"Eh Guys, There's Cold Drinks Sold Here!"
Hi All!
This post will be sharing about my return trip to Pulau Ubin on September 15th, 2018; a month since my accident during the Pulau Ubin Heritage Trail back on August 18th, 2018 which you can read about it here. I spent the day engaging in one of many kampong activities, which was garden tending and learnt some cool new things!
It's been more than a month since I went back to Pulau Ubin and I must admit there is that sense of homesickness all these while. I originally wanted to head back to the island the weekend before but it couldn't happen due to a battering thunderstorm that pretty much struck the whole of Singapore throughout the first half of the day but at least that homesick feeling disappeared on Saturday morning, September 15th, 2018.
I knew prior to this on Facebook that there might be a group or two of volunteers who would be going down to Chek Jawa for a coastal cleanup but by the time I reached the basement of Changi Point Ferry Terminal, was I in for a surprise. There were all sorts of organisations, some of them donning their own T-shirts with the word "Coastal Cleanup" on it. I have not seen such a crowd before but I was also kinda happy seeing that there were still many people who have not forgotten about Pulau Ubin and would even dedicate their time to head down to the island to clean its shores. Of course, there were also the usual people such as cyclists, fishermen and the occasional tourists that made up the crowd as well.
After clearing about three boats, I finally managed to get on board. It's rare to witness such a convoy of boats out at sea, as if we were going for war. I guess, at least for the volunteers they were going to fight a war against trash and pollution. I arrived at the jetty by 9 a.m. and on schedule, Cik Azman Hamid was always at his taxi stand. I approached him as he was obliviously heading to his van and greeted him; to which he was genuinely surprised after he had not seen me for more than a month. I couldn't carry on with a conversation with him because one of his friends wanted to chat with him, so I bade farewell and made my down to rent a bike from my usual store.
I'm not gonna lie, the trauma of riding a bicycle was still strong but in my mind, I assumed that if I didn't use the bike from the store that they used the day I had my accident, perhaps I could be spared of a repeat? I left it to God as I recited my prayers for safety before heading down to Pak Ahmad's house.
When I reached his house, I realised that the windows were closed. I was genuinely pretty concerned as I feared something might have happened. But as I dismounted from my bicycle and moved closer into the stall, I managed to catch Pak Ahmad sitting by his outer serambi, fine tuning his radio. I was relieved to see him and went ahead to salam him. He too, just like Cik Azman, was surprised but happy to see me again after more than four weeks of absence. I realised that Nenek Piah was nowhere to be seen as well, and that was when Pak Ahmad told me that she moved back to stay in the mainland at Kelana's house for a while. He asked if I could help to keep a lookout for his house because he wanted to head down to Pekan Ubin to buy some ice for his drinks freezer; which also explained why his doors and windows were closed. I agreed to do so, and I just took the time to immerse myself once more with the kampong environment.
After about fifteen minutes, Pak Ahmad returned with his motorcycle and took put a huge block of ice from his basket. I helped to place it into the freezer where there were lots of drinks stocked up, hoping for most if not all to be cleared by passersby who might patronise from his stall. I wanted to bring up to him that there was someone looking for him, but I guess the noise of his motorcycle sort of gave a cue to her that he had returned. She came back with another man who requested for some ice blocks from Pak Ahmad as she was holding an event at Cik Kamariah's house. Pak Ahmad handed some ice blocks to the both of them before they headed back up. I asked Pak Ahmad who she was and I was right, she was Cik Kamariah's daughter. As for the man, I am still clueless as to whether he's her brother or husband, but as long as they are both familiar by Pak Ahmad, then there was nothing much for me to ponder about.
The flags that I helped to set up for Pak Ahmad before National Day were still up so I asked Pak Ahmad for his permission to bring it all down. It was only fair that I dismantled them as it was I who placed them up in the first place. I picked up the ladder and started dismantling the flags one by one. I soon realised that one of the flags was missing. I looked around only to find out that it was hanging by the durian tree way up high behind Pak Ahmad's house! Turned out Pak Ahmad wanted to raise it high on his own so that more people could spot in flying in the wind, as opposed to it already being on the roof of his stall.
