A Traveller's Tale: They Work Hard for Their Money

After breakfast, it was off to the Kuala Sepetang Mangrove Park which is but a part of the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve. Walking out of the coffee shop and passing some wooden houses, we were indeed lucky to see some members of a Chinese family engaging in an interesting activity - unshelling cockles (inset). Cockles are cultivated in Kuala Sepetang. The edible marine bivalve molluscs are not just used in the popular Kuala Sepetang curry noodles and in various other local dishes but it seems that they are exported to bigger cities like Kuala Lumpur and even Singapore too. Unshelling cockles is but one of the activities which the average Chinese family in Kuala Sepetang does to supplement the family's income. People have to work hard for their money!