Tuesday 27 January 2004
On Sunday, just after 11am we went to Hulu Terengganu for the whole of the afternoon. I wanted to get out of Dungun, and show the children something other than the interior of local houses. This time we took a new road to the north of the town, over the bridge, near the New Straits Times printing works, a place I took a group of students to one night in 1997 or 1998. It is a small road, running west, then swinging round to the north to Ajil, and then west again to the district capital of Kuala Berang, a journey of about an hour and ten minutes. The first road was new to me, and passed smallholdings growing sugar cane, yams, bananas and other fruit and vegetables, a fishing pool, and a place with fresh water fish for sale. Another place sold kampung chicken. The road was in good condition, fairly straight, and very quiet. Further along were logging tracks off into the interior. Then we saw an unusual sign, a chilli sauce factory. This might be one of the many state and federal government projects to inject some energy in the form of employment into an area that apart from small farming, logging, oil palm estate work, and possibly tourism, has not much else. But it is a pretty part of the country, unpolluted and quiet. The hills up by Kuala Berang are good to look at, even on a windy and rain slashed day at times. Once back on the main road to Ajil, the smallholder makes way for oil palm estates and factories, with the odd quarry and research farm in evidence too. One thing is clear, and that is the amount of unemployment plus the lack of business. The number of closed, abandoned, and broken down stalls and eating-places was huge. The one exceptional to this was that all the schools we passed had freshly painted buildings and a proper wall around them.
Ajil is little more than a few shop houses, a saw-mill, a couple of other factories, one of which produced minerals, but what, I have no idea. There is also a pheasant farm, but I did not mention it to them, wanting to keep it for another time. Just outside the town is the new district hospital, and then you are in Kuala Berang itself.
We pulled in front of a bakery and bought some longitudinal pizza and three sausage rolls. Ai Hwa, not in a good mood as is her norm, went off, at my suggestion, to get some chicken in a neighbouring Malay restaurant. I was told some time ago that, for a picnic, it is best to take dry things ie not curry sauce as it can make a mess in the car, whine moan etc, something that had not occurred to me during my safaris in various places. I thought some plain rice and fried chicken would be suitable. She came back with curry fish. This later had to be poured onto the rice, not an elegant sight when sitting in the car. Then we meandered along the road to the Lake Kenyir dam and hydroelectric power plant at its foot. It is nearly 500 feet high.
The last time I was here was in 1989 with my father and mother. I think it was a similar weather day, gusting with light drizzle. We took the car, after much nervous refusal from the chauffeur, who insisted on asking one of the local jungle folk, complete with sizeable sheath knife, if the car could go over the dam. As there is a clearly marked road on the top, and the fact that I had taken a car there myself on at least two previous occasions, the bother was uncalled for. However, what would a day be like without moaning? The children were interested in the structure, and went off to explore the lakeside where there were some motor boats moored. Near us was a Met post. I told them what would be in the various containers, and suggested that the weather data might be relayed, by computer, to the airport or other agencies that used weather information. I do not know, it was just a thought. There were only two other cars, some Malay youths who left after a few minutes, and a noisy Chinese family, with no young children, from Kuala Lumpur, if the car registration is anything to go by. They took a few photographs and then left, leaving us to the whirring of the turbines, the wind, and the rain. When we made a move, there was another Chinese group taking photographs on the top of the dam. Climbing up the hills were two lines of power cables. We stopped by the information hut and the children had a quick look at the photographs of the project.
Then, to their joy, Ai Hwa, in complete defiance of the road sign ‘Gunakan gear rendah’, coasted down in free gear. A ladybird joined us for the trip. Then we went back to Kuala Berang, some fourteen kilometres, past the new Malaysian Building Academy. I have a sneaking suspicion that they will find it hard to get lecturers there. The low cost of living and pollution free environ may not do the trick. On the way, a snake slithered across the road, about a metre long, green I think. We missed it, I think. The strange thing was that earlier in the car, we had talked about different wildlife and the problems of seeing them in the jungle, and I had remarked on how few reptiles I had seen in Malaysia. Back over the sungei Terengganu bridge and into the town, and then to the turning for kampung Sekayu, and its waterfall. It is not a waterfall in the conventional sense. I told Rhiannon not to expect the Victoria Falls. It’s really a series of slight gradients down which water flows fairly rapidly, in some places mini white water. We paid three ringgit for the privilege of being greeted by a huge amount of uncollected rubbish, but if one ignored that, it is a pretty place, with tall trees, many named by the Forestry department. There were few people about, it being a school day here.
The chalets are run down, as is much of almost everything we saw. The boss had a sleep in the car, and I took Harri and Rhiannon up the path where they played on the playground things for a bit, and then we found a sheltered spot where they changed and went for a splashing session for an hour or so.
Ai Hwa joined us with the fish curry, resplendent in her long skirt and cheongsam top and high heels. Just what the well-dressed woman wears to the jungle. The steps are slippery and uneven, so she took off her shoes. The authorities have put up warning signs. It might be picturesque, but it is also dangerous if one is not careful. We finished the fish curry and rice and some more of the pizza, saw a monkey, many small fish, a golden bird, and on the way out, a fleeting glimpse of a squirrel by the car. I was happy to go there, seeing especially how the children enjoyed it, but it was sad to see the decay of such a nice place. Then we went into the nearby agricultural park, where a similar feeling enveloped us. There were a few ostriches, cows, some chickens, a fishing lake with three old men, and a couple of orchards. A kingfisher waited on a telephone wire. It was vaguely reminiscent of films about the future, where they come back and find the ruins of a former settlement.
Now it was about 5 pm, so we made our way back past small kampungs where young children played at the side of the road. I remarked to Harri and Rhiannon that if these sons of the soil kanak kanak were in Dungun, they would be glued to their computer, playing games. For once, AI Hwa agreed with me, but only after having my logic translated first, as she thought I had said these urchins were inferior to the small town variety. What I had pointed out to our two was that these future technocrats were playing together, and would know many things about the farm animals and crops and garden flowers etc. The smart-fashion offspring of sundry shop merchants would not know that these existed, let alone know any detailed information about them.
We saw rice and rubber growing in a few places, but I think more is grown on the west coast. On the return journey, we found the source of the most pungent smell that engulfed the air; a rubber research factory. It is a world away from the Kuala Lumpur city centre, and the airport. We went back the same way, and then to Kuala Dungun, where the children wanted to play in the water. Mother said no, it was low tide and the water dirty. She left us at the estuary while she went off to buy some noodles, but came back after a few minutes having found that the shop was closed, just in time to catch the two children disobeying her orders and playing on the jetty, climbing down by the water’s edge ...
However, a very enjoyable and full day out.
