… swarms of dragonflies linger for fresh air, migratory egrets stay, and city folk arrive the world over…

Grow your rice. Catch your fish. Build your house. Because you can. Seeding, irrigating and fertilizing may not sound like a holiday, but a day trip to Sungai Sireh will inspire.

A quiet village nestled amid endless rice paddies, it’s well worth the hour’s car ride from Shah Alam. Here, swarms of dragonflies linger for fresh air, migratory egrets stay, and city folk arrive the world over, to learn how food grows.

Criss-crossing green paddy fields on a tram, visitors observe various methods of rice cultivation as an eloquent guide shares. Just a twenty-minute ride, but how invigorating! Various tropical crops, banana, palm and tapioca soothe the eyes, while growing revenue for enterprising farmers.

Live cooking of rempeyek (a deep-fried flour savoury, topped with peanuts, anchovies or shrimp).

Formerly a farmer, our eloquent guide showcases manual rice planting to uninitiated city folk.

Inside a traditional Malay home, built from the ground up by the owner himself.

Launched with a tightly wound cord, gasing (top spinning) is popular village play.

Learn from a local artist in a batik canting (a wax-resist fibre art form) workshop.

Instead of the camera, capture native flora in your own hand, with organic dyes.

The tram stops twice. First at a parit tengah (Malay for “middledrain” between fields), for visitors to fish. Next, by a traditional Malay residence for a taste of rural living. Completely built by owner, Tohid, 70, his home features a lush herb and fruit garden, a micro-farm and chickens.

Enjoy a stroll, or play gasing (top spinning). Sample sweet and savory local crackers, custom made by his wife, Sudahwati, 60. At tram’s end, visitors continue learning. To cook their catch in local flavours, and create art through batik canting, a wax-resist dye method. By day’s end, you’ll discover a new independence,by doing it yourself.

If you wish to visit, please contact
PUSAT PENERANGAN PELANCONGAN
AGROTOURISM HOMESTAY SUNGAI SIREH
Lorong AP/23 Parit 1, Kampung Ampangan
45500 Tanjong Karang
Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: +6010 784 5750
Visits by appointment only