He asked me if I wanted to have a try in lowering the flag, and it really was just like a flag lowering ceremony; only minor problem was that I was not able to bring it down because the strings that served as a pulley system for the flag got twisted badly. Pak Ahmad also gave it a shot but would try again later as he would find other methods in lowering it down.
This post will be sharing about my return trip to Pulau Ubin on September 15th, 2018; a month since my accident during the Pulau Ubin Heritage Trail back on August 18th, 2018 which you can read about it here. I spent the day engaging in one of many kampong activities, which was garden tending and learnt some cool new things!
It's been more than a month since I went back to Pulau Ubin and I must admit there is that sense of homesickness all these while. I originally wanted to head back to the island the weekend before but it couldn't happen due to a battering thunderstorm that pretty much struck the whole of Singapore throughout the first half of the day but at least that homesick feeling disappeared on Saturday morning, September 15th, 2018.
I knew prior to this on Facebook that there might be a group or two of volunteers who would be going down to Chek Jawa for a coastal cleanup but by the time I reached the basement of Changi Point Ferry Terminal, was I in for a surprise. There were all sorts of organisations, some of them donning their own T-shirts with the word "Coastal Cleanup" on it. I have not seen such a crowd before but I was also kinda happy seeing that there were still many people who have not forgotten about Pulau Ubin and would even dedicate their time to head down to the island to clean its shores. Of course, there were also the usual people such as cyclists, fishermen and the occasional tourists that made up the crowd as well.
After clearing about three boats, I finally managed to get on board. It's rare to witness such a convoy of boats out at sea, as if we were going for war. I guess, at least for the volunteers they were going to fight a war against trash and pollution. I arrived at the jetty by 9 a.m. and on schedule, Cik Azman Hamid was always at his taxi stand. I approached him as he was obliviously heading to his van and greeted him; to which he was genuinely surprised after he had not seen me for more than a month. I couldn't carry on with a conversation with him because one of his friends wanted to chat with him, so I bade farewell and made my down to rent a bike from my usual store.
I'm not gonna lie, the trauma of riding a bicycle was still strong but in my mind, I assumed that if I didn't use the bike from the store that they used the day I had my accident, perhaps I could be spared of a repeat? I left it to God as I recited my prayers for safety before heading down to Pak Ahmad's house.
When I reached his house, I realised that the windows were closed. I was genuinely pretty concerned as I feared something might have happened. But as I dismounted from my bicycle and moved closer into the stall, I managed to catch Pak Ahmad sitting by his outer serambi, fine tuning his radio. I was relieved to see him and went ahead to salam him. He too, just like Cik Azman, was surprised but happy to see me again after more than four weeks of absence. I realised that Nenek Piah was nowhere to be seen as well, and that was when Pak Ahmad told me that she moved back to stay in the mainland at Kelana's house for a while. He asked if I could help to keep a lookout for his house because he wanted to head down to Pekan Ubin to buy some ice for his drinks freezer; which also explained why his doors and windows were closed. I agreed to do so, and I just took the time to immerse myself once more with the kampong environment.
Imagine hanging your clothes to a sight like this every laundry day
Whilst waiting, I also took the time to study the architecture of the house. I am still at awe as to how a wooden house is made. The amount of carpentry skills required to assemble the house together - without ever needing to use nails to attach them together still amazed me. As I went on to observe one of the windows, I met some company. It was a small frog which reminded me of that one frog I saw while I was helping out with the repainting of Pak Ahmad's house before the fasting month (a post on this event is still owed by me and will be published soon!)
Why did the frog end up there? Because it could.
There was a lady dressed in mostly white who came in and pretty much went around the house, but I did not get too suspicious of her as I had a feeling she was looking for Pak Ahmad and could actually be close to him. She asked me if Pak Ahmad was in and I told her that he had just left to collect some ice. She jokingly clenched her fist out of frustration before she made her move with an envelope in her grasp. Judging from the direction she headed back to, she might be related to Cik Kamariah considering that her house is right behind Pak Ahmad's.
