ESL Blogs

As far as I can remember, I never visited my birth place. It's just a name, Batu Pahat which literally can be translated as Rock Chisel. It's a name where I put as my birth place in any document. It's written in my identification card and all official documents, but that's all. Am I curious where I was born? Of course, but I never have the inclination to visit it since I don't know anyone there, nor my close relatives are living in the area anymore. 

I grew up in many places. My parents had to move to various places and states looking for a better future. My earlier memories were a small and remote village in the middle of jungle, rubber plantations and rice fields in the middle of Pahang. Our house was so isolated from other houses that my father had to raise two guard dogs. I used to play with my bothers and sister at some rice field and some creeks. We used to catch frogs and fish.

Then we moved to a next village. Over here, our neighbours were nearer. Though our house was near the rice field, it was also near the main road. We were no longer isolated, but the houses were far and in between. The hardship was lesser, but as far as I am concerned, I knew no other life. It seemed perfect. I can still catch frogs, fished in the rice field, and climbed the trees.

Then my parents moved to a new place under the Felda's scheme. They had to leave my siblings and I with our grandparents for a while because the new place has no school and was prone to be attacked by wild elephants. After a few years, and after being transferred to a new place, finally, my parents settled down. My siblings and I moved to this new place and life seemed to be better.

After living my whole life more or less in isolation and far from other people, the new place was really an eye opener for me. The houses were built next to each other. For the first time, we had rows of neighbours. For the first time, we had friends to play with besides each other. Life was hard, but most of my childhood memories were about this place and our own home. At last I can call this new place my hometown.

When I was twelve years old, I was selected by the state Government to study in the city centre, Kuantan. It was a boarding school. I only came back to my parents' house during the school breaks, and that were about three times in a year. I only saw my parents and siblings during that various school breaks. Due to distance and hardship, my parents never visited me. 

I spent my formative teenage years away from what I was familiar, my family and my new found hometown. I grew up being independent from early on. In a sense, I never put any real roots in one place. After school days, I went to work in Kuala Lumpur. Again, I moved from one rental house to another. Never really had the time to gather personal mementos before staying in a new house.

Finally, about six years ago, I decided to buy a house. It's in the outskirts of town. The residential area is small enough to suit me. Though it had been six years, the house is still as bare as when I bought it. Maybe it's hard for me to put my personal touch to the house. I am really a nomad at heart, I guess.

So, comes the question, "Can I move to another country?". I always thought I would not hesitate to say, "Yes! I want to live in another country". But after staying in South Korea for three months, I beg to differ. Though South Korea was one of the most peaceful and cleanest country, I longed for the mess, the noise, the whining, the rain and the humidity which made Malaysia unique. I longed for the food. I longed to being stuck in a jam and cursing everyone and everything on Earth.

Thus, you may ask, "What's so great about Kuala Lumpur then if you have to face all those jams, rain and humidity?". I think it's easy to explain and yet hard for other people to understand. For a capital city, Kuala Lumpur is really small in term of its population. Some says it only has about 2 millions people, though sometimes when I was stuck in a jam, I think it has about 5 millions people. It's relatively a new and modern city though it was built from a mining town. 

It still retained its old charm of a small township, thus, the people still friendly. Its normal still to be addressed as "Kak Long" (Elder Sister), "Kakak" (Sister), "Abang" (Brother), "Pak Cik" (Uncle) or "Mak Cik" (Auntie), or any other family terms by complete strangers.

It's never complete to talk about Kuala Lumpur if I don't talk about food. You can get all kinds of food from all states of Malaysia as well as from all over the world. From fine dining experiences to just a simple hawker stall at the roadside, Kuala Lumpur has it all. Even when you were hungry at the wee hour of 3.00 am, you can still find many restaurants and food stalls that are open and full of people. People won't think you are weird if you order a full meal even at that ungodly hour. I can't even find a food stall that opened at 5.00 pm when I was in Perth!

Did I mention about shopping? Hmm ... shopping is another favourite past time of Malaysians. Sometimes I think Kuala Lumpur has too many shopping complexes. Most of these shopping complexes open from 10.00 am to 9.00 pm, though sometimes longer hours during festive seasons. And the best part is that they open for 235 days. 

People always say the grass is always greener on the other side, but after travelling to many countries, I would say, "Yes! Even though the grass is always greener on the other side, I would not change it for the world". I guess finally I decided to put some root in a place, and nothing going to make me move my big foot from this place. Now I have a hometown, and my motherland is not that bad at all. What more can girl can ask for, right?