Bertam Malim - A kampung we remember

By the time packages were sorted and manifesting began, she had aready waited for almost three hours.

Earlier in that day I promised to see her at five.

She could have easily reached home by six on Thye Lai. She could have wanted to show me where she stayed when I never thought. In natural normal state of still mind, we forgot to take dinner but drove to her kampung.

The Sunny 130Y climbed steadfast from the contour of Bukit Cheng after Taman Asean.

The path from the Hainan Hill to the present Cheng Heights was dark densely covered with wild trees. The coolness of a kampung could be felt from inside the car.

Without accelerating after turning left her house stood on the front view. Two plank served her familiy members and their closely-knitted neighbour. They would gather around this corner for a usual brief chat in Bahasa Melayu. Many likened this corner more than the home sofa.

Abu's 8894 was parked near to this corner most of time until the shop closed.  The mesin kisar kelapa was cleaned by Ah Ma before six. The blue metal door was still opened to serve the night customer. I would grabbed the chance to pump the minyak tanah into the bottles while the customer made payment to Abu. The minyak tanah was to light up the kerosene lamps and the pelita during the Hari Raya seasons.

If not mistaken, the customer called Ah Ma as Ah Hong and Ah Gong as Abu.

After a few trips to this kampung, I began to enjoy bath with water pulled up from a well instead of heated pipe-water. This led to the delicious kampung-styled dinner and even staying overnight.

I missed the Ikan Sepat Lemak masak nenas prepared by Ah Tai. My sister-in-law good at making the best portion of garlic-ginger soya for fried fish. Ah Girl was a little girl and she has big eyes. She was wondering strangele who was this guy that joined the family at dinner table

It was at that marble-table, that the marvel of Ah Gong Chao Fan became the favorite of everyone. In this kampung, Ah Gong and Ah Ma had set a good example not only for me but my children and my grandchildren.

Read here about Ah Gong Chao Fan.