Bagan Tengkorak's ominous name

This river has a scary past

I WAS introduced to Kampung Bagan Sungai Tengkorak many years ago when a friend took me to a little known seafood restaurant there.
 
  At the time, I did not think much about Bagan Sungai Tengkorak and had forgotten about the restaurant was or how to get there, let alone how the fishing village's ominous name came about.
 
  In fact, I had earlier thought that the fishermen's enclave, seven kilometres north of Tanjung Karang, was probably a pirates' hideout, hence the name.
 
  Recently, while heading for Sekinchan to look for scenery to paint, I passed Kampung Bagan Sungai Tengkorak, better known as Bagan Tengkorak, again.
 
  This time, a sign by the road that read Jalan Jepun (Japanese road) caught my curiosity, which took me on a detour into the village.
 
  Jalan Jepun, which ran parallel to Jalan Bagan Tengkorak, looked more like an orchard or plantation of sorts, with traditional houses spread out far apart amid patches of oil palm, tapioca and banana trees.
 
  The 1.5km tarred stretch was just enough for two cars to pass each other. The only indication of the road's identity was that lone signboard I spotted earlier beside the Kuala Selangor trunk road, plus a couple of address signboards just outside some houses.
 
  I drove all the way into the village amid more oil palm holdings to find myself in a small settlement of houses on stilts along an almost hidden river bank. Most of the folks here were Chinese families. The houses along the riverbanks, which were built on stilts, were linked with a timber boardwalk that also led to a few jetties.
 
  I spotted a Johor-registered fishing boat that was moored nearby. Curious, I asked a man who had just returned from sea at the jetty. The man, who was in his 40s, told me that the fishing boat was brought from Johor and is currently undergoing maintenance work.
 
  I asked for the man's permission to paint the boat set against estuarine scene from the jetty. The man, who introduced himself as Chia, said I was welcomed since the jetty was not busy as big waves had prevented the fishermen from going out to sea.
 
  ATTRACTIVE SKULL
 
  As I was working on this scenery, a few locals came to watch. One of them was a Malay man about 70 years old.
 
  Having struck up a conversation, I asked if he knew why the river received its fearsome name.
 
  According to him, his grandfather told him that the name came from the atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army during its occupation of Malaya between 1941 and 1945.
 
  Prisoners were beheaded along the river and their heads were spiked on stakes to be displayed there.
 
  For years, before electricity arrived, he said, people claimed to have seen apparitions of soldiers marching to the river during the wee hours of the morning.
 

This village is mostly inhabited by
fishermen

  Jalan Jepun, he added, was called such because it was there that most of the Japanese soldiers were located.
 
  Later, when I spoke to the headman of Bagan Tengkorak, Heng Seng Soo, a different story was unveiled.
 
  Heng said that the village had been almost a century old. According to his story, the name Sungai Tengkorak was given by the early settlers in the area, which comprised the Malays and Chinese.
 
  Those days, the only way to get to the village was by boat and according to a story, he said, when the boatmen were about to enter the estuary, they saw skulls along the beachfront.
 
  "Because of that, the river was nicknamed Sungai Tengkorak and the village, Bagan Sungai Tengkorak, and bagan meant "quay" in English.
 
  Kampung Bagan Tengkorak is today occupied by about 40 Chinese families, with most of them living along the river banks near the jetty. About 95 per cent of them are from the Chia clan," he said.
 
  "Unlike the old days, however, only a few families remained as fishermen today. The fishing fleet, which was much bigger many years ago, only has six fishing boats now."
 
  Despite its ominous name, Bagan Tengkorak has over the years become is a very popular destination for weekenders looking for some quiet.
 
  Seafood lovers also flock to the only restaurant here on weekends.
 
  Just a short distance away from the restaurant is a Chinese temple which comes alive during the resident deity's festival.
 
  A cockle grading factory is also a stone's throw away from the restaurant but unfortunately, when I was there, it was closed.
 
  Sungai Tengkorak also attracts anglers, particularly prawn hunters. Within the river are lairs of giant freshwater prawns or udang galah that will make heads turn, so I was told.
 
  Some of the more enterprising fishermen, instead of depending entirely on fishing, also organise fishing charters to take the fishing enthusiasts out to sea.
 
  Between November and January annually, the mangroves of Sungai Tengkorak becomes temporary homes to visitors of the feathered kind.
 
  Migratory birds such as sea eagles, herons and other sea birds make their stopover in the swamps to meet and mate.
 
  FOOLED BY ARECA NUTS
 

A mudskipper takes a suntan

  ACCORDING to a story some years back, the Japanese army, during its invasion of Malaya, chose to set up camp at Bagan Sungai Tengkorak because they had mistakenly believed that the area had abundant food supply after noticing areca palms growing wild in great numbers there.
 
  Thinking that the fruits of the areca palm were edible, the soldiers forced villagers to gather the areca nuts (pinang) for them. However, when they found out that the nuts were not only hard but also bitter and could not be eaten, raw or cooked, they punished the collectors.
 
  A story has it that the prisoners were stripped naked and tied to areca palm trunks. Fire ants' (kerengga) nests were thrown at them, unleashing the fury of the ants. Some of them, who did not die from the ordeal, were beheaded and their skulls thrown into the river.

Ayer Salak's historical past

 This is Ayer Salak's St Mary's church that was built some 130 years ago 

I CAME to know about Kampung Ayer Salak from a fellow traveller heading south during a recent trip to Melaka. He told me of a very old church that was built some 130 years ago in a predominantly Chinese-Catholic village. Guided by Waze, I was brought right to the grounds of the St Mary's Church in the village.
 
