The living
I managed to attend my grandfather's cremation last weekend by taking a no-pay-leave and leaving early from work. I hitched a ride on my aunt's Mercedes and we went together to Ipoh at around 7.30pm.
She was driving at around 140-160kmph, which is nothing unusual considering we were on a Merz. We still took about 2 hours to get there though, because we weren't so sure of the way. We also stopped at a rest station for a while.
When we reached Ipoh, it was already about 9.30pm. Surprisingly at that hour, there were loads of people on the streets. We went to this area near Jusco which had many hawker stalls, and it was packed! It was more difficult to find a parking space there than here in KL! Gosh. There were so many cars, it took us 20 minutes to finally find a spot...
But oh the food was good. Really good, and so bloody cheap. For about RM32, we bought a bowl of Hor Fun, a plate of fried noodles, Yong Tau Fu, two glasses of Leong Cha, one gigantic iced lemon tea, one cup of coffee, one huge plate of sambal petai, and 10 mantis shrimps! We were so stuffed. And the mantis shrimps were only RM1 each... here in KL, they'd cost about RM8 each...
And after our fattening (but delicious) dinner, we headed to the church where my other relatives were. Surprisingly, the church was only about 5km away from where we were, but we took 1 hour to get there. The reason: Traffic Jam.
Seriously, how is it possible that the traffic jam in Ipoh, a small town with a population of about 1 million or less, is worse than the Klang Valley with 4.8 million inhabitants and about a million private vehicles? Probably it is the road system in Ipoh. They still have one-lane roads, no highways, and the roads are built all over the place (sound familiar, KL people?) like a maze. Traffic lights take 8 minutes to change from red to green! I know. I timed it.
And everyone in Ipoh seems to get around using their own private vehicle; unlike KL they don't have LRT's and their bus system is well... lets just say, I didn't see a single bus in sight the whole night.
When we finally got to the church in Ipoh Garden, most of my other relatives had left. Only a group of people were there; a few uncles, their wives and their children. Amazingly, all of them noticed me and recognised me immediately. I, on the other hand, couldn't remember their names. Yeah, I knew the faces, but I was mute when I tried to match the faces with names....
Seems I've really forgotten my cousins in Ipoh... I felt so bad. Really really guilty. They started telling me stories about those days, when I was still a small kid, and the things we used to do together… like chase chickens, steal each other’s sweets… but I could only faintly recall…
My grandfather looked peaceful, just as though he was already ready to go. His portrait was that of youth, probably around 20 years or so, and he looked so different. Apparently he died of asthma. My uncle said that he was a very quiet man; he lived his life daily as a very quiet person, hardly saying anything much, and he left quietly too, without informing anyone. At least he died without suffering much pain...
I got to chat with my cousins and we had a nice time catching up on our developments in the past 10 years or so... that is about the length of time I was cut off from them...
I stayed in my grandaunt's house. It was a small house, old, but very tidy. And the fixtures reminded you of a bygone era, when people used to have bathrooms outside the house and the bricks had those intricate patterns on them.... nevertheless I couldn't sleep that night.
We cremated our grandfather in the morning in Bercham.
It was a good trip I'd say. My grandmother was smiling although she'd lost her loved ones, and all the uncles, although feeling sad, still managed to smile. I got to meet up with my cousins whom I have not seen for about 10 years, and I visited my hometown Ipoh which has changed so much since I last visited... Then I realised that this trip was not about the dead, but the living. Yeah. We gathered to let our grandpa rest in peace, but more importantly, we gathered to celebrate the living.
How do you explain the feeling, knowing that you are alive, and enjoying the view of beautiful limestone cliffs that dot the horizon along the road back to KL?
Bliss.
She was driving at around 140-160kmph, which is nothing unusual considering we were on a Merz. We still took about 2 hours to get there though, because we weren't so sure of the way. We also stopped at a rest station for a while.
When we reached Ipoh, it was already about 9.30pm. Surprisingly at that hour, there were loads of people on the streets. We went to this area near Jusco which had many hawker stalls, and it was packed! It was more difficult to find a parking space there than here in KL! Gosh. There were so many cars, it took us 20 minutes to finally find a spot...
But oh the food was good. Really good, and so bloody cheap. For about RM32, we bought a bowl of Hor Fun, a plate of fried noodles, Yong Tau Fu, two glasses of Leong Cha, one gigantic iced lemon tea, one cup of coffee, one huge plate of sambal petai, and 10 mantis shrimps! We were so stuffed. And the mantis shrimps were only RM1 each... here in KL, they'd cost about RM8 each...
And after our fattening (but delicious) dinner, we headed to the church where my other relatives were. Surprisingly, the church was only about 5km away from where we were, but we took 1 hour to get there. The reason: Traffic Jam.
Seriously, how is it possible that the traffic jam in Ipoh, a small town with a population of about 1 million or less, is worse than the Klang Valley with 4.8 million inhabitants and about a million private vehicles? Probably it is the road system in Ipoh. They still have one-lane roads, no highways, and the roads are built all over the place (sound familiar, KL people?) like a maze. Traffic lights take 8 minutes to change from red to green! I know. I timed it.
And everyone in Ipoh seems to get around using their own private vehicle; unlike KL they don't have LRT's and their bus system is well... lets just say, I didn't see a single bus in sight the whole night.
When we finally got to the church in Ipoh Garden, most of my other relatives had left. Only a group of people were there; a few uncles, their wives and their children. Amazingly, all of them noticed me and recognised me immediately. I, on the other hand, couldn't remember their names. Yeah, I knew the faces, but I was mute when I tried to match the faces with names....
Seems I've really forgotten my cousins in Ipoh... I felt so bad. Really really guilty. They started telling me stories about those days, when I was still a small kid, and the things we used to do together… like chase chickens, steal each other’s sweets… but I could only faintly recall…
My grandfather looked peaceful, just as though he was already ready to go. His portrait was that of youth, probably around 20 years or so, and he looked so different. Apparently he died of asthma. My uncle said that he was a very quiet man; he lived his life daily as a very quiet person, hardly saying anything much, and he left quietly too, without informing anyone. At least he died without suffering much pain...
I got to chat with my cousins and we had a nice time catching up on our developments in the past 10 years or so... that is about the length of time I was cut off from them...
I stayed in my grandaunt's house. It was a small house, old, but very tidy. And the fixtures reminded you of a bygone era, when people used to have bathrooms outside the house and the bricks had those intricate patterns on them.... nevertheless I couldn't sleep that night.
We cremated our grandfather in the morning in Bercham.
It was a good trip I'd say. My grandmother was smiling although she'd lost her loved ones, and all the uncles, although feeling sad, still managed to smile. I got to meet up with my cousins whom I have not seen for about 10 years, and I visited my hometown Ipoh which has changed so much since I last visited... Then I realised that this trip was not about the dead, but the living. Yeah. We gathered to let our grandpa rest in peace, but more importantly, we gathered to celebrate the living.
How do you explain the feeling, knowing that you are alive, and enjoying the view of beautiful limestone cliffs that dot the horizon along the road back to KL?
Bliss.
Fell from the sky at 7:35 PM
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