Wandering 2

Hi friends

Continuing from last post:

After the train whizzed past the lake/dam, against my will I dozed off when awaken I already reached this place. I had missed some photogenic areas. Would get them on the way back.

 I was in an awkward position. In a hurry I got this bridge slanting . The place is still recognisable though the old iron bridge was replaced. How could it not be recognisable, my roots are from here.

The new bridge which is not so new.

In my younger days I used to cross this river. Actually my kampung is situated nearer to the estuary. Men used to catch prawns furthur down river I think they did it in the night because I used to see the jumping prawns in the basket very early in the morning. In the old days there were lots of fish. I remember the men just used a spear - like fishing tool (serampang?) to pierce at the terubuk. Was it terubuk? You must know the water there sometimes can be salty and sometimes not that made the salt water fish came upstream. My male cousin used to have one whole big terubuk bakar for himself alone before going to school!

Below is a very old picture of a man paddling down the river, the same river as mentioned above. . . taken with a box camera. The type of camera we could afford at that time.

Kampung scene in the old days

I tried to get the picture of the old bridge from someone who is still occupying the old family house there.  It was in the old album. Requested him to scan the picture . Its not in the email he just sent . May be he couldn't find it. Anyway I found this . . .

A little bit of history.

Yes this little town is so very insignificant that the Ets just haughtyly passed by  . . . Not enough time for me to bring out all the memories etched on my mind  . . . he he . . . but managed  to snap a picture while the train was zooming past since the camera was kept ready against the window pointing to the outside.

Just a glimpse of the station

After this small sleepy town thereafter I found the landscape has also changed a lot. Not surprised at all since decades have passed. I only realised the train was already reaching the final station when another  river came into view.

Another river

I like the picture below though photographically not of good quality it has its own story. It resonates with my chilhood life, my kampung life. The joy of mandi sungai.

Can you spot the boy (?mandi sungai)

I stopped taking pictures when I reached the final station. Not able to because flights of stairs got to be climbed and quite a distace to walk to reach the harbour. And part of the walkway is quite steep. Those with weak hearts can take a rest along the way as chairs were provided and personnels were around in case ada yang terguling . 

Their central transport hub is not yet ready. Mean time those who want to have nostalgic journey by the ferry way have got to be strong.

Ok see you on the ferry next . . .


Till then bye . . .

Wandering 1

Hi all

My blog was on a hiatus last week. Now I am back typing as usual . . . here at one corner of the dining table. I don't have a proper work station but this arrangement is practical because it is near the kitchen which is the real workstation for me. So I can keep darting to the kitchen when the timer or the oven rings.

As from my entry here you will know that I am not so keen on travelling. In the past I travelled only when necessary. But few weeks back I was thinking about a breakaway and go somewhere just for a change of scene. May be I could take some photographs to put in my blog.

I decided to go for a train ride up north. It has been such a long time since my last train ride. Well I think the last one was in the early eighties. I used to travel north because actually I am from there. Those days the train ride eat away nearly the whole night or if you travel in the day nearly your whole day light was wasted.

When you arrived at your destination your happiness of balik kampung just dissipated due to tiredness. The ride was rough noisy and smokey. The seat was hard and some seats were at odd positions. You may sometimes move backwards or sideway. Pening . . .All you wanted to do was sleep when you arrived home. Even in sleep you would feel the shaking as if you were still in the train.

In those days we did not have the highway like we have today. So railway was the mode of transport of my choice, cheapest and affordable for a poor work trainee me. Usually I chose to travel during the day because I liked the beautiful sceneries along the way. What I remember most is the beautiful blooming pink lotus filling the lake, I watched as the train moved, should I say crawled across the lake.

So thinking about the the past train rides made me want to visit the 'past'. I know there will be changes of course due to developements and improvements of the railway service and the country in general. The train won't move slow as before for me to take the photos. Well set the camera right!

Here are some pictures taken from the moving Ets . . .

Dark clouds

The place which I was waiting for came into view

But I don't see any blooming lotus

Water water

The vastness is majestic

And the train whizz past

That is part of my train ride. The scenes are nothing to some people, they can afford to sleep all the way. For me it is something special because I feel like travelling back into the past although I was sitting in quite a modern train.

I was quite disappointed not having seen the lotus in the lake. I might miss it or they are really no more there. The track is new the train is modern so it just whizz past. I would keep watch on the way back.

I would stop here lest you get bored.

To be continued in the coming entry.

Till then, bye . . .