Tag: eco-tourism

Loving the place they live

Dinding River is charming .
By Foong Pek Yee
The hot weather fails to keep Changkat Keruing villagers indoors.
As one villager put it: – Only Covid -19 MCO (Movement Control Order) can keep them at home.
Their favourite spots in the village  are  the  coffeeshops and a garden by the side of a river which they named it Taman Sungai Dinding (The garden of Dinding River).
Changkat Keruing Village is located along the  Dinding River in Manjung,Perak.
Villagers recalled sampans (small boats) plying the river in the past – their mode of transport then.
There were no main roads  in the old days.
An 83-year-od  villager surname  Ong says a lot has changed since then.
Today they will see a speed boat passing by once a while.
Safe haven: A sampan on the river bank
Ong says life in a village is simple and peaceful.
 The elderly keeps each other company in this greying community as majority of the youngster work  and stay outside the village.
Old friends: Ong (right) and Loo relaxing by the river side .
Ong who enjoys  playing  games on  his smart phone at home says this does not stop him from meeting friends outside.
His grandson has introduced the game to him and his wife to  keep them entertained at home during the MCO.
Welcome:  The signboard at the village’s entrance.
Changkat Keruing Village  which is more than 7o years old was once the talk of the town when then Prime Minister Tun Dr  Mahathir  Mohamad  paid an official visit to the village  in 1995.
Dr Mahathir was impressed by the villagers’ effort to come up with a garden near  the river bank.
The village took part in the clean and beautification campaign by the Housing and Local Government Ministry in the early 1990s and won the first prize.
Serenity:  A prize winning garden near the river bank
Three decades down the road, the clean and beautification  committee which was instrumental in coming up with the garden has continued to maintain it.
At 67, villager and committee member Ching Sia Tiong  credits the Old Boys Association of the village school (set up in 1973)  and the villagers for the clean and beautiful surroundings .
An asset : Ching says Changkat Keruing Village has eco tourism potential.
Changkat Keruing is a predominantly agricultural community with oil palm planting, prawn rearing and chicken farming these days.
Ching harbours hope that tourism can get more young people to stay on in the village.
A cool spot: The villagers’ favourite place
For now, the garden by the  river bank is for the villagers to enjoy.

Ending her career on a high note

The story of  Soon Ah Buei-
By Foong  Pek Yee-
SHE is a dishwasher in a restaurant.
But Soon Ah Buei never complain of fatigue, says her son  Pu Siang Yen.
“One day mother fell sick. I was her replacement, and I realised it is such a back-breaking job,” Siang Yen  recalls  his mother’s struggle after his father passed  away 22 years ago.
He has an elder brother Pu Siang Chan, 43.
Siang Yen, 40,  says his mother pampers her family with her jia xiang cai (authentic home cooking) despite after a hard day’s work in the restaurant.
“We all know she is a good cook.
Good times: Tourists enjoying themselves at Yee Tai 2  Restaurant.
“And mother finally became a chef and lao ban niang (lady boss) about seven years ago,” says Siang Yen.
Historical site: HillVille Inn and Yee Tai 2 Restaurant are housed in the Sungai Lembing Hainan Association in Sungai Lembing, an ex mining town.
The two brothers set up a guesthouse with a restaurant on the ground floor and their mother is the chef.
Located in Sungai Lembing in Pahang, HillVille Inn and Yee Tai 2 Restaurant are run by the Pu family members.
Sungai Lembing is famous for eco-tourism, and has between 2,000 and 3,000 tourists over weekends before the pandemic.
Simply cool: The Rainbow Waterfall, about 12km from Sungai Lembing New Village, on a Sunday morning.
Welcome : Friends (from left) Foo Kok How, Siang Yen, Mac Tang Siew Fong and Alan Cheong posing  with the century-old tree in Sungai Lembing town.
All is well until 2020.
The Pu brothers lost their mother to cancer shortly after the start of the pandemic.
She was 64.
Siang Yen says they have come to terms that their mother had gone to a better place, forever.
“We found solace in the fact that our mother is finally a lao ban niang (lady boss).
“She is so happy when guests like her food and they posed pictures with her,”  recalls Siang Yen.
He says even Westeners took a liking to Soon’s cooking.
According to Siang Yen, his mother who was healthy, suddenly started to lose weight which is not a good sign.
Soon was diagnosed with late stage cancer, underwent surgery, but succumbed to the disease in a matter of months.
Siang Yen says his mother had managed to train one of his aunts to do the cooking.
Note: All the photos were taken before the pandemic.