Bagan Lalang, Selangor

 Bagan Lalang is an alternative holiday spot in the coastal Selangor other than Morib. It is actually located in Kampung Sungai Pelek which is within the district of Sepang. It is easily accessible via the North South Highway, The LEKAS Highway which leads initially to the town of Nilai. After about 45 minuts drive you will eventually come to the Sungai Pelek town and a further 10-15 minutes drive will lead you to the Bagan Lalang Beach.

A view of the LEKAS Highway .....

The town of Sungai Pelek....

We left home about 11.00 am and reached our destination about 2 hours later. The last time we were in Seri Malaysia Bagan Lalang was about two years ago. Not much had changed since then. Upon arrival we checked in at the Seri Malaysia Hotel. Checking in was not a problem as we would normally pre-book our hotel much earlier. The rate for a family room is RM160.00 as it was not a weekend rate nor peak season.

The signage to Seri Malaysia (above) and the front gate (below)...

We had asked for a room close to the swimming pool to make it easier for our son to access the pool. The room had one Queen bed and a single bed. Nice set-up for a small family like us. The room was alright though the bathroom had a bit of a smell. We called for housekeeping to bring some air freshener. The telephone also had a smell. The pillow was a bit worn out and one also has a smell to it. The bathroom which smelt also had a leaky shower and not that clean. All in all I'd give a rating of 4/10 for this hotel, and this room we were in particularly.

Views of the room, corridor and the lobby areas...

What is coming to Bagan Lalang if you do not have dinner or grilled fish (ikan bakar). That was what we had for dinner that night. The Art Restaurant was our choice after driving around for a few minutes. It lies near the jetty and close to the PNK (Pertubuhan Nelayan Kebangsaan) chalets. You may choose the type of fish, prawns and squids to your liking. We chose squids, Cencaru  (Torpedo Scad), stingray fillet and fried Kai Lan. When they delivered the dishes, it wasn't exactly the way I had expected. I guess this restaurant had their own way of preparing the "ikan bakar".... nevertheless it was a real hearty meal....

Clockwise - Grilled "Cencaru", squids fried with crumbs, grilled stingray,
Thai sauce dip and Fried Kai Lan...

We went to the Bagan Lalang beach later in the afternoon. The view of sun setting over the horizon was a real nice sight. Not much activity here. Perhaps the Selangor government could do a bit of face-lift as what they had done to Morib Beach. Nevertheless, there are many restaurant offering seafood but most would only open at night. There was also a Hawker's Centre (Pusat Penjaja) at the Food Court fronting the beach.

Posing by the beach (top), beach combing with my son (center) and my
wife against a dramatic background of sunset over the horizon.

Morning breakfast at Seri Malaysia Bagan Lalang starts at 7.30 am till 9.00 am. For vacationers like us, it ends a bit early cause some hotels that we had been to ends at 10.30 am the latest. So like it or not, we still had to wake up early so as not to miss breakfast. The buffet breakfast leave a lot to be desired. Yes, there are the traditional nasi lemak, fried koew teow, wedges, roti telur, and bread & butter. Not much western breakfast that I prefer. The orange juice were actually prepared cordials and not real fruit juices. The Bagan cafe was full and since they had set-up large tables with 10 person capacity, the tables becomes limited. We did not want to share tables with others and so we took our breakfast oustside at the lobby.

We checked out from Hotel Sri Malaysia around 12.15 in the afternoon. My wife decided that we pay Nilai 3 a visit since it was quite a while since we were there. We used the State Road to Nilai 3 and not via the North South Highway. Along the way we stopped by at a dragon fruit orchard. The fruit I was given to taste was quite sweet. Sort of like a Papaya kinda sweetness...not very sweet but pleasantly sweet..... However some people gets turned off by the colour of the fruit.

Dragon fruits...

Dragon fruit orchard and closer view of the tree. Looks more like a cactus tree ...

My wife buying dragon fruits...

Anyhow. it was already 1.30 when we reached Nilai 3 and lunch was all that is in my mind. We had lunch at the Food Court with the accompaniment of live singing (minus 1) by a DJ there... After lunch it was "window shopping" time. If you are planning to get married soon then this is THE place where you would want to be. There are many shops here specializing in everything bridal and at a bargain price. So were household items and we were especially captivated by the designs of carpets and rugs. Nope, we did not buy any but we did actually buy an "Anggur" set made of Jati wood. It was a bargain we thought at RM160 per set. It was a must buy item ! having bought the set and filling up our back seat with it we finally headed back to KL....

Rows upon rows of shops in Nilai 3

Carpets in various modern designs...