This sign outside the Isetan supermarket at KLCC made me spin on my heels. Chewable vitamins, cherry flavoured paracetamol, oral vaccines....what will they think of next? I know those billion $$$ drug barons are creative but this was just out of sight man. Now instead of swallowing tablets or capsules you can fry, poach, steam or scramble your medication. And have it with a bit of salt and pepper to "make the medicine go down". And for only RM3.29 a dozen. Sure beats what I pay for antibiotics at my GP's. Cool.
But it was not to be. Turns out that the sign was written by an English language challenged SPM graduate. What the sign meant to say was that the eggs were anti-biotic free!
Actually, these days you just can't buy JUST an egg anymore. They've got to be cholesterol free, antibiotic free etc. The only thing not free are the eggs you buy. Same thing goes for stuff which you use everyday. Try looking for an ordinary bar of SOAP. You won't find any. There are lots of beauty treatments, facial washes, cleansers but no SOAP. Right?
This is the blog I got for visiting KLCC yesterday. Oh yes. I also got myself a cool pouch for my Nokia 6630 phone. I'm a happy man.
44 comments:
Hormones and what have you, OK woh. We now have a generation of girls (and guys) with bigger breasts...
lol Lucky u took the initiative to find out it was supposed to be antibiotic free!! I thought the eggs were treated with antibiotics and therefore safe to consume as separuh masak! (ppl were advised not to eat half poached eggs because of bird flu)
BTW enjoy your phone..... and pouch.
but they did not say H5N1 (bird flue) free wor!!
nothing is wat it is anymore. so complicated!
it seems we must pause and read every word before buying anything..
Nowdays is all about branding. Perhaps in the future we'll have designer eggs even. Talking about soap, I yearn for the Popinjoy (green colour with a parrot sign)that I can no longer find in my local kedai runcit
aiya teoh, try bio-eggs lor.
the one with nurul & ajai as their spokesperson...
I hate to dissappoint you soowm. The future is here now. Designer eggs have been on the shelf for a long time. Genetically engineered eggs that have low or no cholesterol and God knows what else they don't have. Was that Popinjay or Popinjoy? I remember that soap. Green packaging with the picture of a bright colored macaw.
While on the subject of nostalgic products does anyone remember Huntley & Palmers Gems and Marie biscuits when they were sold in those rectangular tins which came with a little metal cutter to open?
OR
Lucozade before it became a trendy soft drink?
OR
Woodward's Gripe Water before they discovered that it contained alcohol. GASP GASP GASP.....How could they do that? Fed to babies somemore....string them up. But then generations of us grew up having taken our regular tablespoons of Woodward's and we seem none the worse none the worse none the worse none the worse.
OR
Ovaltine
OR
Darkie Toothpaste before political correctness killed it.
(come on, add to the list....)
King's wife, what a monicker. Royalty is always welcome here:-)You're right about things being complicated. And they no longer taste like what I remember. Sigh.
Hey Helen, didn't you promise to go take photos of the two Ipoh Ngau Lam sisters and post them on your blog? What happened?
Finally, Imf what the hell is an bio-egg?????? And while you're at it, who the hell is nurul and ajai???
"The only thing not free are the eggs you buy" - lol!!!
Patrick,
Yeah, I tak lupa my promise. Now every night also rain mar...:-)
Popinjay soap is still around. Getting nostalgic? I remembered
1. Fung Keong school shoes;
2. ice bola from canteen;
3. 3 ladies brand cologne;
4. kickapoo (I think still got)
5. Green Spot
6. 555 cigarettes;
7. Amami(talcum)
Okay some more nostalgia...
Bata Badminton Master shoes
tikam tikam ice cream man
4711 Eau De Cologne
555 book to record credit at sundry shops
Players Gold Leaf cigarettes
Craven A cigarettes
Abdullah 37 cigarettes and that silly TV commercial and song
Rock groups used to advertise petrol. Remember Caltex Boron?
And this is something I'll bet few if any of you remember. When I was little and going in and out of hospitals in Singapore so that doctors could make me walk again, I remember the Indian man who brought the whole cow to sell you fresh milk. Can't get fresher than that can you?
