A Trip Long Overdue

Monday, September 2, 2013

A Trip Long Overdue

Assalamu 'Alaikum

A Trip Long Overdue.

For the typical KL primary schoolboy that I was Port Dickson or more popularly known as PD was just about a heavenly seaside town as we could imagine. Well we didn’t know about Langkawi and Tioman and all those strange names for as a senior civil servant my Dad was too busy nation building to take us to those places. Taking kids to seaside trips was a job taken over by our favourite Pak Lang, bless his soul. I remembered a caravan sunrise on the beach near Si Rusa with Pak Lang, Mak Lang and our girl cousins, it was beautiful. And PD waters was still pristine. And Si Rusa at the southern tip of PD was just about the edge of the world for us. I didn’t know what lay beyond Si Rusa and it piqued me no end. Once as a grownup I did venture beyond that imaginary boundary but however only as far as Teluk Biru or Blue Lagoon. I wished I had an occasion to travel that kampung road down to Melaka and kill the notions of dragons and whatnots beyond that divide. But no, somehow Melaka remains a least contact state to me and all visits will be to Melaka town via the Seremban Highway and not through the seaside coastal road I’d loved so much to explore.

Yesterday I had the occasion to make that long overdue trip. When Arman my former staff at a previous employment posted in his facebook that he is getting married in Jasin, Melaka I already started planning the trip. With my family gang of five we stayed at a seaside hotel in PD on the Saturday before, just nice to begin the trip to Jasin via the coastal road after checking out the next day for the wedding. PD no longer held the awe for us although the kids still enjoyed their floric in the pool. I do long to hear the official public relations announcement that PD seawaters are now clear of whatever traces of ecoli and porcine elements found earlier to regain our endearment to this wonderful holiday place so many KL people grew up with. Perhaps I missed that bit of news, I hoped.

Jasin we saw on our mobile phone maps and wayze was on the other side of the Seremban highway. So we gleefully had no choice but to take the coastal Melaka road I longed so much to explore. Maps and wayze were not pleased of course as they wanted us to take the boring PLUS highway but we humans must put these robots in their place occasionally, you know.  I had a rush of adrenalin as we drove past Blue Lagoon and beyond into the heartland of coastal Melaka. The quaint little steps leading up to traditional Melaka kampung houses and the mosques and suraus with catching Chinese architecture captured our imagination. Mum and Dad also had a hard time explaining to Zahir who was the real hero between Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat.

Part of the reason I wanted this trip across Melaka was I really wanted to see what Masjid Tanah and Alor Gajah looked like! No particular reason but since I was in Prep School I had school mates who came from this quaint towns I had no occasion to visit! It was thrilling to first visit Tawau, Bintulu, and Sandakan but I had no schoolmates who came from these places. I remembered Lokman was from Masjid Tanah and Halim from Alor Gajah but I can’t remember where Anuar and Aziz and the many others came from. Ghaffar was from Tampin but that doesn’t count as that is in Negeri Sembilan I know. Also had fun explaining to the kids how Kelantan lost Besut to Terengganu, and Negeri Sembilan lost Semenyih to Selangor. In the same vein did Melaka lose Tampin to Negeri Sembilan or is that just a figment of my not so well informed history? Anyway as the saying goes, that is another story.

Praise be to Allah it was a satisfying and memorable trip for me and family, and we now know where Jasin is, as also we learnt about interesting Melaka town names like Kelemak, Lendu and Lubok Cina. My next project and wish is to do the Lenggong back to kampong trip via the Perak coastal road. Teluk Intan, Pantai Remis, Setiawan and Bruas are next on my truly piqued list.

Zahid,

Class of ’72 Sulaiman House.