  Although the morning sun had cast wonderful shadows on the main premises, the old church building on the western end of the field was more interesting as a painting subject.
 
  This old church has two spires, each with a cross at the apex. It is a small but sturdy building constructed of rust-coloured laterite rocks similar to those found in old forts that I had seen, such as the A' Famosa and Fort Supai in Kuala Linggi.
 
  Kampung Ayer Salak lies about 30km off the North-South highway from the Simpang Ampat exit.
 
  The village was a jungle in the mid-1800s, according to a story in a magazine published by the Church of St Francis Xavier, Melaka.
 
  The 1995 publication mentioned of a French missionary named Pierre Henri Borie who built a settlement here in the late 1850s.
 
  When Borie went home to France in 1867 because of ill-health, another missionary Ludovic Julil Galmel carried on his work. The latter built this old church and two schools in 1886. When Galmel died in August 1899, he was buried here and a tombstone was carved by villagers to remember his contribution to the village.
 
  The population of Ayer Salak was given a boost in the 1920s when Chinese Catholics (mainly Teochew) from China migrated to this village to escape war and natural disasters in their homeland.
 
  Joining the original settlers, they worked their farms and tapped rubber for a living.
 
  Today, there are about 200 households in this quiet enclave in Melaka. Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the state's tourist belt, many of the houses here are still in their almost-pristine condition, built with timber and had large front yards. There are also quite a few brick houses.
 
  Places like the old church and an old fort-like house - dubbed by visitors as "red stone house" - just opposite the church offers a glimpse into the Ayer Salak's past.
 

The red-stone house 

  The "red stone" house was believed to be have been built about the same time as the old church and was used to house the church's caretakers. It is now closed for repairs.
 
  When I was there, I noticed a fundraising banner announcing efforts to raise money to refurbish the old church, as well as the red stone house.
 
  A short distance from the church, half a kilometre up an incline into the heart of the village, lies the St Mary's Gloriette which was built by villagers in 2007. Religious services are held here on Tuesday and Friday evenings.
 
  Down the road from here is the compound of what used to be the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Primary school until the late 1990s. It is now the Montfort Youth Centre which offers vocational training to poor and underprivileged youths.
 

Rare find at Cheong Huat's

  Not far from the St Mary's Gloriette, by the road junction, is an old sundry shop operating from a single-storey timber shophouse.
 
  This family business, I was informed, is being run by a fourth generation member. Owner Woon Boon Siang, 75, inherited the business from his grandfather and he has since passed the baton to his 50-something son.
 
  Stepping into the shop, which was named Cheong Huat, is like stepping back into time. Goods from a forgotten era such as the China-made Eagle brand shavers, Ve-Tsin food flavouring and Gold Coin brand face powder cakes can still be found here.
 
  Speaking to Kampung Ayer Salak village headman Lim Khen Hong, 54, I understand that plans are afoot to promote the village's tourism potential.
 
  One of the efforts undertaken recently was to beautify this very clean village and illuminate the main road into Air Salak using decorative lanterns during major festivals.
 

Some of the villagers still farm

  Wandering around the neighbourhood, I come upon several vegetable farms, orchards and even a fish farm that rears giant snakeheads (toman) that will be sold to restaurants. All of these, including the quiet charm of the village, are yet-to-be discovered tourism products.
 
  "In the past, most of the villagers operated small-scale farms and tapped rubber," Lim tells me.
 
  "Today, most of the younger generation prefer to work in factories nearby the Bukit Rambai area. There are some who still work on their farms and oil palm plantations but these are mostly the older generation. The younger generation prefers to work in bigger towns that offer better pay.
 
 




BACKGROUND
 
  KAMPUNG Ayer Salak is probably the only village in the country populated entirely by Chinese Catholics. It owes its origins to French missionary Pierre Henri Borie who set up a mission station named Dusun Maria in Rumbia (Rembia) in 1848, according to the Herald Online.
 
  In 1857, its Rumbia settlement of 23 newly baptised indigenous people (known as Orang Mantras) had grown to almost 400.
 
  That year, the British (who were the authorities of the day) wanted the land to be turned into a plantation and Borie was forced to look for an alternative settlement, large enough to accommodate his community.
 
  In February 1858, Borie found a piece of land in Ayer Salak. Seven months later, Borie and his community moved to their new home which he renamed Maria Pindah.
 
  Two years later, he obtained 202 hectares of land from the Governor of Singapore and this became the permanent location for Maria Pindah, the foundation on which the modern village was built. Borie returned to France in 1867 and died four years later of malaria, at the age of 91.
 
  Without a priest, Borie's congregation began to leave in stages over the following decade. In 1885, another French missionary Ludovic Julil Galmel arrived in Ayer Salak. Failing to gather those who left, Galmel turned the settlement into a model farm, with Chinese workers and the remaining Orang Mantra forming the village community.
 
  SOURCE: "WHERE IT ALL BEGAN -THE FIRST COMMUNITY", HERALD MALAYSIA ONLINE, OCT 6, 2014.

Tree houses of Pantai Redang, Sekinchan

One of the tree houses that has been shaped from an old fishing vessel.

THE first thing you will notice when you arrive in Pantai Redang, Sekinchan, is the number of tree houses peeking out from the gaps amidst the foliage. These structures were pieced together by the villagers, using driftwood and bits and pieces of timber salvaged from old fishing boats.