My daddy used to tell me about about sinful BB Park, strip queen Rose Chan and screening of x-rated movies in public cinemas? Kuala Lumpur really regressed hasn't it?
Lifebuoy soaps still got or not ah?
I just typed a long comment here, sent it and it got lost in cyber space. Shit! Anyway...
Smith, the only time I saw Rose Chan perform was in some nightclub along Jalan Ampang the name of which I cannot remember already. I also interviewed her once when I was in Rediffusion. She was quite old then but could still strut her stuff.
When I was little and growing up in Ipoh it was the Jubilee Park, the one that LAT drew in Town Boy. Didn't see any strip shows there but I remember going to watch movies there and having to bring my own seat. I also remember those pre May 13 days when elections meant great times for everyone's entertainment. Lots of rallies, speeches, free movies. A large white screen would be set up in the middle of the field. Stalls would appear selling everything from rojak to appam to Ipoh Hor Fun. The movie, usually a John Wayne western would start and be stopped at some exciting moment for the speeches. Back in those days Ipoh was a PPP stronghold in a vice grip of the Seenivasagam brothers. And they were multi-lingual, fiery and very entertaining speakers. I daresay I learned quite a few tricks from listening to them from my first floor window. Back in those days I lived opposite the Anderson Road (donch know what name it is now) children's playground so I got front row seats everytime. Those political rallies were great. Back then we didn't have Malays, Chinese or Indians here. Only Malayan/sians. So everybody got fucked. In the speeches I mean. When it was deserved and relevant lah. Ahhh...the good old days.
Yes, I agree Smith. KL has regressed. But then most of the people who blog don't know anything else other than Beach Club and 12SI so to them this is IT!
Hey Samm, LIFEBUOY Soap! Ya! Have seen them in decades.
On the subject of eggs... I found out a few years ago that there are marigold plantations in So Cal since the turn of last century. Yes, I said "marigolds" - like the flower! Found out that they have been used for ages in chicken feed to "yellow-up" the yolk of eggs. Yeah, we've been screwing around with shit (pardon my french) for ages!
I totally agree KL has regressed. I've thought that for a while now, but I'm so glad to know there are others who feel the same; I thought it was just me and my imagination!
When I was at school, people were a lot more relaxed about things. If I were to pinpoint the time when it began to change, I'd say it was the 1979 Iran revolution. Now, people seem to have lost their sense of humour. It's like they walk around with sticks up their bums!
It breaks my heart to read about all the crap that goes on. I think the worst is when people say it could be worse. Worse than what? Correct me if I'm wrong, but should we not benchmark ourselves against the best, not the worst?
I've always thought I'd live and die in Malaysia. Now, I'm not so sure any more. I live in North America at the moment and while I don't think I'll give up Malaysian nationality, that isn't a decision carved in stone. I guess it depends on whether my dreams and hopes of Malaysia, of being Malaysian (would someone please remind me, what it is to be Malaysian?) are resurrected. Right now, that looks remote.
Hah, Patrick,I think u can still buy Popinjoy soap in TESCO. Anyway,I remember some of these old stuff:
1)the pre-printed song requests
dedication cards that we send to
u to get our dedications and
messages on the radio and the times when it was cool to have weird names like James Collin Wong,Ronny Atkinson Khoo, Robert Vincent Lim, Sally Serina Tan etc. etc.
2) Rough Rider's cigarettes that my grandma used to smoke.
3)The Straits Echo newspapers
4)40 sen third class cinema tickets.
5)Making up sayings etc. by using known words as acronymns eg. F.R.A.N.C.E. meaning Friendship Remains And Never Can End;
GOLDLEAF means Go on lie down, lets enjoy and other F---,
( Btw, the S'poreans never really grew out of this eg. OCBC means Only Cash Boh Credit,ITE -their technical institute means It's the End )
6)Not only has KL regressed but the nation generally as whole as well.Most of the time messed by the people who shouldn't be there making decisions for the many.So why must we always compare ourselves with the nations that are worse off than us instead of comparing with the best of the world.
