~Balik Kampung, Hati Girang~

~Balik Kampung~is one of my all-time favourite malay song by the late Sudirman. I think I have sang it so many times in the car since my childhood days, along the 4 hours drive back to kampung esp. during Hari Raya holiday. Even school holiday, my mom tend to tempt me following them back with great BBQ and steamboat dinner although I already had plans with my schoolmates for movie+shopping.

I used to ‘Balik Kampung’ to visit my aging ‘Tai Ma’ aged 90+ but after she passed away last 2 years due to old age+sick, I seldom go back liao. She only speaks Mandarin and Hokkien, so to be able to communicate with her I need to speak Mandarin or Hokkien with her. Just like the picture above, I remembered she asked me what kinda material the shimmer pant I was wearing that day as she loves to be pretty my big aunt told me.Great memories with her back then.

I missed her so much but I need to accept the reality of ‘Sang, Lou, Beng, Sei’(Birth, Aging, Sick, Die) with an open heart. As I heard from my mom who passed the message to me, she left with chanting ‘Amituofo’ which means she’s now in a better place and having better care from ‘Amituofo’. There’s a sense of relief for me knowing that she found 'Amituofo'(Amitabha Buddha), a release of suffering for her as to endure further pain in sickness anymore. 

My 'kampung' is not only 'kaya'(rich) with palm oil plantation, but it's kaya with wild lives living around our home. Used to have one big 'Ular sawa'(Python snake) near the palm plantation area swallowed one of our 'kambing peliharaan kami'(goat), I was so sad at that time when I heard the news. That's why my grandfather had a big gun kept to protect the family from all the wild lives including the wild boars at my kampung(village). This squirrel is free to live here, that's why we put the coconut open for him to enjoy when he's hungry. 



Haha…This is another lucky 'Ayam betina' that has been living here for years already with its 6 cute little chicks, roaming freely around my kampung. She likes to sleep almost everywhere here from the plant pots to under the 'HQ Chalet'(the main living chalet where we held our BBQ, steamboat and fireworks gathering). We never plan to 'Sembelihnya'(slaughter) as we treat her as a family member and 'perhiasan rumah'(home decor) here.

The double-storey chalet I was staying most of the time now. We used to stay at a bungalow with big palm oil plantation at the back but nowadays, we prefer to stay here as we can just walked to the nearby beach beside the chalet. My grandfather used to build this as attap house but due to the hot weather and years of maintenance, he upgraded it into a modern chalet with air-cond and basic toilet facility. Many malays came here for a holiday and it's really like a 1Malaysia celebration everytime I came back here for a holiday with my family.  

‘Buai laju-laju’ I usually called to my sis who tried swinging me really high up to the air on this strong, old tree. Haha…really full of fancy ideas and fun at the beach, it's all my family efforts for everyone to enjoy at the beach. Even to the extent of keeping this beach clean and tidy, one morning I saw my 'Koh' collecting 'sampah-sarap' that had been left by the irresponsible people. I really respect my family for doing that as everytime we're back here at the beach, we felt so welcomed with its clean beach here. They really take good care of this beach like their own beach.

An old photo with my dear youngest sister Shan Shan during Hari Raya Puasa holiday. Haha...that's when I would take the chance to wear my 'Baju Kebaya' to 'memeriahkan lagi hari yang mulia ini'(enliven the Hari Raya festival on the noble day). Then, I would head to our HQ Chalet for 'Kuih-muih with ketupat, rendang' etc.(all the malay yummy food served during Hari Raya)

Everything and almost every special delicacies were gifts from our local malay neighbours, really yummy and authentic malay cooking by the locals. We really live in harmony with the malays here as we never talk about politic or religion issue and   fighting for money and power here. We believe in living 'Bermuafakat membawa berkat' very strongly for years!

I was never a morning kinda person since my childhood days. From age 8, my malay neighbor Linda would visit me early in the morning, woke me up and waited for me to 'mandi pagi' for 'Hari Raya' visits at 'Kampung Melayu'. Sometimes during school holiday, she asked my uncle permission to bring me along to 'Hulu Langat' with her cousin for the spectacular waterfall nature. We had a blast there with great yummy food provided by her cousin's family, just like the story I read from Nancy Drew interesting story books. Just that my stories about places were based from Malaysia. 

Back to my kampung, I make the great effort to wake up early in the morning at 5am and sometimes, naturally I woke up for the beautiful sunrise moments with my dear Charmers, Rambo and the whole family. The more the merrier, as we're so loud and so proud to be there like we owned the beach to ourselves. Haha...sometimes we even spend the night time watching stars together and playing games in a big group of ten just like a group of happy kids.

One of the latest activities we love to do is choosing the best grade A watermelon from our family plantation. They employed many foreign workers(huge plantation) for export business mainly to Taiwan market. We used to have durian, mangosteen, chempedak, chillies and guava plantation back in our Bungalow old house but so long I didn't go back there I'm not sure if the trees still 'berbuah'(fruitful) or not. I only knew everytime I'm back to my kampung, I'm so full with food and fruits served on the table for us. That's why I love Malaysia so much, always 'kaya dengan makanan dan buah-buahan'(rich in food and fruits). Majulah Malaysia!