SUNGAI CHOH (25) : Once Upon A Time | No Fancy Shops

No Fancy Shops

(Were Actually Mouth-Watering Favourites)

No Fancy Shops

Traditional Kueh

Kueh Gelembong

Mouth-Watering

School Canteen

Those were the days, when not many dishes were appetizing. Probably my "cc", that's cubic centimeter, was too small or I had no other choice. However, there were no fancy shops offering fast food like KFC, Macdonald and Fizza Hut and what  have you. That's why I only had 20 cents in my pocket. 5 cent for pandan syrup, 10 cents for nasi lemak and the rest for kueh. Many traditional kueh were actually my mouth-watering favourites, such as kueh gelembong, cok kodok pisang, lempeng gulung, kueh bengkang ubi and cucur badak. Well, that's all my spending  at the school canteen. Simple and not demanding, when it's time to eat. After all, just ate when I was hungry and enough when I was full.

Quite Expensive

Solely Contracted

Price Competition

Home Supplies

Extra Money

However, it is normal nowadays when our grandchildren spend RM3.00 or RM5.00 in the school canteen. Everything is quite expensive because the canteen is solely contracted by one tenderer. So no price competition and even not much of a choice. When worse comes to worst, they just eat whatever are available. To bring home supplies is a bit embarrassing. That's why we rarely see our pupils bring food to the canteen. It is better to drink only water than to  bring home food supplies. Maybe it's a culture of buying and eating. Sometimes when our grandchildren don't have  enough money to spend, we will not ask anything. Of course the extra money comes from grandfather's pockets.

Providing Food

Quite Competative

More Valuable

"Air Tangan Ibu"

Common Phenomenon

Back then, however, we had two or three sellers providing food for the pupils at the canteen. So food prices were quite competative and reasonable. Sometimes some pupils went to the edge of the fence, across the school field. That's near my friend's house, Wai Uyub, where two or three villagers sold their food. This place was an attraction for the pupils because of the "kueh gelembong kuah kacang", which was one of my favorites.  However, nothing was more valuable than my mother's cooking or “air tangan ibu”. How delicious to eat under a shady tree.  So then it was a common phenomenon every once in a while to bring food from home. Of course my supply was usually teh O in a bottle and fried rice kicap or cok kodok wrapped in a banana leaf.

SUNGAI CHOH (24) : Once Upon A Time | A Small Shop

A Small Shop

(By The Main Road To Tanjung Malim)

A Small Shop

Convinience Store

Learning Material

"Kedai Majid"

Store's Popularity

I did not really remember when my dad started his business. Just a small shop by the main road to Tanjung Malim. Occasionally villagers called it a convenience store. Of course not a mini market. At the time, the word "mini market" was quite rare to the ears. However all kinds of items were in the shop; candy for children, cigarretes for young people and medicines for older villagers, as well as teaching and learning materials for primary schools. By then “Kedai Majid” was quite popular among the villagers regardless of age. Anyway,  I also shared the store's popularity as Majid's son.

Cowboy Town

Merely Middlemen

Rubber Tappers

"Puntung Berasap"

Wooden Shops

At that time there were only a few shops in Sungai Choh, which I could count on with 5 fingers. Thus, characterised a small cowboy town with a wild west feeling. Yet no lawman or gunfighter appeared on a horseback. There were also shops owned by the Chinese. However there was no Chinese community in the neighbourhood. They were merely middlemen, buying rubber latex and rubber scrapes from the villagers. So that's how the villagers lived as rubber tappers as well as labourers and government servants for the rest of their lives in times of "puntung berasap". So those were the days, when a row of wooden shops with half-rusted zinc roofs occupied both sides of the main street. Serving as the main supplier of households.

Nasi Lemak

Less Crowded

Regular Customers

Customers' Hearts

Satisfied Customers

However I used to cross the road to buy pulut sambal bilis from Taha's coffee shop for my favourite breakfast. Occasionally nasi lemak from Junas's coffee shop. Since Sungai Choh was a small village with less crowded, my dad tended to know every villager. So there was not much of a problem getting regular customers. At That time the word “advertisement” was not in his vocabulary. He just believed that, "business not only sells goods but also buys customers' hearts". Thus, his words were a promise, but then I found out that my father was true to his words. So customers were always right, and only satisfied customers would be good advertisement.

