her grandpa's house

trees surrounded her grandfather's house. on the right there were ciku, jambu, nutmeg, a coconut hybrid (small), rambutan. on the left by a stream were rambutan, durian, jambu, orange, hybrid coconut, machang, mango, star fruit. behind the timber house on stilts were many asam trees, durian belanda, langsat, rambai, durian, manggis, cempedak, nangka, guava, some herbal plants like lemuni, lengkuas.

in front of the house across the village road were more durian trees, machang, rambai, langsat,

coconut trees were everywhere.

during the fruit season men were hired to climb the langsat and rambai trees to gather the lovely fruits which would be sold. the durian tree just next to the house beside the stream was her favourite. the fruits were not big, the durian flesh white but oh so creamy and delicious. this type of durian was called kucing tidur, sometimes there was only 1 ulas in a single compartment of the fruit, luscious and simply wonderful. every morning she would pick up the  small rounded fruits.

the spreading rambutan tree on the right side of the house has large, white, sweet fruits which came off easily from the seeds. 

the langsat and rambai were also very sweet to the taste, fresh off the trees. the nangka, guava, jambu, orange, ciku (oh so sweet), nutmeg, asam were not seasonal so they were enjoyed all year round. guava is green skinned. jambu is red skinned and soft white inside. the green skinned orange rather big with peach coloured flesh was terribly sweet.

rambutans, manggis from the dusun as well as from around the house were also made into jam, eaten with fresh roti benggali..... oh it was so good! some rambutans from the dusun which did not come off the seeds easily were preserved in salt water. they tasted good too.

asam were tiny rounded fruits red and sweet when ripe, can be eaten fresh on its own or dipped in soya sauce with chillies or preserved in salted water. 

there were also papaya plants, tapioca, limau purut, chillies, basil, serai, serai wangi, cekur sometimes brinjals, okra, tomatoes and other vegetables. tapioca shoots were blanched in hot water and eaten as ulam with sambal belacan mixed with shredded machang.... heavenly. during ramadhan, her mum and grandmother would look for many kinds of leaves and shoots on the hillside to make nasi ulam. the lemuni leaves were used to make nasi lemuni, eaten with fish sambal...good for mums in confinement after childnirth.

behind the house was a chicken coop. eggs were collected everyday, fresh and warm. her grandfather reared some ducks too, waddling in the shallow stream.

there were flower plants like the bakawali with big white fragrant flowers, red and pink roses, red, orange and even blue hibiscus, purple orchids, red pagoda flowers, peach amaryllis, bougainvillea, fragrant tiny white melati, long dangling red ekor kucing, yellow marigolds, yellow, red crotons, yellow allamanda, maroon acalypha, tiny althenanthera rows and a hegde called daun teh.

she used to have a small patch of garden. in the evenings after studying and doing school work, she would grab a small cangkul and tended to the tapioca, sweet potato, kacang botol and other plants there. it was her very wise grandfather's idea for her to have a vegetable garden of her own. the kacang botol was so luxuriant that she gave some to neighbours. 


ah.... what a haven!