Meeting with unfamiliarity
- Sherry
- Jun 11, 2017
- 4 min read
Recently, my class (the bunch that I am so thankful for) and I went to Kluang, Malaysia. A 3D2N trip that will be etched on my mind for a pretty long time. It taught me so many lessons, it taught me how one could still experience such pure happiness under such simplicity. The trip was an eye-opener, there were so many things that I never knew of, so many cultures that I was oblivious about.
On the first day we made our way to the Orang Asli Village, which means the "Original People" of Malaysia. Seeing the dirty path, the scorching heat and the swamp of mosquitoes, I wasn't really down for it at first. But.. it wasn't actually that bad after all.
Kids were looking, smiling, the villagers were waving at us. The music of the Orang Asli was constantly playing (and it was in replay mode the whole time I think I memorised the whole song by the time we left), there was a very lively vibe going around. We learnt to build tables using wood and it rained halfway for a really short period of time hence the weather became really humid. We made crowns using some sort leaf (I think it's a banana leaf? But it's yellow so I'm probably wrong, like always). We played a puzzle game that was made out of ratan and a string and just like every other puzzle game, I wasn't exactly the best player, but hey I just got there, right?
One thing that I remembered vividly was the "monkey pod" that we got to try. The Monkey Pod is somewhat similar to the Ketupat that we know of. There is fragrant, steamed, coconut-flavoured rice but instead of being wrapped with palm leaves, the rice is put into Monkey Pods, better known as Pitcher plants. Yes yes, those poisonous plants that devour insects whole. I was so hesitant to try it at first because it is a poisonous plant, and I wasn't ready to be intoxicated on the first day of camp.
However, the rice tasted surprisingly good. Okay it wasn't mind-blowing, but I didn't have high expectations. It was pretty mild, slightly sweeter than regular rice and has a tinge of coconut taste in it. For those of you who know what a Kee Zhang ( yellow glutinous rice wrapped with bamboo leaves) is, it tastes something like that. And don't worry, the pitcher plants are boiled before they were used, no one was poisoned alright. This really taught me to be more open to try new things and to experience something unfamiliar because this was something that I had never seen in my entire 17 years of existence. Also, these people were really resourceful, to be able to think of using pitcher plants as a pod to put rice is pretty brilliant, I mean, many wouldn't do so as it was toxic but they had no choice and had to use what they had. It feels like a really simple snack/ appetitizer that everyone in a family could participate in making. Everyone had fun making these little pods to be steamed and it was a really pleasant time.
Fun fact: It's called a monkey pod because the villagers had mentioned that monkeys use it as a cup to drink water. Smart little creatures.
What left the deepest impression on me however, was this little kid I met when I was weaving a crown. I have to admit I'm not a big fan of kids (maybe that's why I hated my younger self) but he was so pure, happy and he was laughing at the simplest of things. When I saw him he was playing with a toy bird made from the same leaves used to weave the crown. It was just a toy bird, no batteries, no lights. I mean try giving a kid living an urban city that toy, they'd be whining day in day out, or probably switch to their iPads. But he was happy. He was even happier when some of my friends and I came forward to play with him. He followed us wherever we went and just when we thought "he is still small, we need to be really careful and watch out", he started climbing the guardhouse like an absolutely pro. Meanwhile we were struggling to get up the guardhouse even though we were more than a decade older. I could still remember the smile he had plastered on his face and how he waved at us from the top of the guardhouse.
He was so contented with the fact that he had a toy bird and that he made new friends. This really made me reflect, hard. Are we, the children of the first-world, perhaps taking things for granted a little too much? We never seem to be satisfied, we always want more. The smiles we have are temporary and not long after we fuss. It was heartwarming to see the innocence in that little boy, a virtue that many kids nowadays may have already lost. The sincere happiness of the boy really lifted the mood of many.
This group of people really showed me how it is possible to be content with life even with the minimal resources and how happiness does not derive from entities but from the little things in our everyday lives. Okay, I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty relived to leave the place because I was really sweaty, sticky and very exhausted. Heat triggers me a lot. But, I will remember the experience I had at the Asli Village. A one of a kind experience that I will treasure.
Looks like I didn't really manage to fulfil the "short and sweet" part of this post but oh well I'll get there, someday ;)
This is only day 1 of my camp, day 2 and maybe day 3 will be posted up real soon so do look out for that! Plea se do subscribe to get first hand notification on when my posts come out :)
Have a great day guys xx
-Sherry
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