According to a trader, the tree houses were originally built for the villagers to relax in and enjoy the breathtaking tranquility of the beach in the evenings. The structures also served as a playground of sorts for the children. However, they soon began to attract visitors who stopped by at Pantai Redang, soon popularised through social media.

Another tree house there

Today, Pantai Redang is a bustling tourist spot, especially among seafood lovers who stretch their legs here after having had their fill in the fishing town. Busloads of visitors can be seen swooping down what used to be a barren strip of sandy beach. This has, in turn, sparked off economic activities among the more enterprising locals. They have set up base underneath the trees, some just below the tree houses, selling anything from tidbits and kites to simple meals and drinks.

I did a piece of one of the play structures crafted from the shell of an abandoned fishing boat beside a hawker stall. Shortly after I finished, a drizzle drove me to seek refuge under a tree house to paint another scenery, that of the hawker stalls under the trees. Behind me was a stretch of mangrove swamp.

The tree-houses are popular with visitors to Pantai Redang.

As I was about to finish, I was alerted to the presence of another group of visitors, that of the feathered kind. My presence had startled a school of nesting grey herons, and some other seabird, and they objected with raucous cries. Some took flight only to return to their nest to keep an eye on me.

I do not remember seeing any the last time I was there. A local told me that these birds were mostly local species that can be seen around mangrove swamps and estuaries. Once a year, they gather along Pantai Redang to build their nests and mate, foraging for leftovers from the fish landing jetties or stealing a crumb or two from uncovered trashbins.

Love birds? Catch sight of them during migratory seasons here

Pantai Redang’s star attraction is perhaps the “red” tree beside the Chinese temple. It has appeared in many social media posts as a background subject in selfies, sparking similar replicas in coastal enclaves that are trying to attract tourists.

This red tree literally holds hundreds of handwritten wish streamers on its branches. To make a wish, one writes what one desires on a strip of red ribbon and hurls the streamer into the branches. If the ribbons are caught by a branch, the wishes will soon be granted. If it is not, you just throw it back until the tree accepts it.

Another place of interest in Pantai Redang is a factory producing salted fish located just behind the temple. If you are lucky, you can catch sight of workers preparing fish to be salted. However, ask for permission first before entering the premises.

This is the famous wishing tree of Sekinchan

WHERE IS IT

PANTAI Redang is located in the coastal side of Sekinchan town. As you reach the village side of Sekinchan from the Kuala Selangor main, turn right at the T-junction into Jalan Bagan. Half a kilometre from here, you will cross a small river with fishing boats moored to your left. Turn left immediately after this road into Jalan 12. Pantai Redang is located about 1km from this point.

There are signboards all the way, but chances are you will spot some tour buses and vans heading in the same direction or coming out. Be alert for lorries carrying fish as well as villagers riding their bicycles or motorcycles without helmets.

This popular spot is also registered on Waze and you can search using Pantai Redang, Sekinchan. There are also many seafood restaurants along the way from the town right up to Pantai Redang.

From former tin mine to park

Would you believe that this water lettuce-filled pond used to be a mining pool?

LOOKING at the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia’s current landscape, it is hard to imagine that a 100 years ago, the area was just an old tin mine, stripped of forest cov
er, or turned into farmland by residents in and around old Kepong.

In 1926, after consent given by the Selangor Regent for a forest research institute to be set up, a research nursery and experimental station was established by Dr F.W. Foxworthy, the first forest research officer. Foxworthy’s name now lives in one of the roads in this popular park.

One of the inhabitants of the pond coming to feed

The water lettuce-filled pond is one of the mining pools from Frim’s past. It is located near the administrative block. Looking at the well-landscaped garden surrounding the pond, and the wooden foot bridge across the upper portion, one would never think that tin mining had had anything to do with this place.

In fact, my attention was drawn to it by the sight of visitors who were clapping at the lower end of the pond. They were calling out to something in the waters and only when I asked did I learn what the excitement was all about.

Beneath the calm waters are three giant arapaimas. These giants, native to the Amazonian jungle, would surface from time to time to showing themselves to the lucky few who knew how to coax them from their lair.

According to a Frim staff, during feeding time, park staff clap their hands to summon the fish. Once the gentle giants surface, they would throw them their meal. By Pavlovian conditioning, these gentle giants now surface whenever they detect clapping sounds.

That day, I briefly caught sight of one, about 1.5 metres long, which lingered a while near the feeding platform as it responded to visitors’ claps. There were several golden carp, each about a metre-long, making their rounds just below the greenish water.

A squirrel was busy munching away in the angsana tree overhead, not at all bothered by human presence.

A sight for fore eyes

HOW TO GET THERE

Frim is a very popular getaway for city folk. There are well-paved roads here that lead to various attractions within its undulating forest conservatory.

These places include the arboreta, a canopy walk, camping grounds, a small waterfall and even a picnic area beside an eatery. There are also nature trails, a research centre, a museum-cum-research gallery and a library.

FRIM charges a nominal entrance fee per person, at RM1.05. If you are driving in alone, the charges are RM5.30.

It’s RM1.05 more for any additional passengers. On workdays, vehicles are only allowed in after 8.30am. The roads here are a little narrow, so please drive carefully and watch out for cyclists.

Cyclists should be alert for joggers and trekkers. If you do not like insects, especially mosquitoes, get a repellent. For those who would like to stay for a night or two, there is a guesthouse, and camping grounds are available for rental. Call 03-6279-7000.

Pieces of history repackaged

The SMD Ouessant, which now becomes the country’s first submarine museum.

