Somewhere in the western part of the state of Selangor...

On the first day of the year 1429 [10.01.08], my mother and I went off to explore the once-familiar roads to Kuala Selangor. To be precise, we wanted to visit our so-called orchard [which was my family's number one destination on Sundays, back before 1998]. I haven't been there for ten years. After going on the NKVE, through Sungai Buloh, Paya Jaras, Kuang, endless Sime Darby palm oil plantations, stalls selling bantal kekabu, timber-laden lorries and... well, the rest, we arrived at a little plot of land somewhere in Ijok.

Oh, the disappointment. *thinks for a while* I'm not going to say much about this, or I'll end up having a Brillo pad as a brain.

A few metres across the road is a grocery store. Let's see what they have on sale...

I would go crazy if I were to live here. I'll be seeing nothing but palm trees, wheelbarrow-carting motorcycles, monkeys, young mat rempits and hot weather.

After spending some 15 minutes wandering around, my mother and I drove straight to Kuala Selangor, about 30 minutes away from Ijok. This place is most famous for its fireflies. You can go on a little boat ride at dusk to check out their light display at various locations. Another thing that's a hit in Kuala Selangor are bundle stores.

Check out Noriz Bundle, housed in a simple zinc-roofed warehouse. This has got to be the cheapest bundle shop I've ever been in because there were many racks of clothes that are RM 5 for two. Like this one, carrying old dresses [you might prefer to call them 'vintage']. RM 5 for two dresses! You can't get that price anywhere else.

There were thousands of t-shirts to be picked, too. Expect to find designs for fun runs and kiddie camps from American cities, and hilarious Engrish pictures and sayings.

There was a wide selection of Japanese oil rig worker's jackets, auntie-ish blouses, oversized and overly-patterned polo shirts and track jackets. I ended up buying several t-shirts, a dress and some shirts. Nine items for RM 30.

After being baked in the warehouse, my mother and I started to find a place to eat. We really have no idea where the good local food stalls were, so we had to settle for this uninspiring and misleading restaurant called Seri Kampung. It doesn't even sell any kampung dishes! So we ate some noodles and chicken chop, before walking about the shophouses for awhile. The area we were at is near Bukit Malawati, where dating rempits and bored punks hang out.

I was photographing this Chinese temple when one of the guys got up and yelled at me. I quickly sped off to safety.

And this is the kind of mall where Kuala Selangorians shop.

Back on the main road to go to Tanjung Karang, where you can find paddy fields and shop for fresh seafood straight off the docks. What we found though, were stalls selling tea-time delicacies, like apam balik, keropok lekor, cucur udang, various kuih and not to mention, pisang goreng.

In Tanjung Karang, they have sesame seeds in the batter.

Near the stalls were shops selling school uniforms, sports equipment, fabric, toys and several supermarkets.

Back to the car where my mother had her fried bananas, and I ate my apam balik kismis. The road was very long, and we saw nothing buy coconut trees, mosques, more bantal kekabu stalls, tom yam restaurants and factories.

We passed by Meru and Kapar, then from Klang we drove back on the highway, on the NKVE and ending up at the Damansara toll plaza. Just then, a rainbow greeted us!

That was amazing. And that's all I have to report for now.