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| Clockwise from top left: My cousins here to celebrate my brother's and my birthday. Me, Papa, and brother. My parent's wedding photo, classic! Mummy, Papa and me beside a paper money pagoda burner - Papa used to be part of a temple 'organization'. The place where the bubble-blowing uncle works - check out that vintage blue van! My aunties preparing food in the super-rustic kitchen. Also, check out the beautiful forested backdrop behind these pictures. It is indeed a blessing to live within such vast nature :) Ah... all that crisp, fresh, oxygen-filled forest air! |
From birth till the age of nine, I had the privilege of staying in a kampong (village) in Singapore. My old wooden house topped with metal roof is situated amidst the Bukit Timah Hill, the highest hill in Singapore, no less!
Suddenly, a mental time travel transported me many years
back to a scene in my kampong house nestled in the forested area. I was
barely 5 then.
During the festive season, especially Chinese New Year, all
the extended family members will turn up at our house to catch up on
each others' lives over the endless supply of food churned out from the
kitchen. I remember how grandma, who is the main cook herself, would give out
culinary instructions to my aunties who were helping out in the kitchen, in
authentic Hokkien. The rest
of the adults will either play mahjong or just sit around and chat merrily.
And the kids? Oh yes, I was one of the kids! We had
a whole lot of kampong fun, of course. HEE.
After the adults all sort of settled down and got too 'busy'
for us, the whole gang of kids, (more than 10 of us) would run off and often
first head towards the little stream, which is a few hundred metres from the
front of our house, to catch fishes. On the way there, we'll have to pass by a
chicken farm which stinks horribly! My two big dogs, one in orange and the
other in black, and which I call both 'Kopi' (which means 'Coffee' in Hokkien),
will always escort us. They'll sort of keep a lookout for us, tumble with us,
and we have this weird practice of cajoling them to lick our wounds if we got
hurt.
It was real fun in the nature.
Or we'll dig the earth and bury something, play with sand,
throw stones, pick up sticks and branches, collect durian, papaya, and lime,
climb trees to pluck out rambutans and jackfruit, chase the monkeys and
squirrels, yelled and laughed about - all with nary a care in the world.
Once, there was this gigantic python twirled around and
resting magnificently on a sturdy old tree, at a crossroads of the village
tracks. I swear it could swallow me whole in minutes! For the entire time, it
probably slithered only an inch, while the villagers gathered in a big circle
and looked on. It was a frightening sight. I mean, snakes are scary enough, ya?
And an enormous one at that will only amplify the fear factor! But still, I
can't resist to stay and stare.
There was also this tall, balding uncle with sun-drenched
skin and the kindest smile who worked near my place, fixing cars. He used to amuse us kids
by blowing out tiny bubbles using his tongue. I can still recall that scene
vividly where I'll look up at his stunt from a short height (hey, I'm only 5
okay?) gasping in awe.
So, this is kampong life... we were living for the moment, enjoying the present and not worrying about the future - the epitome of carpe diem!