Maybe here's why:
Five surgeons are discussing who has the best patients to operate on.
The first surgeon says, "I like to see accountants on my operating table because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered."
The second responds, "Yeah, but you should try electricians! Everything inside them is color coded."
The third surgeon says, "No, I really think librarians are the best; everything inside them is in alphabetical order."
The fourth surgeon chimes in: "You know, I like construction workers. Those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over at the end, and when the job takes longer than you said it would."
But the fifth surgeon shut them all up when he observed: "You're all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on. There's no guts, no heart, no balls, no brains and no spine, and the head and the ass are interchangeable."
Char Hor Fun with haruan fish meat.
Putu mayam
BBQ sotong with sweet source
Episode ending of Zorro tied to the railtracks with train approaching and finally, anyone seen the Japanese TV series Giant Robot?
Lecram, I didn't know that Yellow or Brown eggs were that popular in the USA. I've always seen only white eggs on the shelves. But they were huge lah. We can't get those sizes here. Either we don't produce them that big or the big ones get exported to Singapore. Yup we get the shitty end of the stick again. Same with the best vegetables and sea food. They all go out of the country.
Dear anonymous, your sentiments are shared by quite a number of Malaysians abroad I think. I don't know when you were in school but when I was things were like you said, "More relaxed". Religion was no big deal. Everybody did their own thing and others respected that. Now they just tolerate and when toleration reaches it's ultimate end they will react violently. Tolerance is not understanding or respect. It's just...well....tolerance:-) And it's been part of the government speak for many years now. Whenever something is brought up for evaluation the stock tag to any answer is "But at least we are better than....(insert any number of countries here)". People complain about bad public transport - At least we're better than Ghana (or any other African country). People complain about petrol prices - hey we're the lowest in the region. And so on and so forth.
Hey Jason L. Thanks for the TESCO tip. I found that out too. Only thing is these days Popinjay Soap is priced like a beauty treatment isn't it?
Thanks for bringing back those pre-printed request cards for me. I am sure that almost everybody here would not remember them and would think that they were so stupid. For these people, the request cards were just that. You bought them from the hole in the wall Indian newsstand and just filled in the blanks. Song requested: Dedicated to: From: Message: Then you mailed it in to the radio station. When I was working on radio I used to receive scores of these cards everyday. Just to let you in on a little deejay secret. Requests on Pre-printed cards were the last to be considered for air play. I figured that since you're too lazy to write a proper letter you don't deserve any response. But that was just me and not the industry standard as far as I know.
Oh yes, those names....William Elvis Honda Tan (anyone remember him? His other claim to fame apart from his name was that he got married on a Honda motorcycle. Made the pages of The Malay Mail.), Rocky Alison Teoh, Rickson Lim, Theresa Elvise Liew (who went on to become a psychologist). Anyone remember any more of those names from that period?
Popular cigarettes during a time when smoking was the coolest thing...
Rothmans King Size
Benson & Hedges King Size
Player's Gold Leaf
Consulate Menthol (Cool as a mountain stream)
Matterhorn Menthol
Fanfare Magazine
The Straits Times
Cheap matinees on weekends
Cinema serials like the one that ah chong was describing. Had to wait a week to see the next instalment. But of course we all knew that the hero would be quite alright, thank you.
ah chong, putu mayam still got now what. Do you remember the little old ladies who toted wiker baskets and sold spicy cooked snails wrapped in banana leaf cones and newspaper?
TOLERATION??? Now where the f*** did I get that from??? Sorry about that. Thank you for your tolerance.
my late grandma use to have a kind of soap what we called sabun cap kapak. u can purchase it at any kedai runcit and u can decide how much do u want to buy. 30 cent means slighly small, 60 cent a bit bigger. it has strong smell too.... some call it sabun potong. not sure if it is still exist.
p/s: when did u visit Isetan KLCC? wonder if u were there during the incident (check out my blog for details:sherrina.blogspot.com)
Ka ka ka, Aiyah Patrick, toleration not in dictionary. Ya lor, too bad this blog posting donch have spellcheck. Back in those days, must use actual dictionary !
