COMMENT Despite growing up in Selangor, I had hardly heard about Tanjung Sepat. The nearby Morib beach was well-known back in the seventies, but like Port Dickson, we were told that the water there was dirty.

It is therefore interesting that my family and I decided to check out Pantai Morib during the long festive season break - something that I would not have done if not for the invitation from close friends.

As expected, the sea and the beach was unwelcoming, compared to the water and the beach at other resorts such as Pulau Redang or Batu Ferringhi. None of us allowed our children to play in the water or the soggy sand, although the beach that we were at was clean and well-maintained.

A pleasant surprise, indeed

Instead, for most of the three-day/two-nights stay, we went to check out Tanjung Sepat - this new village which was otherwise known as a sleepy town even to online travel bloggers.

Even the locals were surprised that outsiders were visiting their village for the food, when they themselves would travel as far as Klang to enjoy the food there.

Much to my surprise, the small lanes of Tanjung Sepat were packed with cars on the first day of Hari Raya, with visitors swarming there for the local food stalls and buying the Chinese dumplings, local black coffee and fruits. Both the local dragon fruits and pineapples were a great buy!

Just a day before, there had hardly been any visitors. This was the contrast that I saw, after the state government’s efforts in promoting domestic tourism bore fruits. I was not even aware of it until I compared Tanjung Sepat and Sekinchan to other smaller towns like Ulu Yam.

Each town, although small or insignificant, has its uniqueness and potential to attract domestic tourists so long as the locals do not try to exploit the city folk. We do not mind travelling over a hundred kilometres just to get to a place, as long as we see the time as worth the while.

Travelling there to Tanjung Sepat from Kuala Lumpur took about two hours, but these days, with Waze, it is easy to move around even to places that were once unfamiliar to us. Truly, without Waze, I would have lost my way to Tanjung Sepat.

There is also a lot of information online to tell us what to check out and eat in the new village. Bloggers, especially the food and travel enthusiasts, provide a great source of information about the village which is otherwise non-existent.

Small towns come alive

Much to the credit of the Selangor state government, it has also promoted the place a lot, and money has been spent to upgrade the facilities in the village. According to state exco member for tourism Elizabeth Wong, she has personally lobbied for state allocations to rebuild the new jetty, and she will be making another visit there in August.

Unlike Sekinchan (more about that tomorrow), where its state assemblyperson Ng Suee Lim, who is a local boy and with all his good connections, has done a lot to attract domestic tourists to Sekinchan, people in Tanjung Sepat are less enterprising.

Commenting to one of the restaurateurs, I said: “What a waste to see these fishing boats docked here. Someone who is more enterprising could have offered to bring us out into the sea in their fishing boats and earn some good income. Children do enjoy going out in a fishing boat to experience what it is like being a fisherman.”

We started our first day lunch with the local seafood bak kut teh at Ah Hock restaurant, because the more popular one - Yike Seafood Bak Kut Teh restaurant - was already closing for the day. Ah Hock restaurant was a simple shed that one could find in new villages, but their speciality was the seafood bak kut teh.

Being a fishing village, of course, Tanjung Sepat is famous for fresh seafood. We were told that Ocean Restaurant was well-known, but knowing that they would charge tourist prices, we decided to try out another restaurant - the Assam Batu Laut Seafood Restaurant. It adopts an open-air concept, but surprisingly, the restaurant is quite beautifully renovated, with lots of parking.

This is the reason why after having a hearty meal of tom yam pan mee, I suggested to the hawker that they should group together in one centralised hawker centre with plenty of car parking in order to cater to the domestic tourists.

For one, there are too many cars visiting the new village for the food and other local cuisines. When I was craving for air batu campur (ABC), the first thing that discouraged me was the thought of having to walk a short distance away, with young children and teenagers with us, just for the local treat.

Although the distance was not more than 200 metres away, the hot weather was enough to discourage us from venturing out, except to some nearby stalls that sold local coffee, homemade honey lemon and pineapples.

Maintain the prices

With more people visiting the village, it is important that business operators maintain the prices and quality products for long-term business; otherwise domestic tourists will flock to other towns.

For example, I noticed that the Chinese dumplings attract a lot of tourists, to the point that people have to stand in a queue just to buy the dumplings.

If the quality is not maintained and prices shoot up, people will start comparing what they are getting for their money, and say, “Why should I take all the trouble to queue just to buy the dumplings? Is it worth the while to travel so far just to visit Tanjung Sepat?”

If the prices are reasonable, and the things that we buy are delicious, we will certainly buy more to take home to give to family and friends. This is how Tanjung Sepat, I hope, will be able to sustain its tourist attraction after all the efforts put in by people like Wong and Tourism Selangor.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.