SUNGAI CHOH (23) : Once Upon A Time | Once-A-Time Menu

Once-A-Time Menu

(The Forests Offered Us Edible Wild Fruits)

Sg. Choh Stesen

Cherry Trees

Ornamental Trees

Wild Fruits

Once-A-Time Menu

My friends and I cycled as far as Sungai Choh Stesen to get cherry fruits. Cherry trees were planted along the railway on both sides of the railway station. At that time cherry trees were so popular as a ornamental trees. Other than cherry fruit, we also ate kerak nasi, letup-letup, seletup,  petai belalang and rumbia fruit. Actually the bushes and the forests offered us edible wild fruits. Even my mother used to cook wild mushroom namely cendawan sisik and cendwan busut. Sometimes terung pipit, rebung manis and pucuk paku became our once-a-time menu.

Natural Gardens

Housing Projects

Forest Treasures

Natural Vegetables

Contaminated Vegetables

Those days the bush and the forest edge became the natural gardens that supplied vegetables for the family. However all  shrubs and forests had been cleared for housing projects. So bit by bit bushes and forests were disappearing without us even realizing it. Lost with forest treasures that had long been beneficial to the villagers. The natural vegetables are neglected and wasted. It can't be found right now. Instead the housholds' today get their supply from the markets or retailers. Not aware that contaminated vegetables from Cameron Highland easily find their outlets in all markets and even supermarkets.

Modern Life

Household Supplies

Hidden Danger

Negative Effect

Social Freedom

Maybe living in a residential area or in the city, they have no area for planting. Sometimes modern life does not give them time  for crops. Thus they have to rely entirely on markets and supermarkets for household supplies. Moreover all the facilities are provided, especially transportation. So it is easy for food supply to reach every kitchen, unaware of the hidden danger. Therefore, it is not a strange phenomenon when the hospital becomes our second home or the clinic to be our regular place to visit. This may be a negative effect of unbalanced progress. Therefore, the more we progress, the worse our health will become. Similarly, social freedom has become the norm, in line with modernization

SUNGAI CHOH (22) : Once Upon A Time | Road To Adventure

Road To Adventure

(It Was Really Thrilling And Challenging)

Animal Trails

Natural Entrance

Eerie Sound

Fresh Aroma

Mysterious Aura

There were several animal trails and hunter tracks as well as the villager routes. The trails and the tracks led deep into the jungle. It was a natural entrance and exit for hunters and villagers. Especially the villagers who collected petai, genuak,   jering and perah as their source of income. Anyway the jungle track was our road to adventure, especially during weekends. We usually trodded along the villager route as far as the foothill. Yet the roots and fallen trees became a barrier to our steps. It was really thrilling and challenging. By then we could hear the wild scream of the monkeys and the eerie sound of insects among the trees. This rhythm of the jungle seemed to greet us with a bit of suspicion. However, we felt the fresh aroma of the jungle and not to mention the mysterious aura of the hill.

The Sound Of Azan

A Factual Narration

A Fairy Tale

A Dating Venue

Good Behaviour

On our way downhill after collecting some berangan, perah and tempunik, we stopped to rest at Hulu waterfall. Sometimes we swam and played under the waterfall. However we were warned by the village elders not to misbehave or do bad manners. Whatever we had to respect the surrounding area. It was believed that there was a neighbourhood of Bunian near the watertfall. That's why they said, sometimes we could hear the sound of azan and zikir amongst the trees. Anyway I was not sure whether it was a factual narration or a fairy tale. Probably just to scare young people, not to make the waterfall as a dating venue for "monkey business". However that fairy tale somehow moulded our good behaviours.

Social Norms

Forbidden Relationship

Religious Restriction

Voices Of Parrot

Social Problems

Yet nowadays some  young people lose their respect for the public. They ignore  social norms and social restrictions that have long been practiced in the Bengkulu community. Even they don't care about ill-mannered and "forbidden" relationship. Just taking for granted, modernization is the only way of life. They even go to the extent, assuming religious restriction are outdated. The words of old men are just the voices of parrots repeating the same old stories. But what is alarming, these social problems will gradually affect and disrupt the society as a whole, especially drug abuse and sexual abuse.