But you are right, lor. Nowadays, gamen preaching tolerance. I think they should promote acceptance. Baarger, I pay taxes osso wat.
HI Sherrina. Yes I do remember buying soap from the local sundry shop like that. They would cut you a cake of soap from a long bar according to how much you wanted. Cool system if you ask me. But of course back then it was still possible to buy just soap. I am very happy you did what you did to Isetan. We need more Malaysians like you.
While we're still on this,
Does anybody remember drinking NAAFI beer at 80 sen for a large bottle of Anchor?
When you could buy a brand new Mercedes Benz 190D for RM18,000?
When you could safely drink water from the tap?
When you could take 50 sen to school and be considered a big spender with a rich father?
Here's more on the late Mr. William Elvis Honda Tan...
His wedding on a Honda motorcycle so impressed the Honda main man that he sent him an invitation to visit Honda in Japan. Got his photo taken with the legendary Soichiro Honda and all. Of course Tan has been to Graceland I don't know how many times. Tan lived in a bungalow house sited on what is now part of the Chinese restaurant with the two giant prawns outside. Just across the road from the Hard Rock Cafe, KL. I had the privilege of visiting this house once when I was still a radio deejay on Rediffusion (the grandfather of Red 104.9 FM) It was during one anniversary of the death of Elvis. Elvis Honda Tan held a sort of memorial for the King. Tan's house was decked out like a shrine to Elvis. Elvis paraphernalia all over the place. Yes, William Elvis Honda Tan used to buy and use lots of those pre-printed request cards. Thing was William Elvis Honda Tan was the kind of guy who if he walked past you on the streets you would instinctive reach into your pockets for some small change. But he was a character. Some of us will remember him fondly.
Hey come over and see your sisters..
http://allofhelen.blogspot.com/2005/10/cheong-kee-sisters.html
I missed the food vendors with a "kitchenette" mounted on tricycles. They pedalled around the residential areas yelling out the food they sold - wantan mee, popiah, ah pom balik, yong tau foo, rojak, curry meehoon, and chee cheong fun. One standout is the "tik tung tik tung" man - he snaps a ceramic spoon against a ceramic bowl to create the "tik tung" sound to announce his presence. He doesn't yell what food he was selling. Everyone knew it was hot "toong fun" noodle soup (glass vermicelli). My other favorite was the Indian man who travelled around selling wads of soft, white vermicelli, served cold with a sprinkling of sugar on it. Sorry, forgot the name of this treat.
I tell you, these old-style food vendors gave meaning to fast food way before McDonalds did. Day or night, they came to our houses dishing out instant, delicious food to satisfy the hungry masses. All we did was step outside our houses with bowls in hand and flagged them down.
One more thing, don't forget the vendors on motorized three-wheelers who came around to sell pork to stay-at-home moms. Wasn't life calm and relaxing back in those days instead of the mad, hectic scramble today?
I think we need to revive these old traditions which are uniquely Malaysian. Will surely cut down on unnecessary travel for lots of people going out for just a makan. Definitely good too for elder folks who cannot move around too much. Think about it - less travel means less air pollution, less traffic jams, and no need to pay parking fees.
About the "Indian man who travelled around selling wads of soft, white vermicelli, served cold with a sprinkling of sugar on it" ..... I just remembered the name now. It is called "ma yoong" in Cantonese.
Here is a comment that I posted on Helen's site. Since it has to do with this nostalgia that we are all taking here I thought I'd post it here as well. Go visit Helen (www.allofhelen.blogspot.com) and have a look at those two sisters who were the object of so many of mine and many other Ipoh flers childhood sexual fantasies:-).....
Hey Helen, thank you so much for the photos of the ngau lam sisters. The elder one looks a little worn now:-) But the younger sister, who was always my favorite still looks good. She is feisty too. Couple of years ago I visited the stall and tried to start a conversation with her and got an earful!:-) But I have to thank both the sisters for so many memories of my childhood la. I used to go to their, well it was their father's stall then, at least twice a week. Like I said I don't have such fond memories of the noodles. Just the sisters. How they have maintained their slim figures is a secret that should be marketed.
