Muar river cruise part III

Continuing from Muar river cruise part II...

The Muar bridge is just right in front. Built sometime in the early 1970s (before that, people have to take ferries to get across), its monolithic components never fail to astound the nostalgic child in me!

Hah... A better view of what's underneath... There's a part of me that felt like jumping off-board the boat to lodge at one of the foundations...

Then the sky got clearer again with some fishing boats mooring at the southern river side right of the boat... We are clear pass the bridge...

And in tandem with that, a good view of the supermarket on the northern side...

Further up right is the Muar wet market building which houses its own urban legend...

I turned my head to snap a picture of the Muar bridge which we have left behind...

A closer view of the wet market... Looks like a giant barge or some sort of floating building isn't it? A few years back, just under 5 years or so ago, someone (or was it a few persons) claimed to have seen a giant snake with head as big as a Kancil car staring from the waters underneath the market! The story says that the snake is a kind of abomination which have lived under the market for ages feeding from the left-over carcass of animals slaughtered at the market!

The story goes further that the snake was hiding there because it was afraid of the legendary white crocodile of the Muar river. Hmm... This is beginning to sound like and episode from Ultraman! Nevertheless, many believed it and swallowed the stories hook, line and sinker. So much so that another story spreaded around saying a few bomohs (magic and mystics practioner) were being engaged to call the giant snake out in front of everyone!

The story got a substantial number of Malaysians excited. It made the pages of a few magazines as the tale spreads out prompting tens of thousands from as far up north as Perlis to converge in Muar and witness the breathtaking spectacle expected ahead!

As it turns out, the creature never showed its face. Now I remember... They said it didn't show its face because it was afraid of the great white giant Muar river crocodile. Can you believe that?

Nevertheless, many Muar traders made a hefty sum that day including those who sells food and souvenirs. Perhaps they were the ones who 'saw' the creature in the first place?

Oh... Next to the wet market is the Bentayan food hawkers complex. Notice the space underneath the middle of the building? Believe it or not, that is the mouth of the river Bentayan... Now, that is one historical piece of a place...

Official history recorded that here lies the last stand of the Melaka Malays against the invading Portuguese army right after the fall of the city of Melaka in 1511. Perhaps the giant snake is a remnant of that era? Who knows...

A little further up and we approached the first bend (or curve?) of the Muar river... Now, my cheap camera might not be able to catch the sight as it is but this should be enough to tell you that right in the middle of the picture, some 2 kilometres away lies the second Muar bridge completed about three years ago to divert the growing traffic out of main town.

Too bad we didn't cruise further upriver. As the boat weaves to make a turn, part of me was complaining inside... Is this trip really worth the RM10 I paid? I thought they said the cruise would last 40 minutes but I think I have counted to only slightly over 20 minutes or so...

As the boat completed turning, I was resigned to the thought that this is what you get for RM10. Then the boat went on passing the jetty where we embarked from and headed for open sea. That's when I thought the RM10 fare was really worth it. Too bad, my camera was out of battery and I can't catch more pictures...

Still luckily, after switching off the camera for a few times and turning it back on, I managed to get enough power to make this last shot... The view of the town Muar from the further end of the Muar estuary. That's all ya. Take care! :]

Muar river cruise part II...

OK... Continuing straight from Muar river cruise part 1...

I looked the opposite direction towards the Muar river mouth. Then I realised the actual breadth and immensity of this quite mighty river...

I looked again towards the front then to the right... The Sultan Abu Bakar building which is one of the iconic landmark of Muar appeared full view...

And this of course is another iconic Muar building... The Umno Pagoh 12-storey building (that's what they officially say. But when I count I think it's more like 14 or 15 floors) which was the tallest building in Muar for more than 20 years! And the only building more than 5-storeys tall around for almost as long...

Further in front, the famous Muar bridge beckons. I still remember the local urban legend... They said, due to the ghostly nature of the Muar river (there's plenty of legends abound including those regarding the existence of a giant white crocodile lurking in the waters!), sacrifies had to be made to erect the bridge. And so among the components making up the structure were severed heads of children... Seriously, that's how the legend goes!