After about fifteen minutes, Pak Ahmad returned with his motorcycle and took put a huge block of ice from his basket. I helped to place it into the freezer where there were lots of drinks stocked up, hoping for most if not all to be cleared by passersby who might patronise from his stall. I wanted to bring up to him that there was someone looking for him, but I guess the noise of his motorcycle sort of gave a cue to her that he had returned. She came back with another man who requested for some ice blocks from Pak Ahmad as she was holding an event at Cik Kamariah's house. Pak Ahmad handed some ice blocks to the both of them before they headed back up. I asked Pak Ahmad who she was and I was right, she was Cik Kamariah's daughter. As for the man, I am still clueless as to whether he's her brother or husband, but as long as they are both familiar by Pak Ahmad, then there was nothing much for me to ponder about.
The flags that I helped to set up for Pak Ahmad before National Day were still up so I asked Pak Ahmad for his permission to bring it all down. It was only fair that I dismantled them as it was I who placed them up in the first place. I picked up the ladder and started dismantling the flags one by one. I soon realised that one of the flags was missing. I looked around only to find out that it was hanging by the durian tree way up high behind Pak Ahmad's house! Turned out Pak Ahmad wanted to raise it high on his own so that more people could spot in flying in the wind, as opposed to it already being on the roof of his stall.
He asked me if I wanted to have a try in lowering the flag, and it really was just like a flag lowering ceremony; only minor problem was that I was not able to bring it down because the strings that served as a pulley system for the flag got twisted badly. Pak Ahmad also gave it a shot but would try again later as he would find other methods in lowering it down.
Your flag lowering ceremony can never be as cool as Pak Ahmad's. Period.
After all the decorations had been kept, Pak Ahmad invited me for a light snack and some drinks for a break while we listen to the radio for some traditional classical Malay songs. He reminded me that his son Kelana would be coming back later on in the afternoon, so I stayed a while more hoping to catch up with him as well after not seeing one another for a while. We then heard the noise of another motorcycle passing by Jalan Ubin before it came to a stop by the roadside of Pak Ahmad's stall. I got a feeling that it might have been one of the Ubin residents who have dropped by to say hello, and I was right.
The suji biscuits together with some sweet drinks really were refreshing!
It was Pak Rahmat Yusof, the resident who stayed in the red house as shown in one of my previous posts. I recently befriended him on Facebook a few months back and when he mentioned that he already knew who I was when I salam-ed him, it caught me off guard. Pak Rahmat handed some bread to Pak Ahmad before making his way to Cik Kamariah's house at the back to hand over some envelopes which I might have recalled being wedding invitation cards. Pak Rahmat's wife also came along and sat down in the stall before requesting for some "pucuk ubi" or cassava leaves from Pak Ahmad's garden. He told her to help herself out.
Pak Rahmat complained that some of his items had disappeared, including some of his furniture and his huge cleaver. He suspected that those items might have been stolen. Nonetheless, I hope that his stuffs could be found. I myself already knew what it felt like to have things on the island gone missing - just like my 818K sign that I planted on my late grandparents' house. In the midst of their conversation, Kelana had just cycled his way over. He had brought along some food for his dad to munch on in the later part of the day and went in to the house to settle down after he had salam-ed everyone.
Pak Rahmat and his wife headed back to their home after they were done with their errands. Kelana then proceeded to strike a conversation with me, checking on my well-being and also commented on my appearance on the news the month before. He had brought up that he initially wanted to trim the plants that day, and I was pretty much excited to help him out. The plants had not been trimmed for years and there was pretty much overgrowth of weeds everywhere.
Kelana brought out a huge loppers from the store room, which was a huge equivalent of a pruner. He asked me if I could help take a picture before we started so that we could see and maybe feel happy on the progress we were to make that day after pruning away the plants. When customers came in to patronise the stall, Kelana would hand the loppers to me so that I would also give pruning a try. I do have a garden myself outside in my corridor but tending to it was nothing compared to tending to Pak Ahmad's garden.
