Tuesday, November 17, 2009

KAMPUNG BUKIT KUANG

The first time (that I could still remember) I set foot in Kampung Bukit Kuang was way back in the early sixties (1963-1964). It was a visit to my grandfather, Ibrahim bin Long or better known as Pok Heng Dekor (Pendekar) and his wife, my step-grandmother.

My grandfather was a famous silat guru of his time. Some said that even Mat Kilau used to spar with him whenever he passed that way on his usual walkabout.

Actually he was Wan Ibrahim bin Wan Long, but due to reasons known only to him, he dropped the Wan part of his name. I only knew this fact long after he passed away.

The little that I knew was that he ran away from his village in Kelantan and stayed put in Kemaman for much of his life. He married my grandmother, had a few children, divorce her and later remarried and had another few children. Finally he divorced her again and remarried my step-grandmother who was more known as Mek 'ndo (for jendol).

First there were only three families living in Kg Bukit Kuang - My grandfather, Syed Noh and Pok Man (the trishaw peddler). As the village was still considered ulu and covered by forest, they made a deal between the three of them.

The deal was that they all should come back and spend the night in the village, come what may. They never broken their deal, not for any reason eventhough they left the village during daytime to work.

Bukit Kuang got its name from a kind of pheasant (kuang) that roamed the hill (bukit kuang). Back then we can hear these birds singing.

I used to climb the hill with my friends in search of the berangan (Malaysian version of chestnut). They were much smaller than the present day Chinese variety of chestnut and they for sure were a lot harder to chew on.

A few times we even came across wild boars at the top of the hill. It is sad to see the hill now. It is no more green as it used to be.

Those days, there was no bridge across the Kemaman river. WE used ferry to cross the river.

The river was full of fish species like rays, sea bass, garupas, trevally, scads, cat fish and of course the crabs and shrimps. There were crocsdiles too, but as far as I could remember, they never disturb us. Probably they had plenty of their normal food to care about us.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Salam dato',

I am one of your fans and reading your blog on a regular basis. Where did you actually been raised up by your parents? Kampung Tuan or Kampung bukit Kuang?

rizam

Sharifah Aminah said...

Dato'
Syed Noh (suami Tok Cik Awa)tu penulis kan dulu, duduk kat tepi jalan dekat Bukit Kuang.
Dia tu Tok saudara saya.
Kalau betul kita ni adalah pertalian keluarga.

azahar said...

I was born in Kg Tuan. My placenta was buried under the the famous Kg Tuan mosque!

But being a policeman's son, I moved a lot. STd. 1 in SK Galing, Kuantan, std 2 in Teluk Intan, 3 in Kg gajah, 4 in Langkap and SK Chukai, 5 & 6 in SK Pusat Kemaman

We lived in Bukit Kuang when my mother bought a piece of my grandfather's land there. I was in Bukit Kuang when I was in std 5 & 6.

azahar said...

Memang pun...Tok Cik Awa tu selalu ajak Tok Wan saya (Mek Chik) pergi jumpa saudara mara di Beserah, tapi dia tak mboh...rendah diri...

Sebenarnya mak kepada Tok wan saya tu Syarifah..nama penuhnya ialah Sharifah Fatimah Zaharah. Tapi dia kahwin dengan orang biasa, maka tak adalah Sharifah di depan namanya.

Jadi Sharifah pun saudara saya jugoklah ya ha ha. Shamsiah Abu Bakar pun saudara jugok...

azahar said...

Saudara Rizam,

Where do you live? Thank you for visiting my blog and being interested in it.

To continue my life, after primary school I went to SDAR, first in Tg Malim and later to Seremban.

My father retired in Kemaman. He was then in Balai Polis Air Putih.

Now my parents live in Kg Bukit Kuang. I live in Taman samudera Timur, Pasir Minal.

RoyalTLady said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RoyalTLady said...

Whey kawan!

Shamsiah nok blik ke Oman doh tomorrow. Doh pergi jumpe dia ke belum... Kata sedare eh? Dah bagi alamat ke you kan? Gi aaa jjupe...dah bulan 4 dulu you kata tak dapat contact, bila phone tak dowk oghang akak fon... so kali ni what had happened????? ):

haaaa, dah bertambah lagi sedara you. So kali ni maghi ke KL, wajib kena jjupe Sharifah. Baru2 ni dia balik Kemaman ator menantu baruuuuuuuu

Anonymous said...

Salam Dato',

I live in Kampung Batu 5 Binjai opposite of SK Binjai. I wonder how you in 1966 could manage to go all the way to school from Bukit Kuang to SK Pusat. I believe it is simply more that 10 kms.

azahar said...

Ya lah Rizam, saya sendiri pun tak percaya saya boleh berkayuh sejauh itu sekarang. Anak-anak saya mengiling kepala tak percaya.

Tapi itulah yang sebenarnya berlaku, berulang alik ke sekolah dan juga ke kelas tuition.

Dalam perjalanan pernah saya melanggar lembu, motosikal dan itik serati! Terkopak kulit lutut bila basikal saya menaikki belakang seekor itik serati jantan tua di salah satu lorong di Kg Besut.

azahar said...

RTL,

Inilah apa yg dikatakan orang jodoh pertemuan di tangan Tuhan...masih tak sempat berjumpa..

Sejak akhir-akhir ini setiap hari balik lewat...weekends pun ada aktiviti..

Besides that, it is kinda uneasy and uncomfortable to meet the ladies...still cute at that ha ha ...you know what I mean...but I will try to meet them one day...for now, talking over the phone and cyber space is ok..

Ahmad Khalilul said...

oo...Bukit kuang...drpda mane name nie diambil..?

azahar said...

Dulunya di atas Bukit Kuang tu banyak burung kuang...