In Remembrance ...

It is with great sadness that I have to put another of this entry here today.

Brenda Leong, my church member, pass away suddenly in Bintulu while on the way back to Miri after her first course of treatment in Kuching. She was diagnosed with lung cancer about a month ago and had just undergone treatment. Actually, I was told that her sickness had not reached a terminal case.
May her soul rest in peace!

Tomorrow, 17-June-2010:

1. Encoffin Service : At Mortuary GH Miri (8am)
2. Funeral Service: At GMC (9am)
3. Burial at Methodist Graveyard Riam.

Exotic fruits from Sarawak

Sarawak is a land of plenty. The jungle here is actually a rich source of fruits and food. Therefore, it is no wonder that the natives of this place can live in the jungle without any problem.
This is sour eggplant. I understand that this can be found only in E.Malaysia. The taste is sour and the flesh is crunchy. When cooked, it become soft. The people here like to cook curry with this. I saw the Iban cook them in soup also. The taste is good...I actually like it but have never attempted to cook one myself.
This is a wild fruit. Someone nicknamed it as "canon ball". The Iban called it mauwan  (A reader told me that Iban normally pronounce it as buah "embawang"). The tree is tall... in fact very tall. I think it can grow anything like 40-60 feet. My mother told me that if this thing drop on one's head, it will be sure death!
My memories of this fruit was not positive. I remember having to dip it in sugar or else it was simply too sour. But now, after eating a few this season, I found that this fruit can be sweet. But it is very fibrous. So, if anyone has constipation, this fruit will definitely cure the problem!
The skin of this fruit is very thick. To open it, I need to slice the skin and peel it, exposing the flesh. Then I need to use my special knife to slice the flesh off. The trick is actually not to peel all the skin off otherwise it will then be too slippery to handle.
I came across this fruit - forgot the name. Anyone knows the name? (A reader told me that this fruit is called buah kundung). When I saw the fruit this season, I thought that it must be delicious as they look good.
When my Malay friend showed me how to peel the skin off, the taste instantly brought back memories. When I was young, I ate quite a lot of this fruit. It was everywhere but not anymore. The taste is also slightly sour. I can't actually describe the taste. All I can say is that it is unique!
These are some unique fruits available in E.Malaysia.

Wireless Iron

Do you know that wireless iron was invented by the Chinese more than a thousand year ago well before electricity and wireless communication? It depends on heat transfer from a heat radiation source that is about a centimeter from the shiny/glossy base of the iron.

What you see here is a more modern iron which was widely used about 40 years ago. I remembered my sister tried to iron clothing with an iron like this. Ironing seems to be big deal at that time...

First, we need to start a charcoal fire and transfer the hot charcoal to this iron.
Some charcoal would fill the cavity of this iron. But how to control the temperature? I afraid I have no idea unless someone reading this blog can remember it.
If I am to do it today using this iron, I would use a damp cloth to cool the temperature down to ensure that it doesn't make a hole in the fabric. I would then try it over a "test" fabric to make sure that it would not burn a hole. If it does, I would apply wax on the base and continuously rub it on another fabric which is a little more coarse in order to remove fabric stuck to the base.
The fabric at that time was mostly cotton. So I need water to be sprayed on the fabric to ensure an effective and faster ironing. Cotton has higher heat tolerant.

By the way, this iron is heavy. It is made from solid brass.

The Good Old Days

I am sure many will wonder why this plant can bring back special memories...

For many who are around my age and stayed in "kampong" (village) before would realise that during their childhood, they probably had collected this plant from the pond to feed the pig! Indeed, we had a big pond full of this plant. I remembered that we have to cook them first. Nowadays, we still see this plant in the drain along the road.

The Rubber Seeds

I got the inspiration of writing this from my friend Philip. He is a full time photographer from Sibu whereas I am a full time coolie and photography is my hobby.
Rubber seed instantly brought back bitter sweet memories for me. My parents had a rubber garden, 6 acres. We depended on rubber tapping and vegetable planting for a living.

