A day I spent in strange surroundings ppsx

Last year when I visited him, he told me that he had an assignment to write about life in a remote village in the national forest reserve in Pahang.. We drove to a small town where we bo

A day I spent in strange surroundings

I have a cousin, Brian, who is a writer for a newspaper in

Kuala Lumpur Last year when I visited him, he told me

that he had an assignment to write about life in a remote

village in the national forest reserve in Pahang He

challenged me, a city boy, to accompany him and

experience a day in totally unfamiliar surroundings

We drove to a small town where we boarded a boat for the

ride down the river The boat was a long one with just a

few seats Most of the passengers sat on the floor

The journey was a thrilling adventure The boat had to

pass through a number of rapids, and at a certain points

the boatman used a long pole to steer it Brian and I were

obviously excited but the other passengers took it in a

casual, even bored way To them, it was a usual

occurrence “They have to take this journey every time

they need to go to town Look at you, you have the MRT

and you complain if the journey is longer than 40

minutes!,” Brian teased me

After three hours in the boat, we reached our destination

After getting off at the pier, the first building that we saw

was the village shop Actually, it was a small shop

crammed with canned and dry food Brian chatted with the

owner and we found out that the shop was also the only

place in the village where people buy their stamps and

newspapers However, the postal service and the

newspaper delivery came only once a week

He then showed us the direction to the headman’s house

The headman’s name was Tok Kassim When we found

his house, he invited us in and told us stories about

himself and his village Then he took us for a tour around

the village Since bicycle was the only form of transport,

people walked from place to place

The village was very peaceful and green The river was

the focal place of the villagers We saw people fishing in

the river and women washing their clothes there But what

struck me most was the way the children enjoyed it They

swam in it, and they rode in rafts which they put together

from bamboo poles

Tok Kassim recounted the time when his father and the

other villagers rebelled against British rule The river was

often the battlefront between the two opponents He talked

about the river as though it was an old friend He

explained how it had seen them through the worst of times

like the starvation they experienced during the Japanese

occupation of Malaya, and how the river has helped them

throughout their lives

That night we had a wonderful dinner at Tok Kassim’s

house Many of the villagers came and brought some

food A neighbor even brought fresh money still attached

to pieces of honeycomb It was one of the most natural

food I have ever tasted

The next morning, we left on the boat During the journey,

I thought about how strange the life of this village and the

surroundings seemed to me and my friends in Singapore

Despite the simplicity of their lives, they are strong people

who could weather bad times

But most of all, while we talk about “green” living, these

people are quietly practicing it