I too have many memories of the Odeon cinema. It used to be owned by the family of a girlfriend. The Odeon had special VIP boxes upstairs which had wider seats and were set away from the general seating at each side of the 'circle' seats which was the name they gave to the more expensive upstairs seats. Many a Sunday afternoon were spent snuggling in the VIP box oblivious of the flickering picture show on the screen. It is a pity that cinemas like the Odeon throughout the country have been disgracefully turned into nightclubs and worse supermarkets. Does anyone remember the two giant Dragons on either side of the Rex cinema screen? Cinemas back then had a life and character unique to each one. Unlike the clinically boring cineplexes of today.
You found the 10 Commandments boring? I went to see it 12 times! Once when I was burning with fever too. And after the movie my fever was gone. Reaffirmed my juvenile impression that God was pleased that I was there to listen to His commandments:-)
I've heard of the urban legend that little girls and boys pee'ed in the cinema aisles but I've never actually seen this being done. Well, you certainly left your mark and your scent:-)
You're right, the worse thing to happen to Ipoh was the moving of all the hawkers from their age old locations to those hawker centers. With that Ipoh lost most of its charm and character. But that's what Malaysians tend to do now. Treat the symptom but not the disease.
The thing I remember most of Theatre St. and its surroundings were the "leong sui" stalls with those slim, gorgeous "leong sui mui's" in their tight sam foo's and their enticing smiles. This was before the days of Karaoke and GRO lounges and men used to drink a lot of leong sui as an excuse to chat up the young ladies. And some of these ladies could stand up there with the best of todays's beauty queens.
Thank you, Helen for bringing back so many memories of my growing up years in Ipoh.
Ask your mom if she remembers the old fler who would go around town late at night selling steamed egg custard and yelling "Tun kai tarn" which from a distance sounded like Hum ka charn! Always got a slap from my mom when I tried to imitate him.
Those "antibiotic" eggs are not RM3.29 a dozen...have another look at the sign....it is RM3.29 EACH. Wow, still cheap I suppose, compared to those eggs that MAS pay for !
Talking of nostalgia, I miss the Indian man hawking kueh and asam laksa in the 3-tiered baskets carried on either end of a wooden pole and he would come round to the neighbourhood and call at each house. What about the "pak yow" man who came to the house and my Mum would get me to go out with empty bottles to buy kicap which he pumped from this metal container. Ha ha, all this goes to reveal our age....better not say anymore.
Hi Anonymous. I think I might be right. Those eggs are selling at RM3.29 for a pack of 10. Not a dozen as I originally thought. How much did MAS pay for eggs?
Yes I do remember the Indian man carrying his wicker baskets on a pole. One basket at each end of the pole and a small stove in the middle on which sat a pot of boiling assam laksa soup. The Indian man sold nyonya kueh.
I remember also my mom buying soya sauce from vendors with big canisters. She brought her own bottles.
I am surprised nobody has mentioned bringing eggs from home to the char loay teow man to fry with the koay teow. In my days, char koay teow with egg cost 50 sen but if your brought your own you pay only 30 sen. And a bowl of curry mee at the school tuck shop (yes that was what it was called back then. Much more character than the modern canteen or cafe or food court which is what the St. Michael's Institution in Ipoh calls their tuck shop now) cost only 20 sen. Now that is saying something about my age eh?:-)
Beware of eggs that come out from gay cock's butt. ;)
All this talk of nostalgia has me wondering how much character and culture we are losing by "trading" in what was... for the impression of progress. How much of this outward "development" is worming it's way within? Is the "face" of the country a true reflection of it's "soul"? Or is it's soul being eroded by the application of too much make-up?
Hi lecram. Good thoughts. How much? Too much would seem to be inadequate to describe the steady erosion of our country's history and soul. A true indicator of being a 'developing' country far from attaining maturity is the relentless destruction of its history, culture and diversity.