ALONG the stretch of beach where Dataran 1Malaysia is located, which is also known as Klebang Beach in Malacca, an old naval training vessel has been given a new lease on life. The decommissioned Royal Malaysian Navy training submarine, the SMD Ouessant, has been turned
into the country’s first submarine museum. It was opened to the public on Nov 22, 2011.

This French-made Agosta 70-class submarine, built in 1979, measures 67.5m long, 11.7m high, and 6.5m wide. It weighs 1,300 tonnes and housed a crew of 54. The submarine was used for training submariners between 2005 and 2009 following the purchase of two submarines by the Ministry of Defence.

Today, this submarine serves as one of Malacca’s many museum attractions. Open daily, the museum allows visitors to get a feel of what it is like to be a submariner. Outside the museum, under a sheltered enclosure, visitors can get a closer view of two decommissioned Royal Malaysian Air Force fighter jets — a RMAF Skyhawk and the Northrop F5.

I sketched the view of the submarine from one of the recently completed pavilions just outside the gated compound of the museum. Work is undergoing to spruce up the surrounding area and new facilities such as a surau, toilets, and an air-conditioned eatery have yet to open.

Old buses becomes hotels in Malacca

A kilometre north of the Submarine Museum is another popular recreational spot where picnickers have direct access to the sea. Here, an empty field populated by more than 50 stage buses, gives an impression of a bus terminal when viewed from afar.

Upon closer inspection, these are decommissioned public buses that had been converted to serve new roles. Thirty or so such buses have been turned into Bustels or bus-hotels, each equipped with two air-conditioned rooms with beds and other accommodation facilities. According to the clerk manning the Bustel office, the rooms are priced at RM90 each per night on weekdays, and RM130 on Fridays and Saturdays, and public holidays.

Not far from the Bustel enclosure, lined up along the road are old buses that have been turned into souvenir shops and foodstalls. One bus had even been converted into a reasonably clean public toilet.

I decided to sketch this row of buses after being told that their days were numbered. According to a souvenir trader here, there were plans to close down the area as the location had been earmarked for development. However, she could not tell me if the entire fleet of buses would be discontinued or moved elsewhere.

I recall the first time I visited Malacca some 30 years ago. The water’s edge was much nearer to Jalan Klebang Besar, the coastal thoroughfare. A trader at a hawker centre by the road had complained to me about the erosion that was slowing eating into his trading spot. He said it would be a matter of time before the hawker centre tumbled into the sea if the authorities did not act.

I suppose his wish was fulfilled when the sea was pushed back more than a kilometre with a land reclamation project carried out over the past one decade.

In fact, so much land has been reclaimed along Klebang beach that the new coastline now probably qualifies as a new township.

HOW TO GET THERE

THE Submarine Museum is 8.5km from the Malacca city centre. It is open daily from 9am to 5pm, Monday-Thursday, and 9am to 6.30pm Friday to Sunday. (It is closed from 12.15pm to 2.45pm on Friday.) Fees are RM2 per adult and RM1 per child.

To get there, look for Dataran 1Malaysia, off Jalan Klebang Besar. There are signages showing the way to the museum. There is also ample parking just outside the museum’s gated compound. For details, call 06-282-6526 or 283-0926.

Blue Lake of Kundang

Jet skiers and water scooter enthusiasts will remember this body of water known as the Tasik Biru Kundang

CITY folks who are into watersports such as jet-skiing, wind-surfing and even waterskiing would have known about Tasik Biru or Blue Lake in Kundang. It's 20 minutes' drive from the city centre of Kuala Lumpur via the Latar highway, which connects Gombak to Kuala Selangor. Although the lake lies in the district of Kuang, it is more well known as the Kundang lake.
 
  In the mid-1990s, jet skiers and windsurfers would descend upon this lake to go for a spin, raising the ire of local anglers. Frequently, there would be an exchange of words as each justified their presence. I remember also the tales being circulated about giant snakeheads said to have attacked people.
 
  One famous story was about a 1.5m giant snakehead which bit a chunk of flesh off a jet skier's buttocks when he fell into the lake. There had also been stories of arapaimas spotted swimming in the lake, but no one had actually captured photographic evidence of any. I often wondered if the tales had been concocted by anglers to drive away the jet skiers and windsurfers so that they could enjoy fishing in peace.
 
  According to local knowledge, this lake was a disused tin mine, abandoned in the late 1950s. Back then, because the depths had yet to be overgrown with vegetation, the crystal-clear waters and sandy white bottom reflected the blue skies on cloudless days. This was how the 20ha lake probably got its name.
 

Scenic Kundang Blue Lake

  Another source stated that a palong was used to mine tin here. In this mining method, a strong jet of water is shot at the side of the quarry to loosen the tin-rich soil into slurry which is then sucked up the top of the palong and allowed to run down troughs equipped with riffles. These riffles trap the heavier tin ore and at the end of each day, miners would shovel the ore into heavy canvas bags. The tin tailings, sand and slime were dumped at the other end of the quarry.
 
  The island on the southeast end of Tasik Biru, where I was painting, was believed to be the mound of this mining waste. Apparently, some years back, one could just wade through the waist-high water to get to the island. However, when I was there, I saw that the water was too deep to take that suggestion seriously. The island was apparently one of the locations where the Malay movie Merah, starring Ziana Zain, Awie and M. Nasir, was shot in the 1990s.
 