I had difficulty working on it, but Pak Ahmad came in to help me and taught me some new tricks in how to prune. He advised me to clear the bottom half of the plant and to leave the flowers at the top alone. He taught me that by doing so, it would leave a nice look and effect on the plant. Strangely enough, Pak Ahmad apologised to me and asked me not to be mad at him - which I was shook to even let him come to such a conclusion - as I would never ever be angry at him no matter what, considering that he was merely teaching me some skills. I was the one who was sorry because I might have pruned some of his plants a little too much.
Kelana and I continued trimming one plant until I realised that in the middle of the plant, there was a sign post that said "Cold Drinks Sold Here". To be painfully honest, I did not notice that sign was ever there. That was why Kelana joked around saying that there was an urgent need to trim the plants so that more people could see and consider buying drinks and coconuts from his dad's stall.
Before
After
You probably couldn't tell that were pots underneath these plants and that there was a croton plant struggling to grow inside that overgrown bush of flowers.
After spending the entire afternoon taking shifts to prune the plants, both Kelana and I decided to call it a day. We only managed to prune three to four of the many plants in Pak Ahmad's garden given the difficulty in pruning such overgrown trees. Kelana was very persistent throughout the pruning in asking me to take more breaks as his dad and himself were worried that I might overwork in the sun. Pak Ahmad even handed me a cool 100 Plus cap for me to wear while I was out trimming.
Kelana and I had to take quite a few breaks in between, so why not take a wefie?
The next cool thing we did was in how we disposed the trimmings. Pak Ahmad brought out these huge plastic water drums that had been sawed in half with a rope attached to one end. Kelana and I loaded the trimmings onto the containers and pulled it to the forests beside the house. We would then dump all the leaves, flowers and wood onto the ground where it would decompose naturally and provide nutrients for the trees in the forests; how awesome is that!
The call to Asar prayer had been made and it was also time for me to leave back home. I had spent nearly seven whole hours at Pak Ahmad's house that day and it had definitely been an exhausting but fruitful time there. Happily enough, a group of nearly thirty students and teachers saw the "Cold Drinks Sold Here" sign and made a pit stop into the stall. I got a hopeful feeling that Pak Ahmad's business was going to thrive once more with the sign becoming visible once again for anyone that passes by.
The kids also went on to play with the balls and swings outside Pak Ahmad's house. You could also see the trimmed plants here as well!
I waited for Pak Ahmad to finish his Asar prayers before I bade farewell to the both of them and headed back for Singapore. Along the way, I came across a huge wild boar and I got flashbacks of the images that circulated on social media a few weeks back where a teacher was attacked by one of them in Punggol. To make matters worse, I already slowed down my cycling speed as I tried to avoid it but to make it even much worse, its eyes were constantly locked on mine and was also slowly approaching me in an almost aggressive manner. I recited my prayers again in my heart and it decided to turn away in the opposite direction. I was so thankful as the last thing I would need was for another accident two times in a row on Pulau Ubin.
I almost forgotten that there was something for me at the NParks office. I was supposed to collect a book which had been reserved by Yook Sau for my mom and I on August 18th, but couldn't do it because of my accident. It was a book that had been launched by a Chinese family who had grown up on Pulau Ubin for most of their lives back on Ubin Day 2018. In it, contained lots of pictures of historical Ubin events as well as some stories about the lives of the Ubin people. Even though it was pretty much 95% in Chinese, it did not bother me as I was more than happy to have a book all about Ubin in my own collection of books in my house.
I'm pretty sure Syazwan is spelled with a 'z'. But I don't know, maybe it's just me, hehe.
As I reached back home, I planted some of the trimmings and hoped to see it grow healthily. Now in my garden is another plant that had grown on Ubin soil, with the other one being the pokok sepenuh which had been given to my mom from my late grandmother and is still growing healthily till this date.
After seeing what leaving this flower untrimmed for years could lead to, I'm gonna make sure it won't happen in my garden!
God Willing, I will return next Sunday on September 23rd for a special event and hopefully with some special people, too!
Comments
Post a Comment