Someone told me this once :When people in an organization ( or nation ) gets nostalgic, then it is symptomatic of deeper problems and may be the beginning of the end of that organization.
The Romantics were nostalgic.
The Victorians were, of course, nostalgic. And even those modernist artists and critics, those make-it-new avant-gardists were nostalgic. Theirs was nostalgia for a time before power corrupted art, a longing for a time and place that perhaps never existed. They wished for antiseptic designs and images that avoided representations of the recent past, yet harkened back to the Greeks. They wanted Athens minus the slavery.Today there are all gone and they remain only in history.
If that is true, then it is getting scary.
Being nostalgic for the same of being nostalgic will bring about eventual decay and destruction. Sure. But we are not talking about being nostalgic here, are we? More a preservation of what foundations we were built and nurtured on so that future generations may look back, ponder, learn if there are valuable lessons to be culled, while on their way to constructing a future.
We are not wishing for a return of the past, are we? If this has come across in the postings then my sincere apologies. Wasn't meant to be.
Hi Patrick,no apologies needed really.As far as the remembrance of things and stuff in the past, we are ok.But I note that in the midst of it all, most of us have our own lamentations eg. KL has regressed, the loss of culture,character,soul, history,identity etc. as we "progress".It is also sad when even the government keeps talking about tolerance when the ideal should be acceptance.
I agree that it is not a blind nostalgia of yearning for the past, not the kind of yearning that robs us of the present, and certainly of the future just like the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Like you said, we wish for a better place and we need to have the courage to learn from our constructions and events of the past what possibilities and choices once existed. We then draw conclusions about the consequences of our present-day choices. This in turn enables us to project a vision of the future, building upon the good foundations of the past. It is through history-making that the present is freed from necessity and the past becomes usable.
Btw, of the little girls and boys peeing in the cinema aisles - I've seen it many times, even my mum asked me to do it cos' she's doesn't want to miss any part of the movie by taking me to the restroom.Guess what I did?
Come to think of it then, it was really a privilege in that a little boy of 5 or 6 years old can actually get to use the ladies' restroom to pee without any fuss...hahaha.
How about 80's KL disco..cave, tin mine,..i cant recall the one in Petaling street..oh yeah another one near volvo(i think own by u)
Thank you JasonL, What else need I say. You have put it so well. Thank you.
As for peeing, I think the worse I have done is lift my trousers and peed into the longkang (drain) outside my father's shop).
No, John Tak_ada-Otak, I didn't own that disco I only operated it. It was called Club 100. And since we are on the subject of disco's past, does anyone remember Arthur's Cave in the Merlin Hotel? Jackie's Bowl which was the first ever disco in the country? Time Tunnel? And more recent ones like Where Else?
Kathrina said...
I remember...
1) The Indian breadman who comes around selling 'benggali roti' that is fresh from the local bakery. Best way to eat it is to steamed with loads of butter or homemade kaya. The choice part was the top crust which me and my brothers will fight for.
2) V05 shampoo for dandruff. Still remember that stuff stinks!
3) Ice cream potong which the seller places inside a bun.
4) Tikam-tikam; a game of chance where for 5 sen, you choose a piece of folded square stuck on a board. Prizes range from a stamp to RM10 cash. It was a lot of money then.
5)'Flying saucer' biscuit which is shaped like a saucer, comes a bright yellow or pink shade. Use to hurl them around like 'freezie bee'(did I spell that correct?).
6) Cut-off paper dolls which comes with two sets of clothes. For variety, we design our own cut-out clothes complete with hats, shoes and handbags. And house then between the pages of the school books. No barbie dolls, thank you.
Damn, now I've got that tune 'Those were the days' stuck in my mind..
How did a blog on eggs suddenly become a nostalgia sharing session ? hehehe. Anyway, here are my additions to the nostalgia list, maybe "warga emas" like patrick cannot appreciate some of them because they are from a different era than his:
I remember.....
1)Watching He-man, Transformers, Thundercats, Silver Hawk and Mickey Mouse. Not to forget, Ninja turtles, Mask and Smurfs too.
