Babbles ❤: Travel Tips: Pulau Ketam

I must tell you about my getaway after my finals almost two weeks ago. Exams of course can be stressful, so make sure you reward yourself with good stuff after that. For me, I went to Pulau Ketam the next day after the last paper. Pulau Ketam is figuratively the Island of Crabs in English. Traveled there via the commuter and the journey from my university to the last station took me nearly three hours. Novels are good to kill the time~. The port or jetty to the island is merely walking distance from that last station~

And voila~

It says "Welcome to the Crab of Island Jetty".

The fare for an adult is RM 7 only.

The journey from the jetty to the island is only half an hour. The boats were all occupied on the weekends~ You will notice other boats, yachts or even some boathouses too along the way~ But remember to feast your eyes with the mangrove swamps~

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There are a few hotels to be chosen, and the prices and rates are more or less the same~

If you'd like, do rent a bicycle to explore the island~ ^___^

As you can read, you can rent and cycle it all day long with just RM 5~

I did rent one~

This is the map of the island. It is actually very small and you can explore the island in a day~

Fresh crabs to be cooked @@

This is the first meal that I had. It's known as the "Jian"s and they are quite famous on the island. It's just a roadside stall and they are fried and sold by an aunty~ There are O-jian (fried oysters), Lala-jian (fried clams), Ham-jian (fried cockles, 'ham' is read as "hum" in English) and Ha-jian (fried prawns). I find them unique because beansprouts are added together to fry. It's my first time trying it with the beansprouts~

Lala-jian. The clams are soooooo tiny. Can you even spot one?

Ham-jian.

Both plates are for the portion of one person and each of them costs RM 5. Really worth trying~ I love to dip them in the chili sauce and eat them just like that~ ^^ Next, the fried prawns snack~ To me, it tastes just okay. I wish the prawns were bigger though~

The island is really hot in the afternoon, and I can almost feel my skin burning. Nevertheless, I must feed myself with icy dessert. The location of this stall is just right before the entrance to the lil' town. This is the seller, and he sells the fried ice-cream. Sounds yummy, eh? There are a few flavours to be chosen, like the chocolate, strawberry, vanilla and yam. Each one is RM 2.30. I really wanted to try the yam flavour, but the uncle said that the yam ones are out of stock.

So this is me, I tried the strawberry flavour. You only have to tell the uncle what flavour you want, and he will fry them in no time. I only had to wait for 1 minute.

I think I'm noticeable for putting on weight. *sobs*

The next stop is the fried prawn balls. Each ball costs RM 0.40. In my opinion, the prawn filling is very little and there is so much flour. This stop sells the "Luo Han Guo Long Yan" drink too. It is really rejuvenating since the day will be very hot.

I went cycling around the island after that and came across some areas with salted fish! Or in the process of becoming one. The process will usually take from days to even weeks!

Salted fish~~~~

Dried prawns too. They do complement the vegetable dishes. Teehee~

Yummy yummy~~ ^___^

And can I consider these as a school of fish? LOL~~

This is one of the little jetties for the fishermen~ I like the wooden bridge a lot. There are holes here and there, and of course it's a bit scary to walk on it~

LOL that's me~

No doubt this is the Island of Crabs, the number of crabs surrounding the island is uncountable. They are everywhere as long as there's mud. This is one interesting crab that I saw. I think as they grow bigger, their body colour will turn from grey to orange, red, yellow, blue or others, starting from their hands.

I thought they were going to fight actually~

The day turns to evening so soon without me noticing because of the scenery and good food~ The sunset is extremely beautiful, I must tell you. I enjoy watching the sunset a lot.

The last boat back to the mainland, I suppose~

I really like this photo a lot~ ^^

Beautiful with the sampan~ (or boat)

Taken from the jetty, shooting the island~ I like the wave or ripple~ ^^

So the night's here. There are a few restaurants for you to choose~ We choose the one next to the Pulau Ketam Inn~ Seriously, it is so lively and wonderful~ There are so many people and the small crowd just adds the spice to the night~

Although it's the island of crabs, but we didn't eat them. Ironic, eh? I had steamed fish and squid instead~ They were prepared in the Portuguese style~ I LOVE the sauce very much! There are tiny dried prawn in the sauce and the lime juice just makes everything more superb! The squid one costs RM 11 and the fish one costs RM 15~ Worth trying, really!

Well, the next morning, I walked around the morning market~ I came across some special stuff. These are actually vegetable and minced pork fillings wrapped in fish flesh. It's my first time seeing these and I bought some of them.

To our surprise, they are actually raw and cold. So I went to a noodle shop and had an aunty to prepare me these special balls. And here it is~

I like the minced pork filling more compared to the vegetable ones, because the vegetables one contain celery :x After the breakfast, I went wandering around and saw a small shop selling souvenirs and gifts for visitors~ Well, there are some non-local products though. So make sure you be careful and see each item properly~ Check their origins LOL~~~ I bought 200g of dried prawns for my mother. I am very sure she will need them in her cooking~ ^^

And so, the journey had almost ended~~ It is absolutely a nice place to visit. Some of my friends said that one day is enough, but we think 2 days are fine too~ Better actually~ Of course, you must not come during the weekdays. Well, because most of the shops are not opened~! So this is the bridge connecting the jetty to the island~

A notice at the jetty. This is one of the features that make this island so special, because no motored vehicles are allowed on the bridge.

In fact, the only motored vehicle that we saw is the motored trolley that is used to carry goods or products from shops to shops. Yes, the main transportation on this island is the bicycle~