Orang Asli at Kg Simoi - 1 May 2013

Posting by: Xian Jin


I visited Kampung Simoi, Pahang with a group of friends. I was really excited to visit the orang asli village. Orang asli are the aboriginal people of Peninsular Malaysia. It was a long trip, approximately 3 hours. Half way along the trip, we had a break at a nearby restaurant. See the car... it was a makeshift way to sell things.


This is Kg Simoi. It's a really big place. We stopped at the biggest house in the village. This was my first time going to an orang asli village. Even though it was late morning, the air was cooling and fresh.


There were villagers everywhere and a lot of children. I could not stop taking pictures of the orang asli, though I was shy to talk to them at first.


A typical village house. I strolled around the village. As these people were living near town, they could get the things they need easily. They had cars and even TV!


The kids loved being photographed. You could see their faces smiling and giggling every time I took a picture. The villagers were friendly.  


If I had more time, I would have explored the thick forest nearby. I thought how lucky they were, being so close to nature, unlike city people like me who just sit around watching the telly or computer. We city people should spend more time outdoor.


They still cook their food using the firewood. The food was really tasty. Do you know, their vegetables are just tapioca leaves? I didn't know such simple food could taste so nice. Looks can be deceiving.


Their houses were very simple. They do not need air-conditioners or fans because of the cooling air of the forest. 


The children were curious. A few of our group members hung songsheets  between trees and they sang songs together.


All of us cramped into a house to listen to the children's singing. Even though they did not know the words and their meanings, they sang without reservation.


I was really happy to meet these people. I hope to return to this place to learn more about them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Al-Attas Garden in Janda Baik - 4 August 2012

Image
Besides being a well-known contentious writer, little do we know that Syed Hussein Alattas is also a self-taught gardener and an architect. He had built Taman Hana in Janda Baik from scratch and named after his wife.  Taman Hana sits on a 8-acre plot of land in the quiet village of Janda Baik. It boasts a collection of 1,000 species of plants including fruit trees, more than 700 big flower pots and five buildings that include the home of the Alattas family.  The good news is that it is open to visitors every day.  As we made our way past the entrance, this place appeared unkempt. It was well beyond its heyday (in 2008) but still showing off its faded beauty. Some parts were badly neglected, which was so unfortunate, because it originally was to be a quiet kampung retreat. A mix of traditional Malay, Peranakan, Indonesian and colonial British architecture and a Minangkabau styled roof. Syed Hussein had actually started building the structures in 1982 and he spent...
Read more

Discovering Pasir Pinji's Comfort Food - 29 June 2014

Image
Pasir Pinji Road in Ipoh is like a living heritage town. If you google this place, you will see a long list of local delicacies you must try - the famous yong tau foo, chee cheong fun, cendol, roast pork, traditional mooncakes, pastry, etc. On a Sunday, we saw the idyllic lifestyle of the local people - watching the days go by, sipping tea and catching up with friends along the corridor of shophouses, waiting for the takeaway of their favourite food or desserts from the roadside hawkers, sitting in coffee shops and dipping Hainanese buns into their kopi-O or Milo. .. it's like a walk to my childhood years in the 80s.  Ban Guan Foong Bakery has been around for more than 50 years. One of the very few remaining bakeries producing traditional Hainanese bread and buns using wood-fired oven.  A family-run business by the Goh family and some old and loyal workers. Getting ready the wood-fired brick oven  Removing the ashes from the heated oven  ...
Read more

A Potter Village in Sayong - 30 May 2013

Image
Pit Stop at the Perak royal town, Kuala Kangsar. The 1st rubber tree in Malaysia was planted in this town. That's about all I knew about this place. Labu Sayong or water pitcher from Sayong village, known for its health value to help migraine, lower blood pressure etc due to the special properties inherent in the local clay. Before this, we didn't know much of labu sayong.  We didn't go to the village or plan this visit. Out of curiousity, we bumped into this unassuming workshop at No. 3, Kg Setia, Enggor, run by Mohd bin Harun.  Pakcik was very open and gave us a tour of his workshop and how he makes labu sayong. His warm, friendly welcoming people made a lasting impression on all of us - a trait that we've lost in the big cities. The traditional way of making labu sayong uses hands to mould the clay into the shape of a 'labu' (gourd-like vase) but this is too slow. Now, the clay mixture is poured into standard mould blocks. It's ...
Read more