Wandering 3

Hello again

How do you feel being cut off from the world. I mean the virtual world. For three days my internet connection was down totally. There was a bad thunderstorm a major communication cable was struck by lightning. It was a huge sigh of relief when the tech people finally came.

My happiness was short lived. The connection was interrupted again. It was a heart ache. In a situation where you were not given assurance when things would  be okey again can make your whole chest ache you know.

Its not such a big thing but then you are so used to having a place of reference for the many questions on your mind. You can access the answers to your problems and puzzles. Reliable or not it never fails to give you some clues for whatever.

That is not to say that I missed reading my favorite blogs with their catchy entries and the chatty comments that follow.

Such is the life now, feeling missing over nothing.

Hah so much for my whining.

Lets go back on track. About my leisurely ferry ride.

Climbing the stairs ( remember  . . no escalator there) and walking the distance it got me breathless a little ( and I thought I was fit all this while) but when entering the ferry the cool sea breeze put everything right again. It was, can I say a dejevu. Experiencing the the whole thing once again after so many years.

There are now two bridges built for you to cross this narrow straits. I chose this way via the ferry just to have a relaxed journey I did not really have fixed place to go its just kind of walk around and look see  - yes just wander . . . so time did not matter.

I did not see much changes to the ferry service except the increase in the one way fare. But still cheap. Cheaper still for old people like me. Compared to the time during my late teens when I very often used the ferry service in those days it was cheaper still. I think we the students got special rates . I don't quite remember how much. But then at that time we did not think it was cheap. What more when you were just students.

Standing there by the railings and looking out it was a sight to behold.

I like the seascape with the Pearl of the Orient bordering the sea and the sky.

People are equally curious but some are more curious than others 

Standing by the side railings enjoying the seascape

This zoomed photography confuses me

Ripples created by the moving ferry

The travel over water which seemed slow and leisurely was actually less than twenty minutes, soon the wharf was in sight, the island within reach.

A temporary good bye to the main land.

We'll take a walk around town soon.

Bye for now . . .

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 . . .