Picnic in Sg Congkak, Hulu Langat

When you stay in the city, you miss the kampung life. When you're in a kampung, you miss the city. Really 'susah'. As I'm a Penang girl, Hulu Langat reminds me of Balik Pulau and Teluk Kumbar where you see mostly greens, durian orchards and kampung houses on both sides of the road. 

Heading to the recreational park from Cheras where my god sister stays is about 30mins drive up. She and her friend had wanted to go for a picnic to rejuvenate, and I managed to tag along this time. 

We did not have time the day before to prepare food for picnic, so we decided to just grab whatever food while on the way up. Indeed food and fruit stalls are aplenty. I was mesmerised and excited at the same time to see many fruit stalls along the way. Some fruits in season now such as the cempedak, 'duku langsat' and 'pulasan' were everywhere. There were also an array of strange-looking fruits and a good variety of local bananas too.   

I am hidden here in this picture

I think this is called "buah kundang". 

A fruit which some Chinese use as offerings during the Hungry Ghost Festival 

Apparently the bigger sized brown fruit is called "Sentul" 

'Buah Kundang' and 'Sentul' is alien to me as I've never tried them before. We ended up buying some 'buah Sentul', 'pulasan' and 'duku langsat' to be enjoyed during our picnic. 

If you're a Malaysian, I recon you should give these local fruits a try especially those that you've not heard of. Of course, breakfast will not be complete without a cup of 'kopi peng', so we popped by the one and only Chinese kopitiam around the area (南华, Nam Wah) and takeaway the coffee. It was good. 

The 'kopi peng' from Nam Wah

Parking space is limited here so it's best to carpool if you come in a group. There is a RM4 per car and RM1 per pax fee for entering the Sg Congkak Recreational Forest. You can actually see quite a number of family groups picniking, bbq-ueing or setting up tents around the stretch of river even before entering the park. Those outside are free of charge. 

As we enter the park

We found a perfect spot with less crowd after walking some distance into the park

We bought nasi lemak as the main course for this picnic. 

The chilli was very spicy to my liking but it was considered good for my friend's standard.

Try immersing/soaking yourself inside this cold river water for a quick relief from shoulder aches or 

muscle tightness as the gushing river water acts just like a jacuzzi tub that massages your body.    

In the end, we spend about 2 hours here, eating and chilling from 11.30am till about 2.30pm before we decide to leave for some 'roti bakar' back at Nam Wah where we bought our coffee earlier. That tiny coffee shop is well-known to the locals in the area for their tasty 'roti bakar', homemade kaya (RM3.80) and coffee. 

Nam Wah's crispy kaya and butter roti bakar

Sg Congkak Recreational Forest

Batu 20, Jalan Sungai Congkak, Kampung Padang, 43100 Hulu Langat, Selangor

Opening Hrs  : Daily 8am - 5.30pm (As of 29 Aug 2020)

Entrance Fee : RM1

Carpark         : RM4/car 

Nam Wah Coffee Shop

49, Exit B52, Pekan Batu Lapan Belas, 43100 Hulu Langat, Selangor

Opening Hrs: 7am - 5pm (Closed on Fridays)