  It is not known how deep the lake is, but an angler who was fishing nearby estimated it to be about 30m at the deepest part. He cautioned anyone against swimming in the lake unsupervised because of the many lives that had been lost in its depths. In fact, a newspaper cutting recorded 34 deaths over the years due to accidents in the lake.
 
  The day I was painting at the lake, I saw local council workers sprucing up the banks on the east end. A lakeside restaurant, with a beautiful view of the lake, is a recent addition. It was as a result of the refurbishment of what used to be an underused pavilion for watersports activity built by the council. Today, the restaurant attracts locals as well as travellers passing through Kuang in the evenings, to enjoy a meal while taking in the tranquillity of nature.

Word has it that huge carnivorous fish like
 the giant snakehead roam in the depths of this lake

 
  ANGLERS' HAVEN
 

  Kundang is synonymous with freshwater fishing and has been an anglers' haven since the 1990s when they find their bounties of snakeheads (ikan haruan) and tilapias in several disused mining ponds in this area. There were also some commercially operated fishing ponds here that have gained a loyal following.
 
  One of these ponds is located just beside the Latar Highway, adjacent to the Kundang Lakes Golf Course. Known as Tow Foo Sportsfishing, this was one of the earliest commercially operated ponds with an emphasis on fish conservation with its practice of catch and release, as well as lure fishing using artificial baits like spinners and poppers.
 
  This fishing pond is still operating after so many years. There is also another fishing pond just beside the road not far from the Blue Lake.

Majestic Rumah Terengganu

No nails are used in traditional houses like this one, only wooden pegs. 

MY attention was drawn to this traditional house by the sparkle of sunlight caught on its orange-coloured roof tiles when I visited the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) in Kepong.

I used to see these tiles, called atap genting singgora (singgora clay tiles), in my home state of Terengganu when I was a child. The morning sun had cast long shadows on the subject, as if calling for it to be painted, and I obliged.

A close-up of the clay roofs. See
the lichen building up under it?

According to a faded information board at the staircase, this traditional Terengganu Malay house originated from Pulau Rusa in Terengganu. When it was dismantled and brought to FRIM in 1987 to be reassembled, it was believed to be already over a century old. It was bought from the original owner for about RM1,500, according to another source.

Made of cengal wood (Neobalanocarpus heimii), this house belonged to the Rumah Tiang Dua-Belas category in which the main structure is supported by 12 timber posts (tiang). Save for a few broken roof tiles, the house still looked quite sturdy. I would have gone in to check it out had I not spotted a pack of wild dogs which sought refuge inside.

A friend of mine told me that this type of house is also known as Rumah Bujang Berselasar, the Terengganu traditional Malay house in its simplest form — with only two areas: the main house area (rumah ibu) and the verandah (selasar or serambi), connected by a small staircase.

Guests are usually received at the verandah, which also serves as a place to relax on a hot day or carry out chores such as making handicraft or teaching children to read during the day.

The roof tiles used in this house are said to be similar to the atap singgora used in Thailand. In fact, the term Singgora refers to a place in old Thailand where roofs are tiled using these. Each tile comes in a long pentagonal shape, with a hooked end on one side. They are made by using the foot, dried in the hot sun, and then fired in a kiln. I believe these tiles are still being made in some remote villages in Kelantan.

To install them on the roof, each tile is hooked onto the rafter and arranged side by side. Each ascending row of tiles sits on top of another on the lower rafter. Each piece is placed to overlap, top over bottom, so as to cover the gaps to prevent rainwater from seeping through.

Singgora tiles are very brittle. Roof-tilers had to be extremely careful of their steps when mounting these tiles on the rafters as they cannot hold the weight of a person. The Singgora tiles are also lighter and porous, and they absorb moisture during the night.

During the day, the moist tiles are able to keep the house cool. Usually, moss will grow on them and add to the cooling property of roofs using these tiles. Of course, for the occupants, the interior of such houses can sometimes be quite damp, especially during wet spells.

Like most traditional Malay houses in Terengganu and the east coast of the peninsula, the timber posts of this house stand on stone piers. The high posts keep pests like ants and snakes from entering the house and the structure free from flood waters. The space beneath the house allows further cooling of the structure. This area is often fully used for storage, sometimes to rear poultry, or even to air-dry clothes during rainy seasons.

Just hardwood, assembled very expertly

The stone piers on which the posts stand prevent dampness from seeping into the wood. They also serve to deter termite attacks. In case of an attempted attack, the termite mud-tubes (trails left by the insect whenever travelling through exposed surface) would have been spotted first before damage is done.

HOW ATTAP SINGGORA IS MADE

CLAY obtained from the river is first processed to the right consistency. It is then slapped onto a slanting wooden mould shaped like a longish pentagon and compressed by using the feet. The depth of the mould gives the tile its thickness. Excess clay is removed by dragging a bow with a wire across the face of the mould.


The Singgora clay roof tiles are believed to be similar to those use by Thai traditional architecture. They are porous and can absorb moisture and cool the house down during the day.
The soft sheet of tile, like plasticine in texture, is then peeled off from the mould and arranged side-by-side on an open ground to be dried under the sun. Here, the hooked end is folded manually, using a small block of wood as a guide to ensure a uniform height.

Once the tiles are sufficiently dried, they are then fired in a kiln, turning their colour from grey to orange-red.

This is the writer’s impression of a single piece of Singgora clay tile turned upside down. The hooked end is folded at right angles so that it can clasp onto the rafter when put in place.

