1st January 2014 Nibong Tebal ExploRide Part 3

Here are more pictures from the ride.

Padi waiting to be harvested

And here's a Kapok pod bursting and spreading its seed all around.

The pod.

And in the background, the burst pod.

Steven of The Pedal Inn posing with some kapok.

I wouldn't do that, Steven...

Burst kapok pod.

Harvested fields.

A harvester loading up a truck with rice.

They must get a little bored, seeing as how ready they were to pose for pictures.

We got to the sauna set amongst padi fields but I didn't take too many pictures here. 

At the Sauna, we enjoyed a very hot foot bath. The water has wild ginger, lemongrass and some other herbs. Very hot but very relaxing.

David getting a refill of hot water.

Terrie and Mei enjoying their foot baths.

And then off again back to Nibong Tebal and our cars to go back to the Pedal Inn.

What a great day out it was!

If you'd like more information about this ride and other ExploRides which set off from Penang, do contact me.

1st January 2014 Nibong Tebal ExploRide Part 2

Here are more pictures from our first ride of the new year.

We went to a nearby coffeeshop for our lunch. The owner had this on display. It's a 250cc Suzuki but I have no idea what model it is.

The coffeeshop owner preparing to steam half the fish.

Here we are getting ready for lunch. Which basically means we're all looking a little sweaty and a lot hungry.

The boss' kids. Cheeky and a handful.

Here's the steamed front half of the fish, teochew style.

The back half of the fish was fried. We also had some slightly curried prawns. I'm no foodie so you figure out what the dishes were, but be assured they were very yummy indeed.

We later continued riding, enjoying the seaside scenery.

At one point we encountered cows. Many of them. This, after we'd cycled about a kilometre or two avoiding cow pats. Many of them.

The owner of the cows said he had about 50. From the number of cow pats we'd had t avoid, I would have thought the actual number of cows to be closer to 500...

We came to a mangrove area and I marvelled at how many tiny crabs there were. Stare at this picture and you can count quite a few

David explaining mangrove ecoology to Terrie.

I think this one is a Fiddler Crab with one huge claw.

Can you spot the little mudskippers?

Here's a claw of another Fiddler Crab.

This is a new house for a Malay fishing village nearby.

We spied some curious very black chickens and a rooster. According to a local, these are a breed form Thailand and even their skin and tongue are black. He claims their flesh and blood are dark too but we dared not verify this, even though I do carry around a little pocketknife...

These will be bananas one day.

David holding up a Kapok pod. 

The Kapok tree can be quite large. Kapok used to be used as stuffing for mattresses and pillows.

You like see-hum (cockles)? This is how they're cleaned and sorted.

They're placed in one end. The lighter half-shells fall through the first section of the sorter while the heavier ones continue. Empty one fall through too and heavier, full cockles go right through to the end where they're hand sorted. Some fall through at the third section and are run through the sorter again.

In the next part: Pictures of padi and padi harvesting.