Continue on from where we left off..

Day 2: Bagan Datuk Fishing Village – Senkinchan

We were told to go for our breakfast at 7am to beat the other tourists. Haha I think everyone has the same idea. Hence, as early as 6.30 am we started hearing banging of doors and people talking loudly.

The morning view around the pier was very serene with the humming sound of the speedboat and the chattering of tourists at the background. Breakfast was simple and good, there was kampong nasi lemak – eggs, cumbers, fried ikan bilis (Anchovy), peanuts and sambal – which was so good, fried noodles and traditional toast with kaya and margarine spread along with hot coffee and juice. I enjoyed my simple breakfast. 😆

When it was time to visit the sky mirror, it was really not possible to hear the announcement as everyone was busy talking. Somehow I sense that the organizers was slightly frustrated cause no one was listening to him! Maybe a portable microphone and speaker might work better instead of a loud hailer. I also think there should be a system where everyone collects their life vest systematically and according to the time allocated each group board the speed boat in an orderly manner. I believe it’s a 20 minutes boat ride out to somewhere.

When we arrived we were told to disembark from the boat and leave our slippers and valuable on the board. I was still clueless as to why we are at the sandbar at low tide in the middle of know where. The sand was very soft and almost silky to the touch and it was black in colour. I asked our local guide where are we and if we had arrived at the sky mirror location. The response I had was we have arrived and they are awaiting the tide to reside further. Then it suddenly dawn upon me that they will need to smooth out the sand and use the water as a reflection to capture the sky. Oh ~ so that was the concept of sky mirror. A nice way to market it but then why do I feel disappointed. Maybe I was expecting something else? I could not put my finger to why I was feeling disappointed, in any case it was nice to admire the scenery while waiting for them to “set up”.

It was recommended that we wear bright colours so that the photo will stands out beautifully. We have a group size of 42 and we had to split into 3 groups to take our photos. I would say the outcome of the photo was not ideal. Everyone looks so small in the photos and there was only 1 main photographer. The poor boy has to seat in a puddle of sea water, covered himself with 2 umbrellas and place his mobile phone in a makeshift dark box to block all external light shining in to take the photos. There was a lot of waiting time and the sun rays was not forgiving. It was scorching hot and humid. Our guide joked that we were all like salted fishes waiting to be dried!

While waiting for our turn, we got to entertain ourselves by taking our own photos. For sure the outcome would not be as great as the main photographer as we were not able to block the external light to create the reflection ourselves. I think we spend a good 3 hours at the sand bar before the tide rise again.

When we arrived back to the pier we were deliberating if we should go back to shower before having lunch. It was agreed that we should have lunch first since the restaurant was not crowded. While waiting for lunch to be served I brought a homemade glutinous rice kueh to give it a try. My goodness, it was surprisingly delicious. The filling was flavourful and the “skin” was soft and chewy. It tasted way better than the ones I brought in Singapore! If I am heading back to Singapore I would have brought a few back home, since we had 1 more day I decided against buying it.

When lunch was served ~ my tian the seafood spread at Hai Yong Seafood Restaurant was AMAZING. Everything was just so fresh and juicy, from the prawns to squid/sotong right up to the fish. No one was talking much during lunch as we were all enjoying the spread. Occasionally, one of us will exclaim ~ Wah this is good, you gotta try.

After lunch we headed back for a quick shower and check out of our accommodation. We then board the buggy to tour around the fishing village – snack house, town hall, temple, fish museum and sunflower garden. I really enjoyed my time at the flower garden, it was nice to see the beautiful sunflowers. After a while I was just looking for a shelter to hide out from the hot blazing sun.

I couldn’t be happier when it was time for us to board the coach and made our way to Senkinchan which was around 3.5hrs from where we were. Would I get to see the lush green paddy field which I had seen online and what makes Senkinchan famous? Stay tune!

XOXO