing the SOP especially on social distancing which is non-existence at numerous places here and if one guy can be wandering around without a mask, just imagine how slack they have become on the pandemic.
Eventful Trip Back
By the time, we ended our tour of the paddy field, it was almost 3.30 pm and it was pretty hot outside to move around. We decided to head back home
This was at the Paddy Gallery where the presenter highlighted the various types of paddy grown in Sekinchan. Frankly speaking, we did not buy the Sekinchan rice sold at the premises as we were happy with the rice that we buy at our local stores. Anyway, it is available online on platforms like Shopee.
The trip back home from Sekinchan was uneventful except this incident when we exited the Sekinchan town, we noticed a Mercedes dashing out into the main road and the driver was driving in a rather weird way. The passenger door was not properly closed and I suspect the driver and perhaps the passenger was drunk from the late afternoon Deepavali drinking session. As we were about to pass this car, we were surprised when the car suddenly hit the road divider wall. Good thing it did not reflect back into our lane.
We did not miss any turning to the highway this time so we managed to reach home faster and just before the rain started and evening traffic started to get heavy.