That was quite scary... It managed to keep some of us kids rather home-bound at times, too scared to even cross the street for fear that the "Keling penyabit" (Indians with scythe) would come and take our heads! And these "Keling penyabit" (plural ya... There's many of them) actually exist cycling their tricycles (or whatever they call those boxes with wheels attached to bicycles) with a bunches of freshly-cut grass inside and a scythe or two on top. People say they hide the heads under the grass... Oh no!!!

This is the new Muar bus-stand complex, built over the demolished old one and completed just a few months back...

Further ahead is the customs and marine complex (or something like that)... After all Muar is one of the main embarkation points for visitors from abroad Indonesian island of Sumatera...

Hmm... I can't actually point out this section of buildings except for one with the blue minaret on top... That used to be the Muar railway station, before the railings were disassembled, that was years before I was born in 1970...

As the Muar bridge looms nearer, one could see the rather spanking new supermarket across which is now one of the pride of Muarians... Previously, the town of Muar is considered to lie only on the south side of the river which is to the right of this picture. At the north lies only a few settlements and no commerce except for the few shops that lined up the old road to Melaka.

Then things began to change in the late 80s with the opening of factories on that part of the Muar river bank... Still it was not considered part of town until the recent year or two... When new commerce buildings such as the supermarket in the picture rose up to extend the township borders to cover both sides of the rather mighty Muar river!

Seen here is the Mara building which houses some foodstalls and small businesses belonging to Malay traders. Completed some 5 years ago, it is one of the newer components of modern Muar...

Slightly further is this part of town which lies at the southern end of the Muar bridge...

Ah... The bridge itself. Having spent half of my life admiring this particular landmark of Muar, just the thought of cruising under it makes the heart beats much faster. Next...

Muar river cruise part I...

Ladies and gentlemen, without much further ado, as the title suggest...

You see, for me there's something mystical about the Muar river. After all it's the biggest and longest river in the southern parts of the Peninsular and I have spent a major part of my teenage years playing alongside its banks. But I've only been on the river cruising on a boat only 3 times my whole life! The first, if I'm not mistaken was some 10 years ago when the Muar river cruise was first started... The second I think was about 5 years ago or so when I was still a married man. Now I want to share some pictures of the 3rd cruise, made slightly over 2 weeks ago... Come!

Here is the yatch harbour next to the jetty seen in the previous picture. It is situated right at the immense mouth of the Muar river. If memory serves me right, works on it started sometime in 2002 and were completed early this year. But I have yet to see yatches mooring nearby... Then again I don't often come down to visit Muar nowadays although it is the town where I was born and grew up at...

On thing's for sure, they have gone a notch up or two in promoting tourism and the river cruise. Last time I remember, the boats used then were simple functional white. Now, it has a more classic look befitting a place for tourists... Especially one that is rich in history...

For information the Muar river has been featured in some prominent classic Malay literary pieces. In fact the Sulalatus Salatin (known also as the Sejarah Melayu or the Malay Annals) mentioned Muar as the place where the founder and first king of Melaka twice tried to set up new states but failed. Thus that's why he travelled furthered up north to open Melaka and this happened sometime 600 years ago!

Actually this picture was taken one afternoon while walking around Tanjung Emas (part of the southern tip of the Muar estuary). One look at this boat and I felt I must take a river cruise. And so I did 2 days later or so...

Now, this picture is taken just after embarking on the boat. You can see the second main mosque of Muar in it...

The boat starts to move along the much frequented parts of Tanjung Emas... The Muar town centre beckons...

And so, for the first time ever I had a view from the river of the Dataran Muar (literally translated as the Muar square) area built at Tanjung Emas and completed 3-4 years ago...

On the left, the Muar second mosque gets nearer...

And so all onboard just sit relaxed enjoying the view...

The original Muar main mosque built in the 1920s is now in full view...

Muar town centre getting nearer...

Oh... Next to the main mosque lies the Istana Hinggap (literally translated as the visiting palace) for Johor royals... Next...