I misjudged the distance thus missed the place. I shouldn't have. My in-laws are from Batu Gajah and yet I struggled to find Batch 73 'base camp'! - the one that Wan Hussin had booked for our stay during STAR OBW 09. I was told to exit at Simpang Pulai that will lead me to our base camp. But behold! After making several calls - thanks to Mohamad, my talian hayat, I managed to find it. Serve me right for boasting and taking things for granted! Ipoh mari., konon!!
I left Putrajaya around 10 am. Took the elite highway and heading straight to Ipoh. Since I was travelling alone, I had no choice but to relly on Hitz FM to keep me awake. Through out the journey, songs from MJ - from Ben to Billy Jean to Black and White - kept my spirit high and my concentration on the road. . I was terribly excited about the trip since it was my maiden trip - for the OBW outing - after leaving STAR for so many years..! (36 years to be exact!). Traffic was not bad but gradually increased in volume after Rawang R&R. As I was driving, a few BMW's and Mercedes's and Camrys overtook yours truly. I could not helped but wondering whether those 'machines' were being driven by STARIANS!!! and all of them were like me - heading for Ipoh - for the OBW!
According to the original plan, I was supposed to travel with Rostam late Friday afternoon. Mohamad and Omar Suhaimi and Omar Dollah were supposed to leave earlier on Friday afternoon, just before us. But had to change plan due to work commitment. Wan Husin was not around when I arrived at the apartment for he had to rush home for KL. Rostam was already groggy by lunch time. He had been awake the whole night playing gymrummy with Omar Suhaimi, Lan Chik and Wan Husin. Despite their handicap and predicament - of not sleeping at all - Omar Suhaimi and Lan Chik were 'crazy' enough to play in the STAROBA Golf tournement in Batu Gajah.
The 'base camp' was not bad at all. It has 3 rooms -a masterbedroom with a double bed, 2nd room with 2 single beds and the smallest with one single bed, a kitchenette, 2 bathrooms and of course a TV set (the one that was played non-stopped!).
When it was time for lunch, it was unanimously agreed that we'll go for 'nasi ganja'! We had a shocked and the laughed of our life when Rostam confessed that he hasn't got a clue as to where about this 'nasi ganja' place was! He told us that his favourites outlets or 'hideouts' then were Tanjung Rambutan's bus station, where he listened to the music from juke box machine and having his lusty meal of roti chanai at Freedom Cafe!. Little did he knew then that the nasi ganja place was just across the road!!.
End of episode 1
Jabbar & All,
ReplyDeleteThere were a handful of other places that not many might have known or recalled such as "Air Gas" - a shop selling aerated drinks with four flavours like pineapple, orange, rose and sarsi - on the same walk as the popular official bespoke tailor along Hugh Low Street (then). We had a classmate who had custom-ordered order a pair of school pants which had zippers on all its pockets. The tailor obliged but not after making a remark of .."waaa... poket pun mau talok yip???". We beleived at that time Lokeman might have a lot of treasures that he would want to carry in his pants pockets all the times as keeping them in the his hostel locker was not considered safe. There was this "Kedai Bulat" - it was a sort of a mini shopping mall which is round in its footprints - thus the "Bulat" name. This was the place where I had bought all my Levis and Lee jeans and slacks (we believed in those days they were all originals). I wore while Lee slacks to school. Then these designer slacks were priced at 10 or max 12 ringgits as against 7 to 8 ringgit for a tailored pants (maybe 9 ringgit with those zippers on your pockets). An added advatage of having branded white slacks was that I could also wear them for cricket. During our later years (form 4 & form 5) we ocassionally visited "coffee houses" - especially when we went group outings with our friends (in most cases they were friends introduced by friend's friend!!) from Convent. The one I remember is "ABJ Coffee House" near the Cathay Cinema (note that ABJ has nothing to do with our senior Abu Bakar Johar who was a drummer with Yuzer's band - can't remember the group's name - could be "Expert 166"). These coffee houses were the earlier version of designer cafes like "Gloria Jeans", "Starbuck", etc. Talking about musical groups, back then there was "Rare" - lead by Ridzuan Saad Batch '71, "Expert 166" of Batch '72 (Yuzer), "Crossroads" our own band from Batch '73 (leadd guitarist was Ansor Ahmad) and our juniors "Hilarious Labyrinth" a groud lead by Rosli Boni. I thinsk it would be a good idea if we can revive these bands and get them to play at the OBW Grand Dinner.