Labour of love than spanned the decades

This bamboo grove could well be the oldest in a public park in the capital

THIS is probably one of the oldest bamboo grove in the Perdana Botanical Garden. There are two clumps actually, if viewed at an angle of 90 degrees to where this was painted. In fact, this is one of the features of this public park that has not changed over the last three decades.

In the 1970s, when I was still in my teens, I used to visit the Lake Gardens (as it was then known) during the school holidays.

This was because in those days, there were few such places that has several attractions within walking distance of each other. It was also one of those places accessible by public transport.

Those days, there was only a clump of bamboo trees on the circular man-made island. At the time, this lake was known as Sydney Lake.

According to G.M. Gullick (Kuala Lumpur, 1880-1895), the parkland was originally a valley of secondary forest irrigated by Sungai Bras-Bras.

Then, Selangor State Treasurer A.R. Venning had proposed to Swettenham that a botanical park be built in the roughly 173-acre land. 

Venning’s labour of love spanned 10 years and sparked public interest and received support.

Cantonese community leader Chow Ah Yeok was said to have contributed 100 white cempaka and orange trees to the project in 1888. A contractor named Gordon was engaged to dam the river and turn the lower part of the valley into a lake.

On May 13, 1889, Governor of the Straits Settlements Sir Cecil Clementi Smith declared open the Lake Gardens. Mrs Swettenham was given the honour to cut the ribbon and the lake was named Sydney Lake, after her maiden name.

However, the original man-made lake was short-lived. Two years after the opening, the bund that held the man-made lake collapsed and had to be reconstructed.

In 1975, the Lake Gardens was renamed Taman Tasik Perdana, (Perdana Lake Gardens) by then Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak. The lake became known as Tasik Perdana. Boat rowing facilities were also introduced after the re-launching ceremony on March 1, 1975, starting with colourful oar-powered skiffs, and later pedal-boats.

The fee back then was one ringgit for an hour’s spin around the lake. On popular days such as weekends and public holidays, long queues could be seen waiting for a ride.

The Perdana Lake Gardens was again renamed the Perdana Botanical Gardens on June 28, 2011 by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Over the few years, many other botanical attractions have been added to enhance this tourist attraction. They included sections containing indigenous fruit trees, local herbs and even a garden dedicated to the ginger family.

Much care has been taken of the lake as well, as seen during my recent trip there. Several aerators are placed at the lower end of this lake, which holds a few common species of local fish, to increase its oxygen level. There’s also a boat mounted with a cleaning sieve in front that was used to clean up the flotsam of broken twigs and leaves.

According to the signages, a huge part of the park is also a WiFi zone.

On the island, under the bamboo grove, I spotted a family of local ducks preening in the sun. I was told by a park worker that they were released by the council.

However, I also spotted a couple of what I thought to be crows flying out of the bamboo grove until they swooped down to forage by a small drain about a 100 metres away.

Imagine my surprise when my camera’s zoom lenses revealed the identities of the birds which I later found out to be a species of ibis, possibly Hadeda ibis, which is not indigenous. I was even more surprised when I called the park office to find out about these birds. Apparently these birds were not local nor were they released by the park authority.

Tranquillity in Bagan Hailam

Hailam Choon is Hokkien for Hainanese Village. This one sits on stilts by the banks
of the North Port of Port Klang.

PORT Klang's Hailam Choon (or Hainanese Village in Hokkien) is a century-old riverine village at the North Port of Klang. Known locally as Bagan Hailam, this village comprising cluster of wooden houses built on stilts and linked by concrete walkways, sits on the banks of the Klang Riverover looking the estuary.
 

This is one of the temples in the village. The concrete
structure sits on a boardwalk of timber

  Built along the swampland that was once filled with mangrove trees, this village is believed to be set up by the Hainanese immigrants in the 1900s. It used to be accessible only by rowboats from the opposite bank, where the Royal Selangor Yacht club now is. However in the 1980s, with the development of the North Port, tarred roads were built in to the area to cater to the logistical needs of the many industries set up here.
 
  According to a villager in his 60s, who came to watch me capture this tranquil estuary at the back of one of the temples here, Bagan Hailam was a thriving fishing community from the 1960s to the 1980s.
 
  "There were many houses here those days," he lamented. "We have three temples and come each festival to mark the birthday of their resident sages, people would come by the boatloads to pay homage or watch Chinese opera." He pointed out that during its heyday, there were almost 2,000 inhabitants in the village. Bagan Hailam even had its own Chinese primary school, SJKC Wu Teck, set up about a centuryago. The school had since moved to Bukit Tinggi in 2011, leaving an empty shell of the asbestos-roofed timber building as a stark reminder of dwindling populace.
 
  I was told that most families who had made their fortunes during Bagan Hailam's better years had moved on. Some of them had either sold "ancestral homes" or rented these homes to mostly immigrants working in nearby industries. Very few of the descendants of the original families still fish for a living.
 
  "Even the children of those now staying here have moved elsewhere," the man said.
 
  There are several seafood restaurants operating at the back of the houses here, fighting for survival with the bigger eateries that sit along the esplanade. I was told that the prices in Bagan Hailam are quite reasonable.
 

That's the Selangor Yacht Club at right

  Along the lower reaches of Bagan Hailam are commercially operated fishing ponds that draw a good crowd of anglers, especially during the weekends. On the other side of Bagan Hailam, along the road fronting the channel, is a recreational esplanade area known as Tanjung Harapan or Cape of Hope. This stretch is very popular with weekenders, particularly recreational anglers who are just happy to wet their lines.
 
