This charcoal factory belongs to Mr. Chuah Chow Aun. He is the second generation in the family who own a charcoal factory since the 1930's. Mr. Chuah is a gifted story teller and it is hard not to listen to his passionate explanations of the charcoal production process.
Here are some photos taken during our visit to Mr. Chuah's charcoal factory - with 8 kids (4 are mine, their granny & my hubby, my sis & bro in law.
Mangrove logs waiting to be processed
the barks
The kids trying their hands to shave the tree barks.
Imagine a bakau minyak log weighs over 25 kgs per log and Mr.Chuah & wrkers carry then to and from the boat and then unload and carry all the way to the igloo-like kiln (pics below)!!
These furnace or igloo-like kiln are made from stacked up bricks and cemented with clay in a diameter circle of 3 meters.
The height from of igloo-like kiln is about 7 meter from top till bottom of dome.. There is only an opening for a man to carry the bakau or green wood log. We noticed some small hole openings on the middle of the kiln. We were told that it aids as air vents and opens and closes to help in the combustion process. The choice to use clay made sense as once the process is over, it is easy for the workers to break down the charcoal factory.
The drying of bakau minyak logs before baking in the igloo-like kiln .
We were inside the kiln..see the charcoal on the ground?
Mr chuah explaining the wonders of the "charcoal water" from the combustion process.
The moisture from the green wood baked inside the kiln were collected via a pipe to the barrel. The locals would come and collected these "charocal moisture"water as they believed it has healing properties e.g for mosquito bites & arthritis.
The finished product: Charcoal
Charcoal ready to be packed and
those packed & ready to be exported to mainly Japan.
Do you know some of the uses of Charcoal?
The Asian mostly uses charcoal for BBQ and steamboats. While the Japanese uses it for filtering the air and water. Even cleaning their teeth.
Cleaning the teeth with charcoal was also practiced by the Chinese. Some Chinese even tie two pieces with red ribbon and place them on the doorstep. It is very symbolic for Chinese to ask for blessing or prosperity.
We had a great time though the kids were too busy being occupied by other things like the mother dog & her puppies in the factory and the ice-cream man (who left after we came out of the visit, making kids soo disappointed!)
AFter the factory visit, we proceed to the Mangrove swamp
before going for seafood lunch.
Stay tune to my next posts on "Jalan-jalan Cari Hutan Paya at Matang" & "Jalan -jalan Cari Seafood at Kuala Sepetang:.
1 comment:
hello...yes, i went there too recently.. interesting factory.. one chinese series was filmed there..
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