Enjoying freshest mussels @ Desa Keroma Eco Resort, Muar

Whenever I mentioned Muar to my friends, first impression they have is the place kinda "ulu" or only otak-otak. They said: "nothing much there! " I have been to Muar two years back (2016) when I attended my friend's wedding. Comparing to those times, I see some improvement in the tourism product, most obvious changes would be the Muarian favourite place: Tanjung Emas! This would be on my next post sharing perhaps!

I'm going to share with you guys a fun place which you could have a boat ride to the sea to enjoy the freshest mussels from kelong. This place is called  Desa Keroma Eco Resort at Parit Keroma, Muar.

Everyone wore the life jacket before going down to the boat. The jetty was not completed when we visited, the resort manager said they were still using the villager's public used jetty to board the boat. The jetty was a bit run down. I could not get down without help. 

There was about 10 of us in the boat. The sunlight was strong above us. But luckily we had shelter at the boat.

The boat ride to the kupang farm at the sea is part of the package sold by Desa Keroma Eko Resort. The resort also offers other activities/ games for its guests. This includes congkak, kite flying, teng-teng game, coconut bowling, rubber band and etc which are well-known among the countryside kids.

Out of our expectation, we saw two men were sliding at the mud with a wood to find something. Thus, we asked what they do there? The boatman explained to us that this was their traditional way of collecting the kerang. 

At the opposite side, a lady was soaked at the mud which the locals say was good and that was their natural mud facial.

The kupang farm looks like above picture. It was only about 5-10 minutes boat ride. The sea was not rough at all. But there was a splash of water from the side when the boat speeds up. Some of us became nervous as we worried if the water would go inside to the camera.

Going up to the kupang farm platform was a bit troublesome as I wore a dress. There was another lower platform down there which we basically can't stand up straight or need to bend our bodies in order to walk. Here a total of 80 ropes were hung to the sea water.

According to the resort staff, the kupang will grow about 4-6 months before they can sell it to market. And for one rope, the weight is about 70-85kg which needs two strong men to pull the hanging rope to the platform. 

So the question is how they rear it? That's was super easy for them. Just put one to two kupang at the start of the rope and nature will do the rest. The kupang at the rope will attract others to come together to make a "home" there. That is amazing, right?

The best is I'm having the freshest kupang ever by directly eat it after cook in water with serai. The texture is chewy when it fresh. Comparing with what I ate cooking from the frozen pack purchased at the market, the fresh one is unbeatable!

I even dabao a few to eat at the boat!

The kupang which I got did not look nice. They were actually other creatures living outside the shell and inside the shell. I was not sure what's that. Or could you tell me instead?

On the way back, we bumped into a fisherman who just managed to catch 2 belangkas (Horseshoe crabs). While his friend trying to make his fortune by making a few rounds at the sea with his cage to see if he managed to get some fishes this way. Well, at least this really opened my eye as I first time see people caught it without a net. 

Planning a holiday or weekend getaway? Muar is certainly a place where you could not miss! It's only 2 hours drive from KL.

Address:
5923 Jalan, Jalan Joned, 

Parit Keroma Laut, 84000 Muar, Johor


*kupang = mussel (the word used interchangeably in this post)