I can’t remember my actual age when I first followed my grandparents to Kuala Terengganu but I can safely assume I was not even 7 years old because I had not been to the Ismail School for my Standard One yet. Thus, it could be between 5 to 6 years old.
Malaya of this period was under the Emergency Rule and we were still under the British. Road blocks were common scenes. Our country had been through few traumatic periods after being invaded by the Japanese and later the Communist insurgents. Our forefathers were discussing with the colonial masters about granting our country independence. In Muar town, a family was planning to take a trip to Kuala Terengganu to visit their relatives bringing along their grandson; that grandson was me.
My maternal great grandfather, Haji Taib Bin Talib was born in Kuala Terengganu. His father, Talib was the son of Jenang Rion, a prominent Bugis who was given the authority of the Pahang Sultan to rule over the entire district of Endau/Rompin. That was what I’ve been told. When great grandfather Taib left for Muar town to take up a government post, he left behind many relatives; cousins, uncles and aunties. When grandpa was young, he would travel back to Kuala Terengganu to meet with his many relatives and one that I can remember was an uncle named Wan Harun. He was grandpa’s nephew and second cousin to my mother. When I was a very young boy, Wan Harun would bring his family all the way from Kuala Terengganu to Muar town and stayed with us for a few days. This time we were going to Kuala Terengganu to stay with the family of Wan Harun for a few days. Although I was hardly seven years old at that time, my memory of that trip hasn’t failed me although there could be some other things that happened could have slipped from my memory bank. I wish to share with you readers this trip; from Muar town to Kuala Terengganu in the year 1956.
As usual, trips to outstation in those days was a big event. Relatives within the Muar district would be informed and once the news reached their ears, the news would be spread further to relatives of other parts of the district and soon even the relatives as far as Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur would know. Dengar kabar Cik Hamid dengan Cik Ara nak ke Kuala Terengganu (Heard that Cik Hamid and Cik Ara are going to Kuala Terengganu). One week before your depature date, your house would be filled with relatives and neighbours and was quite like a mini carnival. The kitchen would be opened the whole day and cooking would be non-stop. I was so excited that I had sleepless nights thinking of the long journey I would soon be embarking.
On the day of the trip we woke up very early in the morning and it took grandma a few minutes to wake me up. Grandpa had just finished his dawn prayer and he began inspecting the baggage we would be bringing along. There was another man whom I can’t remember and he would be the co-driver. The car was an Austin and black in colour. Everyone was already awake ready to bid us farewell. Mak Yang our maid-servant was busy at the kitchen preparing breakfast of boiled tapioca and grated coconut mixed with sugar. My youngest uncle Wak Jis (Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Hamid) would be coming too and he was ready and eager. Grandma was still busy trying to wake me up.
It was almost 7.00 in the morning when we started our very long journey. It was not a school holiday and so grandpa had to write to the Headmaster of Sekolah Bandar Maharani informing him that I would not be going to school for ten days. As I was a very bad traveller during my younger days, I would be bringing along an empty tin for me to vomit
As the journey would take about two and a half days, we brought along some food; nasi lemak, boiled tapioca, fried stuff like goreng pisang and jemput jemput. For drinks we brought along rose syrup in a few bottles. I would imagine if the journey was non-stop, we could reach Kuala Terengganu by mid-night but we couldn’t do that because the car could not take it.
From our house, we stopped at the Muar River to board the ferry. Upon reaching Tanjung Agas, we proceeded to tangkak and from Tangkak we drove to Segamat to the north west. All along there wasn’t much cars passing by and we had to stop at several road blocks. The road was quite narrow and on both sides were nothing but jungles. We passed by quite a number of rubber plantations too. If any of us need to ease, grandpa would stop by the side of the road and we could do our business slightly inside the jungle. There wasn’t any need to look for passers-by as the road was indeed empty. If any of us felt hungry, we could just eat the food that we brought along inside the car.
We stopped at Segamat and had our meal at one of the restaurant I can’t remember. By now I was already feeling dizzy and I remember grandma brought me to the toilet where I vomited. We rested for about an hour and resumed our journey heading towards Endau near the east coast. By the time we reached Endau it was almost dark. Apparently we had quite a number of relatives in Endau, all belonging to line of Jenang Rion. We stopped at one of our relatives’ house I can’t remember the name. We were served with delicious food like they knew we were stopping by. I guess grandpa must have sent them a telegram earlier. As driving during the night passing through thick jungles was quite dangerous, we slept at Endau. Grandpa and the co-driver needed a good rest too. My uncle Wak Jis and me had a good sleep while the elders enjoyed talking to each other before they dozed off. In the morning we were served with breakfast and I remember this was my first taste of eating nasi dagang.
At Endau we had to board another ferry to bring us to the other side of the town. Driving through this path of road was quite thrilling for me. For the first time I could see mountains from afar and the scenery was beautiful. Somehow I must say that the weather in those days was not as hot as the present time. Although we could see the sun, the heat was bearable and obviously the car had no air-conditioner but yet we didn’t feel much heat. The coastal road was quite straight although there were some so winding and along this path road blocks were quite common. At six years old, I was oblivious of what was happening to our country. Every time I saw a road block, I would jump for joy and because I liked to see these people with uniform.
to be continued.