Kampung Sungei Acheh lies along an estuary. From the Penang Bridge  exit at Jawi.  After the toll, turn left and follows the road up the overhead bridge and start looking for road signage after about 3 km. Take a right turn at the first sign that says Sungei Acheh, and two more right turns following subsequent signs will lead you to the small village.

A humongous house along the road that leads to the village heralds my arrival early in the early morning, a sure sign of the prosperity of this fishing village. As the sun rose, the single road is turned into a busy, squawking market place where women haggle over goods and prices will astride their electric cycles. This is the unique thing about this place. Every lady rides a pretty motorcycle and does her marketing from it! 

I walked further to the end till I came to a pier. A big ice-crusher made a deafening din. The smell of diesel and old engines on the boats add to the noise. Two trawler boats have just come in from all night fishing. Suddenly the men around seems highly excited, and with expectant faces, strain to see the booty from the sea. The fishes are fresh, alive, and absolutely bigger than the ones I see at local markets. They struggle and jump to escape from its huge containers. The baskets are hauled in and the fishes weighed, priced and chunks of ice is shoveled over them.

Yes, more motorcycles are on the pier now, but these ones have their metal faces chewed up by the salty air. These monster-cycles roar onto the pier and the fishes are loaded onto the waiting monster-cycles. Just as quickly they sped away carrying the baskets of fish to unknown destinations. 

My friends and I bought some snapper. Then we took another way home, driving past idyllic kampong houses, paddy fields and leaning coconut trees. Hmmm, what peace surrounds us after all the busy-ness of fish business.