Pulau Ketam, known as Crab Island in English, is roughly a 40-minute fast boat ride through mangrove covered islands, from Port Klang, which in turn is about a 40-minute drive from central Kuala Lumpur.
The island has about 8,000 inhabitants, and is less than 10 square miles in size.
Unfortunately my camera battery had died earlier in the day, so by the time we reached the island I was shooting on my iPhone 😕
The entire island is submerged at high tide and so all the buildings and walkways are raised up on wooden stilts.
There are no cars on the island, the only way to get about is on foot, or by bike or scooter. Every house has at least one bike in its front yard. Walking along the narrow walkways demands constant awareness of speeding bikes - they're pretty nimble at navigating pedestrians and other bikes, but you don't want to accidentally step into their path. The village echoes with the constant sound of bicycle bells.
Narrow concrete or wooden walkways connect all parts. These dead straight walkways make for nice composition elements.
One of the key employment areas on the island is fishing, along with tourism. The tide was quite low when we visited so many boats were high up on the river banks waiting for the return of the water.
There's a lot of quirky use of colour, including on the houses. During our visit a thunderstorm passed over, and the heavy dark clouds made for a great backdrop to those bright façades.
Everything you might need is on the island, including Buddhist, Taoist and Hindu temples, a church, a mosque (an incredible mix of religions in such a small population and area) three primary schools and one secondary school, a fire station, police station, restaurants, cafés, shops and a couple of hotels.
It's a really absorbing and unusual place to explore. I will definitely be making a return visit with my camera to get some better quality photos!