2)The days when the school nurse, comes with a list for the dentist appointment, the sound of the drilling when my friend has a fill in his tooth scared the wits out of me.
3)The packets of milk we get in primary school to encourage us to drink more milk under the "project susu" by our beloved gomen.
4)In secondary school, girls altered their school skirt to shorten it and guys will go and alter their school trousers to the then fashionable "baggy pants"!
5)During primary school days, the teacher will punish you using a ruler to hit your palm or 100 "pull ups" while holding your ears.
6)A bowl of noodles soup cost only 30c in primary school days (YEAH...AND THE BUS FARE WAS ONLY 20 CENTS THEN...:) )
7)Yaohan departmental stores used to be a favourite hangout for families during weekends.
8)In secondary school days, Bata BM Turbo school shoes were in, usually worn with very thick socks.
9)Cassette tapes and walkman were the norm.
10)Movie tickets used to cost less than RM5
11)The goodies from Mamak shop used to be Mamee, Ka ka, Kum Kum, Ding Dang choco balls (with toys in the box), colourful hard "egg", "cigerette" chocolate, pink bottle of bubbles, and small tubes with yellow sticks to blow "more lasting" bubbles that you can pop more air in or slam it on.
12) When exams are over, the board games(e.g:Monopoly, Animal Chess), Card Games with Race Cars and Jet Planes & hand held "Game and Watch" will be all over the class room.
13) My favorite peddler was the old "ah pek" who sells ice balls, "rojak" and barbequed cuttlefish on a stick.
14) My favourite childhood games were playing "bak gu li"(marbles), seven stones, "Pepsi-Cola one two three", Police & Thief, "Kali-toi", "One Leg", "high jump" over a long rope strung together with rubber bands.
15) The best thirst quencher of all times is the yummy colourful ice tubes you can buy from provision shops. To eat them, break the "neck" between 2 sections and suck while holding the freezing tube until all the coloring fades from the ice.
16) Weapon of the day: a rubber band catapult that shoots folded paper!
17) Collectibles of the day: Ice cream sticks and soda bottle caps
18) Everyone envies the class
monitor and his/her assitant, cos they come up with the daily duty roster, giving names to teacher on who makes the most noise, and off to "detention class" for the culprits !
19) Sticker books on cartoon themes, dinasours, animals, soccer, etc. If you complete the whole book (including the rare stickers), you can win valuable items like electronic games, remote control cars and robots.
Kathrina,
1. I must say I don't remember benggali roti or how it looks like or tastes. But I always remembered the neighbourhood kopitiam fler cutting off the crust of the bread slices before toasting them for kaya and butter. I myself didn't really mind crust or no.
2. Never used stuff like that VO5. When I had dandruff I used something that was supposedly very strong. Sebbix or something la it was called. Dandruff vanished real quick.
3. It was ice cream potong that was put in a bun was it? I thought it was normal ice cream between 2 slices of bread.
4. Never won anything worthwhile from those tikam tikam boards.
5. Flying saucer biscuits? New to me
6. Those paper dolls are still being sold today albeit more expensive.
Those Were The Days was one of the most requested songs when I was deejaying on Rediffusion. But the top of the request list was Patches by Dickie Lee.
I also must contribute to this nostalgia bit lah. When my family first moved to SS2 PJ, there used to be several vendors who come around in the evenings. One was a man with his bike and cart who sold "tok tok mee". He hit two sticks to make the "tok tok tok tok" sound, to announce he was in the vicinity. An elderly lady used to carry two baskets on a yoke to sell a local kuih called "faan shue taan" made with sweet potato. The kuih had ground peanut and sugar filling. She used to yell very loudly "faan shue taan". The favourite for my brothers and I was a man on bicycle. We could hear him from quite a distance away yelling "haaam yook chung!". The "chung" he sold wasn't that good but he sure got a lot of attention.
We didn't have to drive all the way to Kuala Selangor to see fireflies. There were fireflies in our backyard!
Kathrina, I remember some of those things you mentioned too. Schoolmates with pocket money bought the dolls. Some of my schoolmates and I drew our own dolls, clothes and accessories. We were so good at it, we knew how to draw the dolls so the clothes will hang properly and we could design bags for the clothes too.