Regards,...
I am not surprised if Rostam were not aware of
ReplyDeleteother places and events.One was how come he doesn't know of the trip to Telok Batak(Now known as Telok Batik)organised by'Elite group' of batch 73 way back in 1973.Some guys are having difficult times explaining the whole situation to him.I wonder if that satisfy him or not.Never mind Tam at least you are included in the team line up. Wa lagi teruk reserve list pun tak layak. Mungkin tak cukup tinggi kot...he..he.
Mat,why dont we organise a similar trip for the non elites. Nanti aku boleh bawa member-member aku dari markas PAS Mentari. BTW, kau ni group elite or non elite. Sampai now pun aku tak sure lagi.
ReplyDeleteRostam tidak included for the trip ke KL (or ke Kolam Ayak) But... (ada but), dia termasuk dalam geng ke Butterworth. I was excluded dan tak tahu pun tentang trip tersebut. Ttttttak patuttttt!. Anyway,Rostam's suggestion worth trying!! Saya sokong Y.Berhormat!
ReplyDeleteAku sendiri pun tak pasti tapi yang aku tahu trip telok batak ke trip pi kolam ayak pun aku tak pi. Lagi teruk trip pi butterworth pun aku tak tau amacam. Hang fikirlah sendiri.Tapi yang paling penting aku kawan dengan semua orang ELITE ke NON ELITE janji dia orang budak STAR.
ReplyDeleteHey guys, the trip to Teluk Batik(Batak) sounds good to me but if possible kindly extend the invitations to everybody.....let bygone be bygone...ha,ha,ha! After all we are just long lost brothers, right?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I just couldn't help feeling sorry for Pak Lau that night during the OBW dinner when he walked by our table. He seemed to be very lonely and itmade me feel kind of sad when I put myself in his shoes then. I could have at least given him a hug. Maybe next time.....
(1) Teluk Batik trip was an organized trip.It was sort of formalized with HM's approval (we were allowed to make use of the school bus) - the justification was somewhat close to a "students exchange programme". We even had a prefect as a chaperone (Najib Ibrahim @ Iron Man).
ReplyDelete(2)Kolam Ayer trip was also an organized trip. I can't remember which club was beind made used of - maybe it was the Debating Society. Of course we had the debates with the KA girls and also had stage performances.
(3) Asrama Perak was a farewell function held immediately after our MCE exams (perhaps it was held on the evening of the dast exam day!) . I thought it was a function organized by our so called "Fifth Form Society" and the budget came from the proceeds/profits of our vending machine business. Every fifth former was supposed to attend this function and D. Tomo, in view of being a local boy, was tasked with sourcing for 'counterparts' to fill up the hall.
(4) Butterworth - this was a private trip during one of the school breaks (2nd term holidays). I remember it was arranged by Ismail Gebang. Only three of us went, Mail, myself and I can't remember the third person. Plus three friends. We put up at the flat rented by a USM student (who was a rugger player).
(5) There was another school break trip to East Coast (Tgnu and Klante). I remember going with Mat Salleh. Wan Husin & (Roslan? tahk sure) joined us for the trip to KB where we stayed at Jalan Telipot (Wan Manshor's house). How we love his Mum's cooking - especially the satay. In KB, we went cycling to PCB- Pantai Cinta Berahi now known as Pantai Cahaya Bulan. At PCB we met (pre-arranged) with a group of Srikandi's (yup...this is the name old STF-ians are called). There were Mahmoodah, Mariati Ghani, etc..etc... (cud not recall all).
Well guys, Elite or Not Elite - those were some of the interesting trips\happenings during our days.
Rgds,
Oma