BAGAN LALANG BECKONS
BACK in the 1970s, Bagan Lalang was virtually unheard of as a weekend tourist destination although it had existed since the 1950s. Holiday-makers from the Klang Valley chose Morib beach, about 20km north, along the coast of Selangor, as their weekend getaway destination then.
Today, with Morib bursting at its seams with tourist traffic, many weekenders are turning to the quieter Bagan Lalang. Over the last decade or two, resort operators large and small have opened along the white sandy stretch of beach. You can find various accommodation options, from A-huts and chalets to hotels and international class resort, with the oldest being the Seri Malaysia Bagan Lalang which opened in the 1990s.
I painted this scene of a fisherman’s shack at low tide. It sits on the estuary of the Sepang river which flows into the sea fronting Bagan Lalang beach. It is here that anglers wait for boats to take them to the kelong, a few kilometres away to fish overnight during favourable tidal conditions.
There used to be large tracts of greenery flanking the seaward side of the estuary but heavy erosion had decimated much of the mangrove trees.
The authorities had taken steps to shore up the endangered parts of the banks with giant sandbags.
Not far from this shack are a number of seafood restaurants that comes alive at night but it is the wet market that are attracting the crowd during the day, especially in the mornings and late afternoons when fishermen land their catch. During the weekends, the southern section of the beach is packed with kiters and beach combers looking for kepah, a yellow-shelled bivalve that used to populate the mudflats.