Pulau Ketam
Pulau Ketam literally means “Crab Island” in Malay language is a Chinese fisherman island off Port Klang. I visited Pulau Ketam as a young kid, joining a neighbor’s family to her relative living there. As my memory is sketchy, I only remember how horrified I felt to see a hole cut out on the wooden plank floor and told this was where I can pee! Many years later, this vision is still etched in my memory and I want to show Shane. I know it’s an awful way of introducing him to a new experience but I want him to see how other people live their lives.
Getting there
Getting there is easy since our rental house is near the KTM (train) Telok Gadong station and we are 3 stations away to the last line in Port Klang. From there we take a ferry ride at the South Port Passenger Terminal to Pulau Ketam. A giant crab greets passengers so we know we are in the right place. We buy return tickets for the Alibaba Cruises boat ride with reminder to check the schedules for our return ride in Pulau Ketam. Alibaba ferry service is our first choice because the boat looks new. It has an upper deck to enjoy the breeze and scene unhindered by the confine of the passenger deck below. The upper deck seating area is also equipped with life vests. This is one of the first thing to check when we get onboard.
Sights from onboard the boat
The upper deck is the best observation area to enjoy the sights as we cruise along. There is a floating fish farm a distance away and the mangrove forest as we approach Pulau Ketam. Scattered wooden houses on stilts lined the island and they become more compact as we reach the ferry landing. Today’s crowd is more local to the island with traders coming in with goods purchased from the mainland. It is absolutely better to visit during the week days to avoid the tourist crowd.
Pulau Ketam Facelift
It has been 40 some years since my last visit and Pulau Ketam has a new facelift. The island looks cleaner and there is a community effort to recycle plastic waste. We arrive at low tide so there is garbage strewn all over on the soft tidal mudflats. I suspect most are brought in by the tides from mainland. Garbage means crows and they are everywhere. This must be really frustrating for the locals and is an environmental concern. Hold your noses to stench in some areas. And YES…the wooden toilet with a hole on the floor still exists but a visit to the first ‘hotel’ just after the jetty shows it has sitting toilets that flushes!
Wooden houses on stilts
According to Wikipedia, the island is submerged during high tide. Housing on the island consists of “floating houses” perched on wooden stilts 1 to 10 meters (3 to 33 feet) above sea level.
The main thoroughfares are narrow concreted pavements, whilst in the residential areas, the older rickety wooden plank bridges can still be seen. There are no cars on the island; bicycles and electric motorbikes are the main means of transportation within the villages. There are no pavements linking the villages. The only means of transportation between villages is by boat. Daily ferry services link the island to Port Klang jetty on the mainland.
What we think of Pulau Ketam
We’ll say – keep an open mind and enjoy what the village has to offer. Hire an electric motorbike or bicycle. They are the best and quicker way to go around the village. The concrete pavements in the ‘village central’ leads to narrower wooden planks as we ride further inland. At some points it is nerve wrecking for me but Shane has a lot of fun. I prefer to get off the bike and walk while he takes off up a rickety steep bridge that rattles as he rides on. He even makes a few rounds and hopefully we don’t annoy some locals when we ride too slow on some narrow boardwalks. Some houses are brightly painted and here and there are attempts at growing plants in pots. Pulau Ketam is a fishing village and we visit this island to see how the villagers go about their daily lives.
Seafood Restaurants
I have read people saying the seafood restaurants in Pulau Ketam are good. I’m not sure about it and we don’t have the stomach to eat any crabs considering all the outdoor toilets we have seen. I am sure they catch their crabs from neighboring islands but so far I haven’t any information to confirm this. We have our lunch at a restaurant back at the ‘central’. It is a simple rice meal with a vegetable stir fry and a plate of buttered prawns. The dishes taste the same as other restaurants we have eaten on the mainland. Food prices are slightly higher but it’s fair because everything is brought in from the mainland including drinking water and piped electricity.
Overall, it was a place worth at least a day trip and overnight to more adventurous souls. There are more activities you can do by joining some tours. The villagers of Pulau Ketam have survived many years in all conditions. They have my respect for sustaining themselves independently and attracting visitors to their island.
Map and a video
Here’s a map of Pulau Ketam and a video showing Shane getting a kick out of riding an electric motorbike on a narrow boardwalk.
Check out more of our Malaysia travel posts.