Kuala Sepetang ( Jawi: كوالا سيڤيتڠ; ) is a coastal

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in

Larut, Matang and Selama District The Larut, Matang and Selama District is a district of Perak, Malaysia. Taiping (Malaysia), Taiping is the capital town of this district. Larut, Matang and Selama used to be three small different districts and they merged into one larger distri ...

in northwestern

Perak Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kel ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. It is also popularly known by English-speaking locals by its colonial name Port Weld (Chinese: ) after a former

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Frederick Weld Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld (9 May 1823 – 20 July 1891), was an English-born New Zealand politician and colonial administrator of various British colonies and territories located in Oceania and Southeast Asia. He was the sixth Prime Minis ...

. It is a thriving fishing village, and the main jumping-off point to the river mouth community of Kuala Sangga, which is a Chinese fishing community at the river mouth which specializes in fish breeding in cages, more formerly known as cage culture.

Railway station

Port Weld is notable for being the terminal station of the first ever

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

to be built in what is today Malaysia. The Port Weld railway station was located at the centre of town. The whole railway line from here to Taiping was dismantled in the 1980s, and now only the ticketing booth and the multilingual ''Port Weld'' railway signboard remain. The ticketing booth is now a Chinese coffee shop, and the shopowner has been maintaining the railway signboard. Portweld

Food

Kuala Sepetang is well known for its seafood due to its proximity to the

Straits of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, long and from wide, between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pa ...

, and it has a restaurant situated on the upper floor of a shop lot overlooking the river. Kuala Sepetang is also well known for its

mangrove swamp Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangrove trees cannot withs ...

reserve park, the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve, which is open to the public daily. A boardwalk was built over the swamp for tourists access, as well as chalets in which tourists can rent to stay the night on the riverfront. Kuala Sepetang is also famous for charcoal production using sustainably farmed mangroves and traditional kilns, some of which are open for tourist visits. Besides fishing villages, charcoal kilns and mangroves to enjoy, one can take a boat tour along the mangrove river to see fireflies at night and eagles. The village is very popular with its Curry Mee (Only sold at afternoon time) and Pau. Kuala Sepetang is also famous for Prawn Noodle, also known as Mee Udang Banjir, sold by many Malay stalls.

Trivia

Kuala Sepetang's old name, ''Port Weld'', was named after

who was Governor of the Straits Settlements when the railway opened in 1885. One of the main thoroughfares in Port Weld is ''Jalan Trump'' or ''Trump Road''. While it has no known connection to incumbent

US President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...

Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, by coincidence, President Trump's grandfather was also named ''

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Given name Nobility = Anhalt-Harzgerode = * Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) = Austria = * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria fro ...

''.

References

Larut, Matang and Selama District Towns in Perak {{Perak-geo-stub