By Nurasilah Ali Sabri
I will never forget the hot breeze and the smell of the sea. The one hour and a half early morning trip plus the wrong directions were definitely worth it as I was already mesmerised by the scene at Port Klang. My Photojournalism classmates and I were first welcomed by the fishy smell and the crowd of people from the island. It was an early trip, yet there were already so many people crossing the island to the mainland, and that left me with questions at the beginning.
We then have to choose either to take a ride on a speedboat that costs us only RM 7 or a ferry that costs us RM 10. The only difference is the ferry is much more comfortable compared to the speedboat. But the trick was the speedboat is faster than the ferry! It took only 30 minutes to arrive at the island than 45 minutes by ferry. Plus, you will get to experience the natural sea breeze and feel so close to the nature. You got to play (or being splashed by) with the water.
After 30 minutes of ride, we finally made it to Crab Island or Pulau Ketam. Crab Island is surrounded by mangrove trees and mud. The whole atmosphere was so different. We were astounded by the unique bicycle used by the people at the island. It is an electronic bicycle which is actually a bicycle that has been improvised so that it works the same way as a motorcycle. They do not need to paddle it and only need to press it like a typical motorcycle.
I asked one Chinese man who walked by and smiled at us. He said, “It is actually illegal to do that (improvise the bicycle) but the authority cannot do anything as there are limited transportation available on the island.” There were no four wheel vehicles and only bicycles, motorcycles, and the electronic bicycles that are available on the island.
Crab Island is well known for the tasty and fresh seafood. Fishing is the main activity other than processing fresh sea food products like crackers and dried seafood (fish, prawn, crab and squid). Crab Island is surrounded by mangrove trees, which are used to make the wooden houses there after being processed. The remarkable ecosystem like mangrove trees and sea habitats makes Crab Island special as there are many natural attractions. Among the recommended activities that can be done at Crab Island is bird watching, jungle tracking, or simply enjoying the fresh seafood with the panoramic scene of floating houses and floating boats.
Another thing that put me in awe throughout the whole trip was the pathway of the pavement there. There were no such things as roads as it fits only two opposite ways for people to pass by, which just blow my mind on how they managed to do it every single day. I wonder if there were any accidents happen because of the limited space. One of the most memorable experiences was when I and my other group mates were given the honks by one of the electronic bicycle cyclists. As we were new at the island, we did not get the normal signs given. The honk was actually a sign of telling people in front of them that they need to pass by. The cyclist and some of the residents who saw the incident just giggled at us while we were simply clueless.
As we walked further, I could see fish crackers hanging from stall to stall. Some were brown in colour, some are pink, while others were red. The smell of the dried cuttlefish covered in granulated sugar instantly overpowered me the moment I got close to one of the stalls. There were so many range of processed sea food sold more or less the same from stall to stall. It was 10:30 in the morning and from our left and right it could be seen that there were a variety of food sold at the Pasar Pagi from fried kuih, fried kuey teow and oyster omelet. We would love to give a try but the thoughts that it might not be Halal, stopped us.
After 10 minutes of wandering around for some good shots, I already figured out that the majority ethnic population of Crab Island is Chinese. And through my previous reading, there are only one percent of Muslim population. Among the 1 percent Muslims are civil servants who worked at the island like doctors, nurses or policemen. So it explained why there were so many dogs and dog’s faeces seen everywhere. We were very lucky to have the opportunity to interview one Malay Muslim man who worked as a teacher. He also owned a small business. He sold Roti Canai and Fried Rice.
“Here at Crab Island, there are only two Halal stalls operated. This stall (showing the stall opposite to him) sells Nasi Lemak and Nasi Campur (white rice with variety of dishes) that open in the morning until afternoon only. And that my stall runs in the evening until night. So it is like we take shift,” he giggled. According to him, it became a fardhu Kifayah for him and the other stall owner to provide Halal food for the Muslims of Crab Island.
What I want to highlight is the lifestyle of the people there. Because of the non-Muslim majority population, there are limited supplies for Halal food and some other dry materials. That explains the earlier event when we first arrived at Port Klang where people had to cross the island to get the supplies at the mainland and bring them back to the island. Thus, the trip becomes like a routine activity for the residents of Crab Island. Other than that, as what I have mentioned earlier, there are many processed sea food sold at the island. It is not something weird as they are surrounded by sea and the other side of Crab Island is a fishing area. Crab Island is also known as a fishing village. Thus, the fresh sea food supply is not something hard for them to get.
The houses there are small and close to one another. Most of the houses are wooden houses. It is from mangrove logs that has been processed and houses made out of it. Many of the houses are painted in pastel colours like blue, pink, yellow and green, which makes a person like me so excited by looking at it. Fatimah, one of my classmates said that I looked like I am in the Wonderland, that I constantly being very excited as I moved from one place to the other. As we were strolling around from house to house, I noticed that the residence also sold seafood crackers (fish, crab, prawn and squid). They were usually packed in a transparent plastic and stacked on the table in front of their houses. I assume that some of them did their own small business.
Other than selling fish crackers, we could see at the other side of Crab Island fishing activities going on. It seems that fishery is main industry on the Crab Island. The fishermen use small traditional boats, nets or simply fishing rod. The fishery industry is rather small supplying seafood mainly for seafood restaurants around Crab Island.
Three hours being at the island was long, as if time was paused and all you want to do is just breathe and live. What I can conclude is that the people of Crab Island lead a simple and laid back kind of lifestyle. They make use of what they have and adjust their lifestyle according to their surroundings.
Crab Island is definitely a great place for any photo lover. It will carry a whole new and interesting experience for those who have never been there.***