Sekinchan Nature & Coastal Tour: Paddy Fields, Beach & Fireflies

We had a fantastic time. Our guide offered wonderful insight into the country’s history, language, culture and economy. We recommend this tour…but don’t do the blue tears add on to the firefly experience. We should have listened to our guide’s shrug when we asked for his advice. Ha!

A great way to get out of the city to see interesting things and eat great seafood! The fishing village was a highlight, and seeing the various agricultural varieties. And sooooo many monkeys!

It was a great experience with friendly your guide and clean van. Though we booked it on last minute, they managed to plan it well. Will sure to book with you again on my next visit.

We liked the tour overall, but there are certainly some considerations. We were initially put off a bit as Viator listed the cost as from $47, but there was nothing of the kind. When you go to book it the price goes up to $106. We decided to book anyway and after realizing this was a private tour the price made a bit more sense. The driver ("Edwin") picked us up and was punctual (actually a bit early) at about 11:00. He chauffeured us around all day in a mid size car that was "reasonably" clean and comfortable. He was very thoughtful in trying to take care of us, but is not a good communicator. After picking us up he stopped off and got us bottles of cold water, which was kind and unexpected. He then asked if we had seen the palace and when we told him we hadn't he made an impromptu stop so we could have a look. Then he continued on, his driving did make us a bit nervous as he was going fast and getting a bit close to cars. Our next stop was at a temple which was very cool to look at (wish I had worn long pants as they are required in the temple). We then continued on to Sekinchan and arrived a little after noon. When we got in to town he asked when we would like to eat and if we had any preference on food. We told him we like local and especially seafood, so he stopped at a small roadside place with fried shrimp. He also told us to select whatever else we would like from the buffet style counter. We had rice, okra, fried chicken and fish, to which Edwin added 2 large orders of fried shrimp and got us drinks as well. The food was good (maybe not for everyone), and I think he would accommodate whatever your requests were. After lunch we headed on to the fishing village which was very cool for us, but again may not be for everyone. What we did was actually walk through a bunch of places where the fisherman were processing fish, shrimp, etc. The fisherman were all very nice and happy to show us what they were doing, but was more walking around impromptu and talking to working people. We loved this part. After that we headed over to the beach and went for a little walk. We went by the Chinese wishing tree which is cute, but not very interesting. When we were done we sat down and just enjoyed the breeze looking out at the ocean. Edwin was no where around, but after about 15 min he popped up with a couple of cold fresh coconuts for us to drink (again an unexpected kindness). From here we went on to the rice paddy tour. We did have to pay 5 MYR each for this and in return were given a small bag of vacuum packed rice each. The tour was not great but interesting information on the processing of rice and some nutrition information (now we understand why brown rice is healthier). From here we drove for a while to go see the fort museum and the monkeys. There were literally hundreds of monkeys around including mamas with babies. It was very cute and you can buy some food there to feed them, but they can be a little aggressive so we opted not to do so. We decided we did not want to see the fort museum as this was of little interest to us and so we headed out from here. It was about 4:00 PM or so. Edwin let us know we were a bit early and asked if we would like to do something else - he suggested viewing the eagles feeding, but given that it was raining very hard we decided to go to the restaurant early and have a drink. On the way he asked if we would like to stop at a street side vendor to look at the fruit they were selling. We did and bought a couple of pieces of fruit, but communications was entertaining as the vendor did not speak any English and we do not speak Malay. We sat at the restaurant for about an hour and in the interim Edwin went elsewhere which did make us a bit uncomfortable as we were not quite sure what to expect. After an hour he popped back in and asked if we would like to go see the eagle feeding now as it had stopped raining, the cost was 40 MYR each to do so, but given that we have seen eagles many times we opted to stay and have another drink. Again Edwin went somewhere and left us with a bit of uncertainty on schedule. After about an hour again the waitress brought the food (around 6PM). This was a set menu consisting of orange chicken, nestum fried shrimp, fried crab, fried rice and a veggie dish along with Chinese tea. The food was OK, but not ideal as they fried the shrimp and crab with the shells on making it very hard to eat (very typical here in asia which is why we always ask before ordering such food, but this was a fixed menu). The orange chicken and fried rice were both something like you would get in a bad American Chinese restaurant, but the veggies were tasty. Nonetheless the food was filling. When we were just about done eating Edwin popped in and told us the tour starts at 7PM for the fireflies, and gave us a ticket . He then waited for us out front while we settled our drink bill (51 MYR for a juice, 2 large Tiger beers and a coconut). We then walked down the street to the dock where we were given a clean and comfortable life jacket and told to wait in chair on the dock. The boat was OK, but not terribly comfortable as there are 2 long benches along the side with modest padding to sit on (meaning you have to turn sideways on the seat to look out). There were about 12 people on the boat so it was not crowded in, but reasonably comfortable. We started down the river around dusk and it was a very pleasant ride. We stopped after about 15 minutes to view a try with many beautiful birds in it. Then after 5 minutes or so we continued on to the mangroves to see the lightning bugs. There were tens of thousands of them along the river side and it was fun just coasting along looking at them, but impossible for us to get pictures as they just look like darkness and you can not really see the lightning bugs (you would need a super nice camera to get pictures of them). Also even though we knew to put on mosquito repellent there were a couple that still bit us. The people that did not put on enough were constantly complaining about being bitten. All in all this was quite an enjoyable excursion. From there we drove back and Edwin was kind enough to drop us by the MRT instead of where he picked us up as we were staying at a place outside of town. The good: Private tour was very cool as we did not have to wait for people everywhere. The guide was very kind and did some nice extras for us. Most everything we did was fun and we enjoyed it. The bad: Driving was a bit scary. Communication not good leaving us wondering a couple of times what was happening. Considerations: If you are expecting high end this is likely not the tour for you, but if you like real world experience it is perfect. Bring bug spray for the firefly cruise. Be prepared to sit a bit as there are some times that are not filled with activity. Where long pants for the temple if you want to go in.