After we left Malaysia in unhappy circumstances in 1986, I had not thought that I would be going there too often and too soon
Two trips did take place in 1986 and 1987 in connection with winding up the affairs of the company, but they were not pleasant occasions.
We did make a trip with Ashwini and Abhi in 2004. Abhi had just come back from the USA, and Ashwini was visiting India. We spent a week in Malaysia during this trip. We stayed at the Equatorial Hotel in the Golden Triangle, on Bukit Bintang Road. This was the first time we were spending so much time in the heart of KL. We hired a car, and Abhi and I took turns driving.
We visited each of our old houses in PJ. The first stop was the house in a lovely setting in front of Taman Jaya. This was our first house in Malaysia, where Ashwini arrived as a child of 20 months. This was the place where we installed our first refrigerator, the first TV, the first sound system and later the first car. The biggest attraction was the huge park, Taman Jaya. And the Buddhist temple nearby, which we visited. A quick round of the shops nearby, including the Raju shop for Idlis, and then our next stop was the nearby Jalan Gasing, on which No. 33 was our second house. This is a busy road in PJ. I used to stand at the gate in the evening with Ashwini, and she would identify car models as they sped by.
Our next brief stop was in front of our comparatively small house in Section 9 PJ, where we stayed for just over a year and about which none of us were very enthusiastic. This was where Abhi took his first steps as a 9-month-old.
Our next drive took us around New Town PJ, past the Thrifty supermarket, and then on to SS 3/2, where we had occupied a lovely two-story house on a quiet, secluded road. Huge yard with trees. This was the house where Abhi grew up running, playing ball, tricycling on the big lawns, and when bored at home, opening the gate and just starting to run around the neighbourhood, putting all others on alert many times. We enjoyed the neighbourhood and, in particular, our first large and decent house.
I recall we did not go and see our Klang house during this visit.
We had a couple of nice roadside breakfasts of Roti Canai just opposite our hotel on the busy road.
And many pleasant meals of familiar dishes like Nasi Goreng, Mee Gorneg, Satay, Rojak.
The highlight of our trip was the drive to the East Coast of Malaysia.
Abhi and I shared the driving. I had driven earlier on this road a few times, but it was the first time for Abhi. The route is very scenic, going through thick forests on either side. The route takes us from the West coast of Malaysia to the East coast. This is not a very populated area, and Malaysia's vast National Park covering two states, accessible mostly by waterways, lies to our left in the thick forest. The tourist spot of Genting Highlands is on this route.
Our first stop was Kuantan, the capital city of Pahang state. We reached there in time for lunch, for which we chose a Chinese place. Kuantan is pretty laid back, pretty town. The beach is not great, just a place for people to be around in the evening. After lunch, we proceeded up the East Coast towards Trengganu State. Now the road turns really pretty, apart from the usual scene of coconut trees, small houses with flower beds, we get our first glimpse of the sea dramatically. We climb up a steep road and, suddenly on our right, the expanse of the South China Sea. From there, it is a drive along the coast. Our destination is a small coastal village, Rantau Abang. We have been here before, and we are searching for the place called Awang's Bungalows. A rather optimistically named collection of very basic wooden cubicles on the beach. Very little had changed since our last visit. The beach was clean, the food was simple, Malay style and good. The only big change was that the state had since turned into a non-alcoholic state. So we had to make another drive to a nearby shop for beers, which we could only have inside the cabins. We stayed here for two nights and immensely enjoyed the beach. The beach is famous for the visit of very large deep-sea leatherback turtles, which lay their eggs on the coast and return to the deep sea. the egg-laying season is July-Sept. I have seen these before at the same beach, but this time we were not so lucky. One night, there was an alarm, and we walked out a longish distance, but the turtle had changed her mind and went back to the sea. The turtles choose this coast, as the seabed slopes down very steeply from the coast, and they can reach the depths of the sea very fast. In the old days, the fishermen used to purloin most turtle eggs, and very few were left to hatch. Now the Government has a hatchery and their staff collect the eggs and have them hatched under care and release the baby turtles into the sea.
We watched a beautiful sunrise the next morning. Most of my viewing has been of sunsets over sea or rivers, and this was a rare one of a sunrise, as the sun came up over the South China Sea. It was a bit cloudy, but still a thrilling experience watching the sun come up, sitting on the sand.
There was a larger crowd on the second day as a group of girls from a nearby college visited. Forget the swimsuits, many of them were wearing full-length Hijabs! True to form, Abhi made friends with some of them and chatted. The swims were nice. I only went into the sea as a short ritual, but Abhi and Ashwini had good swims. One must remember that the sea here on the East Coast can be treacherous. The reason is that the seabed slopes down very steeply. At some places, we are waist-deep in 4 paces and up to our heads in 10 paces. One needs to be very careful while swimming.
The owner had a pet parakeet of ornate appearance who he had trained to speak. He sang the popular children's jingle ''Bangun pagi, Goso gigi, makan Roti, Pergi Sekolah'', in an amazingly human-like voice. In particular, I will never forget the way he pronounced 'Goso' with a nasal accent, which would have put a Puneri Kokanastha to shame!
On our return drive, we diverted into a nearby forest for a picnic lunch. The forests consist mainly of teak trees. They were huge, and everywhere was quiet, with only crickets chirping, some birds calling. We had a nice, peaceful time. Our return drive was equally nice, with a stop to eat satay at a roadside stall. We reached our hotel in time for a nice Chinese dinner.
We also visited Singapore just for a day. We stayed at Ashwini Deware's house (though she herself was travelling). Abhi met his old friend from Miami school and planned to stay longer with him. Some shopping in Singapore and then Ashwini and I left for Bangalore.
We enjoyed our short nostalgia trip to Malaysia, visiting all the houses we had spent part of our life in, enjoying the familiar sights, and of course visiting the Rantau Abang beach!
No comments:
Post a Comment