Missed My Grandma

Took some photos with my grandma when i went back to Msia for Chinese New Year. My sis tagged me in the photo in facebook yesterday and i cant help thinking of my grandma and the little village called Kampung Ayer Kala (near Lenggong) which i spent my 2 yrs primary school life there before i moved to Seremban. 'Kampung' means village in Malay language. There used to be an army camp next to it because during 1950's to 1970's when Malaya or later called Malaysia fight with the communist of Malaya, Lenggong is a black area.

Though never go to school, my grandma is a very tough lady with great wisdom. Her philosophy of life affected me very much. She can speak native Malay language (bahasa pasar) very well and she enjoy watching Bollywood movies even though she doesn't understand a word. Haha!

Oh, i missed my grandma. And my grandpa passed away some 15 yrs ago. He was a wise man too and he enjoyed smoking on the tobacco planted by himself. Hehe! My father's family use to plant tobacco in the farm. Believe me, you still can smell the tobacco in one of our store room even after 10 yrs. My uncles never plant tobacco any more but continue with their rubber tapping business.

Used to traveled with friends driving my my one week old car along half of the East coast of Peninsular Malaysia in searching for delicious food right after i graduated in 2004. Still can remember that we ate till no feeling of hungrry anymore in one week time. We travel from Kuala Lumpur - B.Mertajam- Penang-Ipoh-Taiping-Ayer Kala, Lenggong --KL again.

Let me talk more on Lenggong, the place where i born in my grandma's room according to my mum. Lenggong (less than 2 hrs from Ipoh) is half way between K.Kangsar and Gerik (near Thailand). Gerik is connected by East-West highway to Kelantan (near West coast of Peninsular Msia). In East-West Highway, you still can see the traffic signboard that ask you to be alert on the road as there might be elephants crossing the road especially at nite. Haha!

There is one quite nice archeology museum near Lenggong (or Kota Tampan to be precise) with the oldest human remains and pr-historic human skeletal (called Perak Man) in Southeast Asia (if not mistaken) founded in the Tiger Cave (Gua Harimau) nearby. http://www.usm.my/arch/news.html

The former MCA president's (Datuk Seri Ong Kah Ting) hometown is there too. Here's a link to a youtube video clip made by Hong Kong documentary mentioned about Perak Man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLwgF1DI44A

Lenggong is famous for its fresh water fish(河鲜) and fishball (西刀鱼丸), and pineapples pork belly (黄梨猪肚). There is one famous and good restaurant in Kampung Ayer Kala which serve plenty of good dishes. Brought my former employer to eat there after we visited a potential project site in Pulau Banding dam in Gerik. 'Pulau' mean island in Malay language. Act. this Pulau was a hill before the dam formed and filled with water. We still can feel our boat hit some remaining tree trunks which was left under the water sometimes.

The 2nd and the last photos show the wooden door made by my dad. Indeed, the whole double story wooden house was made by him before he got married with my mum. My boss like the wooden door very much saying that the color tone is nice due to 35 yrs of weathering. There is a clinic located next to my grandma's house. The photo of the new building near the lake was taken one month before it collapsed in 2008, another fail project by the former Perak State government (the corrupted BN government which controlled Msia since 1957). It was suppose to be a hotel. Click on the map for close view.