We arrived around 7 am in the
morning. The airport was small just like the one in KB maybe less glamorous
than that. It’s simple and quiet. The immigration and custom checks were brief
and we were out and ready to go less than
half an hour from the time of our landing. Outside the airport saw the chaotic
morning rush just like ours; the only difference is the presence of police and
the army personnel. They’re everywhere and made the trip more stressful. We
went straight to the Malaysia Embassy
for a 9 o’clock meeting. It was a huge compound and majestic building;
made you so proud for being a Malaysian citizen. The briefing was short but
very useful in terms of security issues and emergency cases. I mean this
country has gone through years of war and tribulation; we do not know whether
they are ready to accept us as a foreigner on their land. I know a lot of
Cambodians back in Kelantan or Shah Alam but the locals here are a bit
different. They are mainly Buddhist and very religious at that. Next we went
for lunch at a halal restaurant and solat at the nearby mosque. Later in the
afternoon we went on a slow boat down the river and watched the sunset. Then
off to our hotel somewhere in the city to get a lot of rest as for tomorrow we
will have to endure a 3-hour ride to Kg Cham.
The road to Kg Cham ran through a
lot of kampongs. I mean really kampong; like our kampong in the 70s. The roads
were dusty and many parts left unfinished. It was early morning and people were
rushing not to work or offices but to the market place. We passed through many
market places just like the ones we still have in some of our kampongs. People sitting around having breakfast,
talking , chatting and negotiating. A scenery I used to be part of during my
childhood. Not many schoolchildren running around; they maybe already in the
class or haven’t yet leave their houses. But every where you look you will see
people living a hard life, struggling to make the ends meet. We drove on to our
destination; the traffic was not bad as no vehicle really on the road. We finally arrived in Kg Cham
around 10 am to the cheering of children and the kampong folks. They were
waiting for us.
Although these folks have no modern
amenities but they have unbelievable hospitality. Maybe we cannot communicate
directly but the gestures and body language are good enough to make yourself
feel at home. The kids played basketball cheerfully although they had no real court, or
real basket ball or real basket. What they had was a ball, a handful of
players, a basket ( I mean laundry basket) and a field full of fun. A quick
visit to the compound of the school showed how much they have tried to educate
the children and the people around them. This is the effort of a few people to
educate their children about Islam and practices in Islam. The innocent eyes of
the small children showed us how much have I got to help them out. We could
turn a blind eye on them today but the guilt for doing so would come to haunt us
tomorrow and the rest of the other days. My students and I just could not do
that. We would give whatever we have for them today and hope to come again in
the future. When I saw the old folks with beaten faces and a hard smile; my
mind went back to my aunties and uncles that died some years ago. They had the
same faces and the same smile; the smile of the poor.
Lunch was served late in the
afternoon and it was unbelievably superb tastes of delicious kampong cooking. I
hadn’t had such a taste for a long time from the yesteryears of my childhood. It
was really good. We finished the program there and rushed to the border before
it closes for the day. We were heading east to the troubled place of the past ,
Vietnam.
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