Sekinchan is a major rice producing area in Malaysia. Located around 100 kms from Kuala Lumpur, the small town is a popular tourist spot on weekends and public holidays. The town is beautiful providing three different atmosphere- endless paddy field that change from green to yellowish in different seasons, simple fishing village that offers fresh seafood right from fishing boats, and slow-paced small town with eateries serving local dishes and shops selling local products and souvenirs.
We spent two days in Sekinchan, explored the paddy field, walked down the village and the seaside, and tried the food there. A two-day trip was just nice to enjoy the relaxing atmosphere there. Let us share our stories starting from the biggest attraction in Sekinchan- paddy field.
Field with endless green paddy is breathtaking. The paddy field is around 5 kms wide.
Water is important for the growth of the paddy. The water will be drained during the harvest season.
Small roads are built along the water way. It is a great place for us to take a walk.
Paddy Gallery is a must-visit site in Sekinchan (upper left). It is located at Malinja Road, in the middle of the paddy field. The gallery is within a huge rice processing factory (upper right). The visitors have the chance to learn more about the whole process of rice production, starting from the the growing of seedling to the packaging of white rice. The explanation is done through video and a tour guide. The gallery operates daily from 9 am - 6 pm. The entrance fee was RM 5.
The huge machinery for automated rice processing. Each white package on the far right contains 1000 kg of unprocessed rice.
We could buy different rice products at the end of the visit, including rice porridge and desserts (upper left), rice crackers (upper right), and rice for cooking (lower right). There was a planter machine located at the entrance. That machine plants paddy like a breeze.
A Ma House, or literary translated as grandma's house, is a small shop selling souvenir and snacks. The shop is located at Malinja Road (on the same stretch with Paddy Gallery), in front of a very big bird house (upper left). Antiques can be found in the shop (upper right), together with food and souvenirs (lower right). We tried some hand made cakes and shrimp rice crackers. The cake was soft, and the cracker was a bit salty.
Paddy field is located behind Sekinchan Town. We can't see much of it from the main road.
The second attraction in Sekinchan- the fishing village. The nickname of Sekinchan- "The land of fish and rice" (渔米之乡) revealed two important industries of the town. The fishing village however is not as pleasant as the paddy field. The air was not fouling, but light "fishy" smell was in the air most of the time. There were several rows of village houses built along Bagan Road- the main street of the village. Redang Beach is around 3 minutes away by car.
Redang Beach is the main attraction at the fishing village area. The beach area itself is small, either fills with coarse sand or sticky mud.
There is a small temple and a wishing tree nearby the beach. Many visitors happily hung their wishes on the tree. But we don't think the tree is happy with so many things hanging around its branches.
There is a Coca-Cola Souvenir Shop beside the beach (upper left). The shop is small, selling drinks, clothes, fridge magnets, key chains, and many other souvenirs (upper right). There was only one food stall in operation during our visit on Thursday (lower right). The tree house was recommended by many websites, but we found the tree houses there were not well-maintained. 
We found sitting next to the river mouth and watching the fishing boats returning back home was a great experience. The river mouth is just next to Redang Beach.
Fishing boats of all sizes were nicely "parked" along the river.
The entrance to the fishing village can be seen clearly from the main road (upper left). Shops (upper right) and temple (lower right) along Bagan Road. Motorbikes were the main vehicles in the village.
Ji Mei Lala Chien is located at the residential area beside the fishing village (upper left). The cook served nice fried la la clams with eggs (upper right). Although it was a small family running eatery, we found the fried la la clam and the fried stingray were special.
We tried a few seafood at Guan Huat Restaurant (upper left). The stall is located at Bagan Road. It is a small simple wooden restaurant (upper right). We tried the shark meat sour spicy soup and stir fried shrimp with chili. The price, fair, and the taste, average.
Sekinchan Town is located along the main road. There are many shops there, including several souvenir shops, restaurants and kopitiam. We tried a few of the restaurants there, and we would like to recommend 168 Restaurant and Tai Huat Restaurant.
Kedai Kopi 168 is located along Tepi Sawah Road (upper left), nearby the paddy field. The wooden restaurant was small and simple, but always full with customers (upper right). We tried kung pau squid (lower right) and la la clam there. Good taste with fair price. We found that the restaurant next door also had quite a number of customers. You may give it a try too.
Tai Huat Restaurant, is located in the middle of the town (upper left), along Peria Road (upper right). The fried noodle (lower right) and chicken and barbecue rice were really good there. It is actually a kopitiam.
We visited Riri Fatt, which was recommended by many. Facing the main road, the restaurant, or to be more precise, kopitiam, is really easy to be found (upper left). The kopitiam had few stalls serving curry noodle (lower right) and prawn noodle. The curry noodle was average, but the prawn noodle was a bit disappointing. Well, that's our personal taste preference.
Sekinchan is busy during harvesting season on March and November (we can always call the homestay or hotel to confirm the exact harvesting date). We can see farmers working on the field while tourists amass to see the golden sea of paddy. Hotels and homestays are full, abd restaurants are packed with customers and stressed staff. However, if you prefer to have a quiet and peaceful trip, which you can enjoy walking along the paddy field without accompany by hundreds of visitors, and sitting in a restaurant and enjoy your meal peacefully, then you can opt to visit the town around February and October, like us. You will be able to experience the quiet side of Sekinchan.
Sekinchan is around 30 minutes away from Kuala Selangor by car. We took the opportunity to visit Bukit Malawati and Kampung Kuantan. We will share our experience there in our next post.
You can read more about our travel experiences around Selangor and Perak at:
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