Moving on ...: Lunch at Ijuk, en route to Sekinchan

A couple of friends, some from the north, others from the south, caught up with us recently for a leisurely day out so we hit the road for Ijuk, with Beggars Chicken on our minds. It wasn't difficult to locate the quaint little restaurant which was nestled among oil palm trees and accessed via a laterite track off the main road.

BEGGARS CHICKEN

... way back when, was a marinated herbal chicken, wrapped in baking sheets and clay. The clay package is popped into a hot charcoal kiln to be baked to perfection.

These days, aluminium foils were used instead of baking sheets and a brick oven replaced the old charcoal kiln, a fixture of a forgotten past.

Beggars Chicken hot from the oven. The clay will be smashed with a hammer and removed before serving.

The signature dish looked mediocre but it tasted great!

Beggar's Trotters

8 Treasure Glutinous Rice

I first heard of Beggars Chicken when I was a wee little thing. The charcoal kiln (located at Jugra, Selangor) looked like a giant igloo and seeing one for the first time was an awe-inspiring experience. A little make-shift shack stood a few hundred meters from the kiln. The open-air shack looked like it had seen better days. Wooden derelict tables and chairs scattered in disarray. Beneath the wooden floor of this shack, a small fishing boat sank dismally into the dry river bed. Rusty oil lanterns hung at various points to illuminate the area. This was the old mess area for the workers at the kiln. Jugra, at the time did not have power or telephone lines so we had to trouble Mr Vespa (who rode everywhere on his Vespa) to deliver our orders at the kiln about a week before the appointed day.

Jugra was the ancient state capital of Selangor, and here's something else a little bird told me about the place. It was said that Jugra Hill at midnight on a certain night of a certain month, was the favorite spot for punters, who dug up the cemetery, reach their hands into a certain hole to get some lucky numbers which won them a small fortune.

People do not flock to Jugra for Beggars Chicken these days as Ijuk is pretty much the happening place. The restaurant is a right proper spot accessible by Google and Waze. It is often crowded on the weekends and we don't need Mr Vespa (bless his soul) to deliver the order. Google for the proprietor's name and text him your orders via Whatsapp.

From Ijuk, with the Beggars dishes neatly tucked into our belly, we drove to a museum at Bukit Melawati, Kuala Selangor. A fort once stood at Bukit Melawati overlooking the Straits of Malacca, where in days of old, the Dutch fought a battle to capture the area. Monkeys populate the hill these days, aiming imaginary cannon balls at unseen enemies.

What interested me more was the ceramic piece (picture: right) hanging on the wall inside the museum.

I finally found the Willow Tree Ceramic Pattern.

The Willow Pattern

THE WILLOW TREE PATTERN

Although the Willow Tree Design was purportedly (as claimed by Wikipedia) designed by English ceramic artists, its history predated this claim. A quick Google search will reveal various legends associated with the design.

According to a novel I read some time ago, the willow tree pattern was used by covert underground agents planning a revival of the Ming Dynasty during the last decaying years of the ruling Qing. Merchants and agents for the rebellion used the design as a symbol of their brotherhood. A plate hanging on the wall, or teapots and other ceramic pieces publicly displayed is a symbol of this brotherhood, but only to those who knew. The authorities, according to the novel, banned the production of such pieces in an attempt to quell the rebellion. However, the design was sent to England where it became known as their creation.

Later, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the willow tree pattern became a uniting symbol for secret societies. Members of the society who are lost in unknown towns or villages could get assistance from said society by way of a secret phrase at public areas where said design is displayed. Or so, the stories go ...

Next on our agenda was the rice field at Sekinchan. It was a marvelous sight. The golden fields were laden with paddy and heavy machinery was harvesting in the distance.

Paddy Fields in Sekinchan

Plucked from a ripe paddy field

Sekinchan Beach

The sun was setting when we left Sekinchan Beach (not sure why this was a tourist attraction) and headed for a nice dinner at Pantai Seafood Restaurant.

It had been a long day and I was utterly exhausted.