  The currents along this stretch can be very strong and unpredictable, an angler friend says. At certain times of the year, the king tide can bring the waves right up to the road, he warned. Perhaps this was why Tanjung Harapan was once known among boatmen as Tanjung Gila, to describe its unpredictable temperament.
 
 ALMOST RAZED
 
  BAGAN Hailam was thrown into the limelight on June 20, 1992, when a chemical tanker MV Chong Hong III, caught fire and exploded while discharging xylene at a chemical complex nearby. The incident, which claimed 13 lives, took place about 100m from Bagan Hailam and this had caused a mass evacuation of the villagers. The villagers were relocated temporarily by the authorities in case the fire spread to a fuel depot nearby. However, a number of villagers braved the fiery threat by staying back in the village to guard their homes from potential looters.

Guardian of the Flame

GUARDIAN OF THE FLAME
(300MM X 410MM)
Available

I was in Kuala Sepetang, Taiping, not too long ago and whenever I am there, I would pay a visit to the charcoal factory lying just outside the town that was once known as Port Weld. This is the picture of the guardian of the flame tending to the fire at the kiln during the second stage of charcoal baking.

The entire process of making charcoal takes about three weeks with several firing stages. This is in its final week when the door of the kiln will be sealed shut using bricks and the temperature gradually brought down. It takes an experience person to gauge the temperature. Too high and coal turns to ash. Too low and the coal will be smoky.

The job is back breaking, the surroundings smoky, hot and even hazardous. But for someone of limited education, this is the only option in a town where high-paying jobs are few and far in between. And for the sake of his family, the guardian of the flame has to keep the fire going.

Mood and Atmosphere in Watercolour

I may be biased but I think watercolour, as an artistic medium, can depict mood and atmosphere no other medium can. I did this piece after reading about the homes of the Orang Asli in Kelantan that have been ravaged by uncontrolled logging activities. It features an Orang Asli watching two others on a raft going downriver. It was done with a combination of browns and blues, in various tonal values.

Self-Portrait Should Be Approached Without Inhibitions

Just for the fun of it. This is like a jigsaw puzzle. Drawing from a photo is not tough but getting into a messy picture can be trying. Thankfully I managed to complete this self-portrait in wastercolour with the dots and dashes and washes, keeping as many elements in the picture. I'm quite happy with the foreshortening of the legs and the skin-colour. Self-portrait is a tough subject to approach, one that should be tackled with reckless abandonment, I think. If you are restricted by any inhibition, self-consciousness will end your artistic journey before you could lay the first colour.

TESTING COLOURS: Keeping Visual Information to Minimum

How do you paint water? How do you know that what you are painting is water? Using three primaries again, I did a quick sketch of a tethered dinghy on calm water. How do you know there is water? 

Well, the reflection is one dead giveaway. But the second clue is the boat itself - what do you think when you see a boat? Unless indicated otherwise, chances are that you mind will be looking for the boat's support - the water that it is usually sitting in. Whether it is a lake or a river, or even the sea. And when you find a reflection beneath the boat, your mind will confirm what you are seeing is a boat on water that you are seeing. 

So in sketching, the trick is to keep your pieces simple, with just enough information to let the viewer fill in the rest.

TESTING COLOURS: The Power of Primaries

Although it is well known that the three primaries of yellow, red and blue make up a host of other colours in the spectrum, few of us prefer to have premixed secondary colours because it is easier to get the colours right every time. I feel that if we are to learn to use only the three primaries, we can train our minds to pick out the right mix every time too.

This cluster of vegetables, a cauliflower, two tomatoes, a cucumber and two chillies were painted using only three colours - yellow, blue and red - which are the known primaries. When mixed in varied proportions, primaries give a stunning variety of colours under the rainbow.

The cauliflower was created using blue + yellow and a tinge of red; the tomatoes using red + yellow and a trace of blue; and the cucumber two shaded of green using blue + yellow and overlapped; while the red chillies were created using red + yellow with a bias towards yellow. The shine on the tomatoes and chillies were created by lifting off. The patterns/texture on the cauliflower were created by natural pigmentation - happy accidents, watercolourists call it.

WHY IT WORKS: In strict sense, you dont need a full set of colours in a 12 or 16-plate palette to do a good representation of your subjects. Understanding the power of primaries can give you that advantage of creating harmonious compositions as can be seen here. Every single colour placed shares a component colour of the other. How can that be not harmonious?

National Monument @ Kuala Lumpur

I was in a hurry to get away from the tourists that I forgot to sign this work!

I have always wanted to sketch the National Monument but had always been intimidated by the figures, the sheer size of them and the various poses that make up this bronze structure which marked the nation's struggle towards Independence. Finally today, armed with a simple Kokuyo watercolour set and a Rotring sketch pen, I decided to grab the bull by its horns. This above is the result.

The drawing took me
 less than 15 min

The National Monument is located within the Lake Gardens area, just behind the monolothic Cenotaph. It is surrounded by a moat and fenced up. I decided to only keep to the monument because of the challenging conditions - getting the proportions of the figures right and deal with foreshortening. Instead of trying to draw what I knew, I decided to allow my experience in countour drawing to take over. And this drawing technique came to my rescue.

Colouring was much easier, with two layers of paint to depict the different tones and a combination of earth colours and blues aided in showing the greenish-brown disposition of the oxidised bronze statues. The flag was simply painted with stripes of red across the white paper. It would have been great if the day had been windy as I could capture the flag full blown.

He was preparing to shoot
when my photographer snapped
his picture first. He left.

