Balik Kampung...

I’m back! All 10 of us went back to my uncle’s place at Kampung Parit Patah, Pontian, Johor. It’s been a few years since I went back to visit and that going back makes this festive season feels more complete. This uncle of mine lived in this Kampung all his life. When my great-grandmother was still around, she took care of him till she passed away when I was 12 years old. Then, the Kampung was so much different from now. There were more chickens running around but not now. It seems like the essence is fading away slowly.

We left at about 3.30pm on Friday afternoon and reached exactly at 5pm. I used to think that our Kampung is so far away and the journey would take at least 3 hours. I guess the new route helped us to save more time on the road. But my uncle took a longer route home and it took us about 2 ½ hours to get home.



This is the house that used to be made of wood with cement floors & zinc rooftops. Ever since my uncle got married he did a lot of renovations to the house and it looked so good now. It’s clean and no more that dirty cement floor with rubber tiles. There used to be 2 toilets outside the house, one for shower and the other for you know what. It’s so convenient now that everything’s in the house. No more holding on to our bowels and wait for the next morning when it’s brighter. And the shower used to have frogs hopping around while I was bathing. Eeewww…Then a few years back, my grandfather actually built another house beside it but i've forgotten to take a pic. Oops! So we stayed at my grandfather's house throughout our stay there.


My cousins on a bridge that used to be made of wood. Something like the pic on the right. But ours was too old with a lot of holes. Hahaha...



On Friday night, we played firecrackers. It was a lot of fun, especially for the kids. I think we bought at least 10 different types of firecrackers. There’s the usual one, the one that would shoot like a rocket and the tiny ones that would pop when you throw it to the ground. OMG! I think that night I went totally deaf. We played for at least 2 hours, non-stop. Slept at around midnight and it was then that i felt totally homesick. I was thinking of R till i fell asleep. It's not like I've never been out of town for a long time. And this is only one night. What was i thinking?

Next day, while I was still in the house lazing around watching TV, I heard a commotion outside.
Cousin: Eeee…there’s a snake in the drain?
Aunty: Where? That’s not a snake! It’s a worm!!
Cousin: A worm?? No lah, it’s a snake…..you see carefully!
Aunty: (a long pause) Oh ya! It’s a snake…



When I heard this, I went out with my O2 and took some pics. So there you go, the pic of a black snake with orange stripes. It’s probably as long as 30 cm. No one dares to get rid of the snake, so we spared its life and let it live. Later my uncle told us that he caught 5 lizards using his bare hands and killed it. The lizards in my Kampung are not as tiny as those house lizards we see here. It’s HUGE! I’ve seen one before. It’s black and it has a long tail. It would lift its body up and tiptoe across the room. Can u imagine, it is as long as the black snake. And it would make a knocking sound on the cupboards using its tail to warn the other lizards not to come out. I guess my uncle must have studied the lifestyle of these lizards. OMG! I’m having goose pimples now.



Anyway, we visited only 3 houses that day. And I gave away 30 green packets. They have an average of 10 kids per house. **sweat** But then all the food was great there! Even this simple tapioca dish is so darn delicious.



At one of my relative’s house, there’s this REALLY rusty old swing and my cousins and I had a lot of fun with it. They also have a few adorable cats that would run around in and out of the house, and making my lil cousins went running for their lives. Haha. I took a pic of this adorable blue-eyed kitten. So cute right!




I was there for only 2 days, 1 night but I felt so tired. But I should be going back there soon, I hope!