Friday 16 January 2004
There were four classes am, took in the dhobi, and had a talk with the amah Siti. For lunch, I had a ta pau/take away, or bungkus in Malay, of mixed vegetables, rice, and two small fried fish. Then, we went to Bukit Besi, via kampung Che Lijah, past smallholdings, oil palm, some small agricultural projects, and fairly run down looking housing. Just by Bukit Besi itself, we were flagged down, quite literally, and stopped by the traffic police, for speeding in a reduced speed zone. This was, in all honesty, a bit daft, considering the isolation of the place. The result was a 150 ringgit fine, but Ai Hwa negotiated 20 ringgit for coffee money. Harri and Rhiannon wanted to know what was going on. This was very exciting for them, highly amusing for me. Mrs Homer was far from happy. I explained Mum was trying to arrange something the policeman.
Harri said,‘You mean a bribe.’
A bit silly on a rural quiet road. Whilst she was across the road, the children told me they had, that morning, by coincidence, played at traffic police in the car, using tiny tissue packets as microphones. They showed me this later;
‘car tt4033, pull over, this is the traffic police. Control, car tj7711 is going 90kph through the speed trap' etc.
Now Mum was trying to work something out.
A few days later, I mentioned that I had, some years earlier, had a ticket in Kuala Abang, coming back from the science college for the weekend. I had not told her at the time, fearing verbal disharmony. She asked me if I had offered money to the policeman. I explained that I did not have the chance; he was very professional and courteous. Then she said, ‘That’s because you’re orang puteh /white man’.
The police know that if a white man pays a bribe, he will, the next day go and report it. The locals do not. That is why I got a ticket. In Bukit Besi itself, we saw the old working remains, the lake, landslides, plenty of erosion, old workers housing, before going to the waterfall and the lake, and they are always nice to see. I climbed some steps with Rhiannon, getting a good view of the jungle surrounding. She wanted to run up and down. Back at the bottom, she said, panting,
‘fourteen or fifteen.’
I said that is way out, I can count 25 odd steps just from here.
No, fourteen or fifteen seconds to run to the top.
We walked a little way by the lake, where she pointed out a pitcher plant, two birds, and the ubiquitous rubbish everywhere. It is such a pity in such a beautiful place . Then, we went towards Kuantan for a few kilometres, past oil palm again, then made a U-turn to go up to the Pasir Raja road for a few km, then on to Jerangau over sungei Dungun.. There were some deer in a veterinary department park. Along the road were stalls selling drinks, watermelon, other fruit etc. We stopped to look at a kingfisher, amid complaints from Ai Hwa about having to pull up short on a deserted road.
Then we went past a honey lime project, and on to Nibong over the old railway bridge, along the banks of the Dungun, past crab nets, fishing boats, to the estuary point, where Ai Hwa told us where her childhood home used to be. She spent some time explaining to the children how she took the boat, then had to go to school etc. Then the two children played in the water, up onto an unloading and refuelling jetty, scampering over the wave break rocks. I thought I would check the two pipes on the jetty to find out the one for fuel, and the one for the water.
I put my fingers into the end of the nozzle, and they smelt of fuel. Now wiser, and being one of the few non-fishing folk who can tell what pipe is what, I wandered round the back to the tanks, and read the notice:
Petronas Jet A irritant to the skin, hazardous.
I washed my hand in the sand. I checked some small rocks on the dirt road, quartz perhaps; they were of various colours, and very pretty. There were few people around. Then we stopped for some quick shopping, vegetables, apples, pickled mustard for soup, and bread. Then we had a light dinner in the house, just oil, one tomato, and some toast for me. Ai Hwa cooked keow tiaw for herself and the children, with anchovies, fish ball, sawi minyak, and the thick, and to my mind, greasy, noodles. However, they seemed happy enough.
