Taking you back to the time where I used to live deep down in the forest of Kuala Tahan, surrounded with tall trees competing for sunlight. As trees are tall enough to block the sun, it was cool and fun to take a day running around the wooden village houses, playing with kid’s next door which I hardly remembered any of their names now.
It took long way back to the actual home in the city. Sometimes when I live in the village, I will missed the city life. I grew up in the village exploring whatever there are for me.
In order to get to the national park, I have to take a boat ride on the harsh and dangerous Tembeling River. Not far away from the village though, I used to love going to the National Park because of its calm environment and my parent worked there. I used to play around those long house chalets where the tourists stayed.
I still remembered about the red bricks and wooden walls. I used to peeled off plants with red colored seeds that can be used for nail. I’m just a curious kid. Not much of memory for now because it was like 30 years back then.
I used to play badminton, I also studied for a short time in the village. I still can remembered the oily food in a red bowl I ate, the Milo drink I used to sipped during school lunch break.
During the evening in my village, I used to go out and play. What can a kid play back in 30 years, there are no mobile phones or iPad for me, it doesn’t exist.
What I meant play was, I used to draw black ants out from the ground with grass straw. I would just sticked the grass straw into the hole on the ground and waited until there are movement and quickly draw it out. The ant climbed or clamped onto the grass straw. It was fun though.
The village are not big but its enough for a small kid like me. There are ravine behind the village which I usually avoided going there. Some times there are deer and wild boars can be spotted around the pile of rubbish just behind our wooden house, looking for food. I remembered I fed a deer with bread, it was a close encounter.
Although behind the house are quite messed up with rubbish, I discovered a really nice place, most probably the best experience in my life. It was where the mountain water flows down and gathered into a pool. It took about 10 minutes to go down a slope with small steps, surrounded with tall grass.
The so-called mountain water pool are divided into two areas, one is the super crystal clear cold water and the other side was pool of dirt. I guess it was a man made water pool which traps crystal clear cold water. It was clearer than any ocean or beaches, I swear.
It was a magical moment when I dipped myself in the small pool, about 3 to 4 meters wide. The mountain water was so cold and refreshing, how I wish now I can dipped in there a little longer back then. That moment was not longer to be felt. It was gone. After some time, the pool was gone. My mom told me that the pool had been destroyed or covered with long grass where snakes can sneak up on me. I really missed that pool, I felt like turning back time just to go back to the damn pool where no kids can enjoy nowadays. Guess it was all memories now.
When I was back to the city, I felt like a Tarzan, a jungle boy from the deep forest, back in town.
* Images are just for illustration purpose only.
