There are so many memories here in Kuantan, my hometown where I grew up and schooling. The bonding with this town is as great as ever and the urge to go back is always there. So from time to time I would just drive there and refreshes my memories of my growing up period in the forties and the fifties.
On July 4 this year we decide to stay a few days in Kuantan meeting relatives and friends and sight seeing of places that I had once roam freely. Some scenes made me sad for they thoughtlessly had torn down buildings which I thought are historic to the place. Like the first Malay school that was built of concrete when then most Malay schools were just of Attap shed and commonly known as Sekolah Atap. I thought that school at Jalan Gambut should had been turn into a Museum of sort but they had torn it down to make way to a new Building. Anyway there are nothing could be done now but just to live it in my memories.
To take my mind away from those sad memories I decided to drive around to familiar places that remain the same like Tanjung Lumpur, Tanjung Api, Batu Hitam and the Kuantan River. In those days my grandfather lives at Peramu on the other side of the river. At time I would follow him crossing the river on a small boat. The boat would leave a jetty where the old Bus Station was. To me it was always exciting to take that boat trips. That memories of me with my grandfather on the small boat is a vivid as ever. It is still as crystal clear as thought it just happened yesterday. The beaches were my playground where on weekend we would go hiking and camping. As a Boy Scout we learn many things about nature and in the process I began to appreciate nature more and more. Today my love of nature continues to grow through my gardening and photography.
The beach at Batu Hitam is special to me in that it is one place where Asmah and I spend our early years of our marriage picnicking on weekends. Batu Hitam in English is Black Rock. The placed is call Batu Hitam because the black rock are everywhere on the beach, perhaps the result of some volcanic activities million of years ago. It is only at this place on the east coast that one find black rock, thus it is a unique place along the stretch of the beach. It remain until these days as one of the favorite places for folks to go picnicking on weekends or in the evening when the weather is cool.
I took a walk on the Black Rock beach and watch tiny hermit crabs making millions of small sand balls while digging its holes. It is an amazing creature that one only see when the tide is low. On the left is an image of the hole made by a hermit crab. Around it are the millions of tiny sand balls made by it as it bore down the hole. In the process it does create an interesting pattern on the sandy beach. Such a beautiful sight to watch and wonder before the tide clear it away.
Have a nice day.
10 comments:
Salam Pak Idrus..I know how does it feel..I used to live in Temerloh and Kuantan and now in Teregganu.We are very familiar with all the places in Pahang. Byk juga kenangan di Pahang . Nasib baik on the way to KL from Terengganu we can always stop at Kuantan and Temrloh
Nama I sama dgn nama your wife.
Pak Idrus,
It is great to be able to visit the old places where we grew up again. The nostalgic memories can be overwhelming too.
Just like the many old schools in KL, they have found it fit to destroy the old school building in Kuantan. All they could have done was to leave behind a section of the old school and build around it thus saving some bit of history for the future generations. Alas those in power to stop such destructions are blind and thus could not see.
Idrus,
Your photograph of the fishing boats at the top of your blog is marvellous. The ripples on the water make the picture come alive.
TK, Asmah thanks for the visit and sharing your thoughts on the subject of this posting.
Yes, there was many great buildings of the colonial era that should have been kept as historical sites for future generation to see and perhaps remind them of those years under colonialism. For example some of the government quarters or office building like the Police Station and the Post Office building are of great architectural value.
Without hindsight they have destroy those buildings and replace it with new one without much thought of it architectural and historical value.
Have a nice day.
PI: My earliest memory of Kuantan was watching the movie, "The Ten Commandments," starring John Boyd and Charleston Heston in 1958/59. I was living in Cukai Kemaman from 54-59. I also remember that Kuantan had a better collection of Fleetway comics for sale than at the Syarikat Seri Jaya shop in Kemaman. Buck Jones, Kit Carson, Davy Crockett, Dick Turpin, Billy the Kid, Tarzan, "Incident at Ox Bow Lake." Most were serial but the last mentioned was a one-off. Even at that age, my reading instincts preferred the one-offs. They were, ehem, more literary ... I wonder if those comics of the 50s are still vailable for sale ...
Pak Zawi, thanks for the visit and sharing your thoughts on the subject of this posting.
Yes, I guessed we are lucky in that we still get to see places of our past and relived those golden moment of our childhood and growing up period. Nostalgic indeed.
Agreed that there should at lease preserved some of the old building that are of significant to our history for the next generation to learn history. Visiting such historical places with the buildings intact would allow the future generation to relived the past and learn at first hand of the kind of lives our forefather had during the colonial era.
Well, it look like the present leadership does not care much but I hope the rakyaat could form an action group to alert and have a say in these aspect of hour history. If not we are going to loose it all.
Have a nice day.
louis, thanks for the visit and the good words on my kind of photography.
Well I too like that image. Glad that you enjoy it as well.
It looks like that Great man do think alike and only the fool differ.
Have a nice day
Zaharan Razak, thanks for the visit and sharing your momories on the subjecct of this posting.
Well I too love comic/Magazine and my favorites are the Detective Magazine and the Beano and Dandy comic but unfortunately I did not kept any copy. What a shame, how I wished I had done that. Though I did kept all the vinyl records and as you have seen in my house, it still could be use till these days.
Oh yes I too saw the Ten Commandment and if I am not mistaken it was shown at the Cathy theater at Jalan Bukit Ubi. Probably we were in the same theater watching that movie, you must be real young at that time.
BTW I still got all those Perry Mason books that I read in the fifties,now are collectors item.
Have a nice day.
Thanks for sharing..
I been there before..
I really is a nice place.
Jamiel, thanks for the visit and sharing your thoughts on the subject of this posting.
Have a nice day.
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