Sunsets on the beach, pau and coffee just an hour’s drive from KL

TANJUNG SEPAT, April 19 — Longing for a break from the city but don’t have the time to travel? How about a day trip to the beach and a stopover at a fishing village for some pau and local coffee?

Not far from KLIA, Sepang, Cyberjaya and Putrajaya, you can find a coast that is lined with beaches, fishing villages, holiday resorts, home stays and food attractions. Price wise, there are all kinds of accommodation options for everyone — from 5-star hotels to kampung-style home stays.

Pantai Kelanang and the nearby Tanjung Sepat town are popular destinations for day trips and weekend getaways. From KL city, Pantai Kelanang is about one hour’s drive away, accessible via the ELITE or KESAS highway.

Part of the Lover’s Bridge at Tanjung Sepat recently got destroyed by bad weather but you can still view the scenery at a safe distance

If you don’t plan to spend the night, just wear comfortable clothes, pump a full tank of petrol, have some cash on hand and maybe a weatherproof mat if you want to sit on the sand at Pantai Kelanang.

Locally planted and roasted in Malaysia, Joo Fa Trading’s coffee is truly authentic kopitiam-style


This traditional method of roasting is best experienced in the morning when the uncle starts his day

If you do an Internet search, you will discover that Pantai Kelanang is a popular spot for wedding photo shoots due to its stunning backdrop. Although swimming is not allowed, there are many families setting up barbecue pits, tents and picnic mats at Pantai Kelanang.

Sang yoke pau is a best-seller at Hai Yew Heng, known for its generous amounts of filling


Rows of rows of glorious pau waiting to be consumed by hungry tourists

When I went there, it was low tide so you could “walk on water” and collect seashells or driftwood. Kids played with kites on the beach while a man peddled bubble blowers nearby.

I left KL after lunch and reached Pantai Kelanang in the afternoon when the sun was scorching. The makcik at the warung smiled at me, a rare sight in busy KL. I smiled back, surveying the area before deciding to make a pit stop at Tanjung Sepat because we were hungry.

The kopitiam opposite Hai Yew Heng was too crowded but it is on my bucket list for my next trip


Dig in into the fragrant sang yoke pau, which is mouthwateringly delicious

Only 20 kilometers away from Pantai Kelanang, Tanjung Sepat is a quiet fishing village that turned into a tourist spot in recent years. Known for its seafood restaurants as well as family-run shops, Tanjung Sepat is also a photographer’s favourite spot to shoot the quaint village scenes.

During the peak holiday season, you will notice buses filled with tourists, whether local or foreign. The locals in Tanjung Sepat are mostly Chinese-speaking so you will notice signboards in Mandarin. However, it is easy to get around once you reach the main town area where Bahasa Malaysia and English signboards are also seen.

One of my favourite pau shops of all-time is Hai Yew Heng. At the shop you can see pau being made fresh. No stranger to digital cameras and camera phones, the pau makers continue putting aromatic fillings into the pau, ignoring the clicks and snaps of gadgets. A woman is seen adding a piece of hard-boiled egg into a pork-filled sang yoke pau, folding everything in with precision.

As customers mill about, snapping photos and waiting for their pau, stomachs are sure to growl hungrily at the sight of the fluffy buns. Since it is a small shop, it can get stuffy and hot inside. They offer five types of sweet and savoury fillings including an unusual mui choy variant stuffed with the preserved vegetables.

We ordered a sang yoke pau, kaya pau and green bean pau. Holding the glorious handmade pau, you just know deep down inside that the hour-long drive is worth it.

With just one motion, you can peel away the skin in one piece. The texture of the pau is soft and fluffy. On the inside, you will find generous amounts of your choice of filling. It tastes so good because everything is made in-house. The wall behind the counter is filled with photo frames of celebrities eating their famous pau. Their sang yoke pau is their best-seller.

Parking is scarce at the popular town area — people are seen on motorcycles, bicycles and on foot. Once or twice you will spot a bus or a lorry trying to pass through the narrow alleys in between these family-run shops. Opposite the pau shop is a kopitiam but it was filled with people so we decided to walk to the next row where an old man runs his local coffee trading company and roasts the coffee on-site.

Tanjung Sepat is a fishing village with many fishing boats docked during low tide season


The part of Lover’s Bridge that was wrecked during a bout of bad weather

Joo Fa Trading is also a mom-and-pop kind of business where the owners also live on the same premises. The owner roasts the coffee beans in the morning, turning the place into a fragrant environment, using a wood fire kiln. The owner has been doing this for ages, using Planta margarine and sugar in the roasting process. The minute you walk near, you can smell the coffee.

Have a cup or two at Joo Fa Trading — they usually have tasting cups for customers. If you prefer something other than coffee, a woman also serves a refreshing honey lemon drink. If you want to check out the whole coffee processing, the friendly owner can show you the green beans “sun-tanning” at a space opposite his place.

At Pantai Kelanang, you might bump into this adorable puppy I met


Take a break and enjoy Mother Nature at Pantai Kelanang where time stops

Try speaking Hokkien or Teochew if you can’t speak Mandarin to communicate with the owner, who is happy to share his experiences. He sources the green beans from a coffee plantation owned by someone else. We left Joo Fa Trading with two packets of coffee; one in ready-to-brew sachets and another filled with coffee grounds.

It is 5pm so it is time to catch the sunset views of Pantai Kelanang. We drive back to Pantai Kelanang, taking note of the different homestays, coastline and wellness park. There is also a mushroom farm nearby but we wanted to enjoy the sea breeze. More cars are parked at the public parking space. Here time stands still because nobody is rushing. They are lying on their backs lazily, enjoying the view.

A light breeze allows a kite to fly higher as a child runs with it happily. Everyone seems happy, contented that they found a nice spot on the beach. It is well maintained and it looks like it has been developed recently. You can buy ice cream and snacks at the stall nearby.

The nearby warung serves food but our tummies are full from the pau and coffee. As we watch the sun set, we try to capture the moment in our hearts too. The photos freeze the moments in time but we rely on our memory for the smell of the sea and the cooling breeze on our skin. 

Watch as the sun changes the horizon, turning the hues from bright yellows to pinks

After the sun disappeared below the horizon, we head back to the car, glad to have made this much-needed trip. Driving back takes only an hour and there is no traffic. We reach KL city at 8pm, rejuvenated by the short break we took.

Pantai Kelanang

N02° 47.384’ E101° 24.710’

Hai Yew Heng

405, Jalan Pasar, Tanjung Sepat, Kuala Langat, 42800 Selangor

Tel: 03-3197 4144

Joo Fa Trading

No. 356, Lorong 5, Jalan Besar, Tanjung Sepat 42800 Selangor

Tel: 03-3197 4862