All my brothers and sisters above me had to tap rubber before going to school (if they were schooling). So they had to start work at about 3:00AM on a fine day! Too many rainy days =reduced income. So, what did it mean for me... I had to send food for them in the morning at about 6:00AM! My sisters would eat in the garden and continued on working!
Sending food also meant walking past my neighbourhood "infested" with dogs!
Anyway, perhaps I will blog about my childhood one of these days.
When rubber seed is ripe, the hard shell will crack open with a very sharp and loud sound... like a dry stick being broken. We used to pick the shinny + glossy seeds and the shell to make into toys! We could play for days without being bored! The shinny seed could be used for a "seed fight", ie, we knocked the seeds against each other and see which one broke first.
We could make three small holes and painstakingly prick out all the "inside". Then we would put a small bamboo stick across with a short length of string coming out from the third hole. Next put on a "propeller" and played with it. (The propeller could be made from bamboo or town kids use ice cream stick). I hope to reproduce one in future!
The seeds could also be used for "balancing game", ie, layout 5 seeds on your small palm. Flip it over to see how many you could catch on the back of your palm.... by the way, we prefered pebbles for this game.
Any one have more memories about rubber seeds? Please leave it in the comment.

Raining and raining

The weather has gone crazy! It has been raining rather heavily before Christmas 2008. Now two weeks later, it is still raining! The most difficult part since the school reopen on 5th Jan, is that it has been raining at around 5:50AM everyday.

So the children going to school everyday must face the rain! Look at this morning... this original (no retouch) picture was taken from my car... just see how gloomy it was. Traffic jam, etc.
It also reminded me of the good old days... the luxury of cars was limited to a few who are rich and where roads were available. Most of us would walk for 1-2 KM to school. Some walk even further. Many would cycle for up to 8KM. While I was in primary one, I remembered only twice when my father would cover me under a thin raincoat, mounted me on the bicycle and cycle me to school. My brothers would cycle on their own.
It was illegal to carry any body on a bicycle at that time. So, my father was risking being "caught by the police".

In the pitch-darkness of the night...

The night was dark, there was no star or moon. Dark cloud covered the sky under the heaven. It would rain anytime. I sat on a chair at the front door looking out. Suddenly my eyes focused on the tall coconut tree in from of me. I could just make the outline of the tree. In the distance, I saw a layer of light rising up from the horizon. I then realised that it is Sibu town.
When I was small, I remember the same scene. My father used to tell me... "Look! That is where the town is!"

I quickly grasp my camera and freeze the moment to become a reflection of my memories of the gone good old days.
The sensor on the camera picked up something which my eyes failed to see clearly, and that is the pinkish hue in the sky. What was it? A reflection from the cloud from the light below or the ray of the sun which was long gone? It doesn't matter.

Memories! More photos Sibu trip

I visited my friend in Sibu. In his sitting room, they still have this beautiful clock hanging there... 100% functional and it is some 50 years old! The only problem is that the golden horse has become a black horse!

This reminded me that we used to have such a clock also but the spring was broken many years ago. I have no idea where is the clock now. This type of clock used to be purchased for newly wed, ie, my friend's parents wedding gift!

Talking about latex pressing machines, I visited one of the scrape metal company in Sibu. I saw this array of latex pressing machines. They were made in Singapore and Sibu! Raw latex sheet was pressed by the 3rd machine (black ones) from the right with smooth drum. After it was pressed to a thin sheet, it was finally passed thru those with "flower" drum. By the way, the reason to press the latex into thin sheet was to get the water out. After that, the white rubber sheet was hang out for drying. Eventually they were smoked dry and the colour changed to light brown.

Remember I talked about the old fashion kitchen cooking stove in my previous blog? The huge wok was fired from below by firewood... and I remember that in the smothering burning charcoal, we used to bury sweet potatoes in the ashes with red hot charcoal above (see pic above). While dinner was done, the fragrant "roasted" sweet potatoes were also cook.

ok, the wok above is now used to cook food for domesticated animals, eg, pig. The yam leaves are a source of food for them.

See, firewood is being pushed in from below if a bigger fire is needed.

When I visited St. Anthony school in Sarikei, I saw this skeleton. On a closer look, I was convinced that this skeleton is as old as me and if I am not mistaken, it was the same skeleton used to teach biology to us!
p/s: The skeleton is still in reasonable condition. There are some loose "bones".