Not making it any easier were the hordes of tourists who were there. Some just looked over my shoulder without commenting; others complimented. There was one Chinese tourist who decided he wanted a close look over my shoulders when my photographer decided to take a snap of him, and when he realised this, he decided to keep his camera and walk away.

Capturing the icon of Alang Sedayu

This red bridge was built across the Alang Sedayu's Sungai Pisang to link the main road to the Jungle Lodge side of the forest reserve. The water level of the river is low even though it had been raining almost every evening. I arrived here this morning and managed to get down to one of the large boulders in the middle of the river to paint this scene. Usually it will be waist deep and there is no way to place my stuff.

Surprisingly this river is still clean. It's beginning is from the Sungai Pisang waterfalls, a couple of kilometres away, across the Karak Highway. This recreational forest north of Selangor, on the Gombak-Bentong main road, was opened in the 1990s and despite its proximity to the city, it is still not much frequented by locals. Only groups here are those doing their team building and school events.

Rail knowledge at Kluang railway station

Kluang Station, a view from Platform 2, showing the location marker
and a tamping machine on the tracks.

Sending my daughter to her friend's home in Kundang Ulu yesterday took me south to Johor and my wife and I visited Pagoh, Yong Peng, and finally ending up in Kluang. I had been to Kluang before many years ago but had never put up the night there. I remember, the only thing that attracted me to the town, was the famous railway canteen whose nasi lemak, coffee and toast were one of the best in the country.

This time we arrived on Thursday, and unfortunately for me, the canteen was closed. Since I could not do much there, with the station less crowded, I was able to sit and sketch from Platform 2 of this station. This is a major stop for the KTM trains heading to Singapore or the Northern regions.

Since the station building was crowded with cars parked haphazardly, I decided to paint the scenery across the tracks, of the location marker and the locomotive-like machine on its tracks. This is actually a Unimat-Compact universal tamping machine by Plasser-Theurer used to maintain railway tracks. It helps to raise the rails, compact the gravel beneath, and levels the rail off mechanically.

Finding coal in Kuala Sepetang

This was done in the kiln shed, which houses several other igloo-shaped kilns. This kiln has been
sealed at the end stage of charcoal baking. The pungent air within, although not captured on camera,
makes the eye teary. I had to quickly finish this under low-light conditions.

IN the days before cooking gas was available, charcoal and wood were the preferred fuels for cooking. There were two types of charcoal sold in sundry shops – soft charcoal, which is cheaper and usually made from any type of wood, and the hard charcoal, made from mangrove logs. The latter is denser and much more preferred as it produces fire that burns hotter and longer than the soft charcoals.

Located in Kuala Sepetang (or Port Weld as it was originally known) along the coast of Perak, some 17km from Taiping, the charcoal factory owned by Khay Hor Holdings is one of the few remaining ones in the Peninsula that produces the higher quality mangrove log charcoal.

I was fortunate enough to be allowed into the factory to sketch one of the igloo shaped kilns made of bricks. Unfortunately the charcoal was still being made and not ready to be removed, so I did not get to go into the kiln.

Khay Hor Holdings business development manager K.Y. Chuah informed me that the entire process of making charcoal takes about 30 days. Mangrove or bakau logs are stripped of their bark, cut into approximately 1.6m lengths, and arranged upright along the walls of the seven-metre high kiln.  A fire is lit and the entrance to the kiln, which is about the height of a man, is gradually sealed over a period of time.

Heat control through gradual sealing of the aperture is very important so that the charcoal is not reduced to ashes because of too high temperature. The heat had to be built up to produce a high quality charcoal that burns efficiently.

“There are two stages of fire which we create. The first stage is the ‘big fire’ and the second, we call ‘small fire’. From the ‘big fire’, we will partially seal the entrance to create a ‘small fire’.

A group UTAR students who were visiting
asked to see my sketches. 

“During the first stage, the ‘big fire’ will be allowed to run for approximately ten days. The temperature is raised until it reaches 85-degree Celcius,” added Chuah.

“Subsequently, this ‘big fire’ is converted to ‘small fire’ and this is kept going approximately for 14 days. The temperature would now be between 230- and 250-degree Celcius, after which the fire is extinguished by sealing all the apertures of the kiln.

“Once the fire is extinguished, it takes about a week for the charcoal to cool down before they can be removed from the kiln,” he added. The job is done manually.

 

During the process of firing, steam is released from the mangrove trunks escapes from the kiln through a vent on the roof. This steam condenses into a smoke-smelling dark brown liquid which is believed to have antibacterial properties and is sought after for medicinal application. In the past, kiln workers collect this black liquid to treat skin diseases and remove odour from shoes and old socks.

Today, this charcoal maker has taken a step further to refine the extraction of this liquid by a filtration process, with the end product marketed as mangrove vinegar. According to Chuah, the vinegar can be used to freshen up stale air in a room, as mosquito repellent, and even used to treat certain infections of the skin.

“Because it has strong anti-bacterial properties, you can use it to remove the odour from your shoes. Just spray it into the shoes and leave them overnight to make your shoes smell like brand new.

Mangrove vinegar bottled as
a spray to be used as
insect repellent.

“Since this is an organic product, you can also spray it on your pets, like dogs and cats, to repel ticks and fleas,” he added.

Apart from the mangrove vinegar, his company has also produces charcoal soaps for bathing and cleansing purposes. “This black soap is most effective in removing blackheads and cleaning the skin,” he said.

Mangrove charcoal blocks too are sold at the factory grounds for use as an air purifier as well as décor for the home.