TV didn't start till 5pm then. Before that was TV Pendidikan. My favourite show on TV Pendidikan was "Learning English" which had a song that went "Learning English is lots of fun, lot of fun, lots of fun... Remember the two clowns Bing and Bong? Years later, I met the actor Lim Beng Choon who played Bong :o) In some of the episodes, there was a space ship. The "space ship" was part of a house in Bangsar. That structure has been torn down now.
Trips to Ipoh was something my brothers and I looked forward to. In the evenings, my parents, uncles, aunts and cousins went into town and stood by the roadside to eat "lok lok". Fishball, seafood, quail eggs on skewers dipped into boiling soup to cook, then dipped into chili or sweet sauce before eaten.
My cousins and I used to run wild near my family house. There was a village opposite the house and the road was a dead end, so it was quite safe to play outside. We kept ourselves occupied all day catching fighting spiders, played badminton, learned to cycle, fly kite and spin tops. All male cousins there ma. Now, the whole area are shoplots. No more natural playground :-(
These memory lane tidbits are priceless! Should be a blog by itself :)
I remember that brainless but fun game we used to play in primary school. Grab a picture card each (usually Ultraman) and slam it against one another's palm. High Five style. Then the winner is decided the 'closed' or 'open' card on the floor.
The other craze was to stack up those cards and knock them down from a distance, bowling style. Using a Japanese slipper, of course. Each fella would hone his skill to perfection yet with his own terrror stance and special method of holding the slipper before it was thrown. Much like a Samurai flipping those lethal flying 'star'.
Oh yes. We did that too, but it was fashioned from a flattened F&N bottle caap, spiked and sharpened to the max. Man, we were violent those days.
I can go on about bringing pet fighter spiders to school in matchboxes and sparring kites in the skies with strings cooked in broken glass. The idea was to cut the other barger's kite string 300 ft in the air.
PS: Are those metal box Oxford Instrument set still being used in schools these days?
We also carried in our school bags, our own personal Siamese Fighting Fish in jam jars.
Then there was also this bizarre 'watch fight' where we will lock the crown of our spring winding watches against one another, and see which one dies (stop ticking) first.
Primary school was just as competitive those days, but in a much different way than today.
TV Smith, I remembered the "slamming card game". The objective is to conquer your opponent's cards (as many as possible). They sell those ultraman cards at mamak stalls for 20 cts per foil which consists of about 20-30 cards.
yeah, i also remembered the kites flown on glass coated strings. Used to cook the glass shards in "kongkong" tins at the back lane. after cutting the barger's kite, you have to run like hell to chase it and sometimes it gets stuck on someone's roof, so you don't get it after all your hard efforts.
metal box geometric sets ? think i still see them being sold at some of the book stalls. you know what is a protractor good for ? we used to play a game where we stab the thing between our fingers (while the palm is flat on the table) at fast speeds to prove that you are not chicken. of course it's a good idea to practice with less painful items like a pencil first. hahaha
Reading all you guys and gals reminding us of Rose Chan, bengalli roti, rex cinema etc, reminds me of the Central Market where every stall owner knew what the man of the house would buy daily on his way back home and then on Sunday buy for the weekend lunch and dinner. Those guys, the stall owners knew each of us like we were all from the same kampung. They knew what each of us wanted in what combination from the type of fish to the spices which would be mixed for you on the spot.I just used to love following my dad to the market and it was one huge market. No supermarket or hypermarket of today can beat this big wetmarket. I made a point of buying things from until it was no longer a wet-market. Now nobody knows anyone anymore.Any other buildings anyone else can talk about. Maybe someone can start a blog on the old buildings that are still surviving and even place pictures of those that are not surviving.
I do remember Honda Tan and the corner bungalow house. Visiting him in his house, he would tell you all about Elvis from A to Z.
Today Masjid Jamek has two LRT stations, but the spot where Bank Bumiputra stands was also a bus terminal for buses up north, south and east
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