KAMPUNG ORANG ASLI CHINGGONG - VILLAGERS

Kami, saya dan rakan saya William, went out for some photoshooting. The plan was to go to an orang asli village. That's it. We had no idea which village to go to and what to expect. Ye lah, baru pagi tu je kami decided. Lagi pun si William ni sibuk sgt orangnya. So bila both our schedules allowed it, kitaorg pun decided there and then and belasah je la...hihi. All we know that there are some orang asli villages in Perak and sambil drive tu tengok2 la signboards. Entah apa punya plan la....hahaha....

Actually we went to the 1st orang asli village [tak ingat nama kampung tu] but decided to immediately turned and quickly exited the village because suasana kampung tu agak kotor, berbau busuk [ader babi] dan menakutkan. I mean, I know tak elok judge cam tu without even going in but seeing the people there especially the guys that looked quite 'unfriendly' made us think twice. Plus the kampung was littered with sampah sarap, like there is no proper pengurusan sampah. Also saya seram/tak lalu sebab ader banyak anjing2 yg kelihatan garang menyalak2 mungkin sebab kami strangers. Also got sekor dua babi berkeliaran. Granted perhaps that is the usual 'permandangan' di situ, but it surely wasn't our kind of scene lah. William also felt the same. I went, 'William go! Go! Go!' as he drove away as quickly as he could.

Tak serik lagi tu. Kami terus to the next kampung, Kampung Orang Asli Chinggong [actually ni di Tanjong Malim, Perak]. Alhamdulillah, kampung ni totally opposite. Like, totally. This kampung is bersih and had that sense of calmness and friendliness about it. Still we were quite cautious especially after our first experience.

Punya la panjang introduction.... hihi... sorry... kena tulis ni semua 'Agar Aku Tidak Lupa'.... hihi...

And after parking the car, we made our way to the first house we encountered. There in front of his house is this man tengah dok atas pangkin sambil membuat sangkar burung. Instantly I got uber excited. I mean what's the chances of such an encounter, right? Tapi tatasusila kena jaga. Perkenal diri kami dulu, beritahu tujuan kami dan bersalaman. Abang ni yang tadinya macam tertanya2 why and what were we doing there, nampak lega after the 'ice breaking'..hihi. Terus dia jemput kami duduk dan bersembang. Yang bestnya lepas mintak izin nak ambik gambar, abang tu senyum dan kata boleh :).

Sangat cantik hasil seni abang ni. Dia nampak begitu teliti dan tekun. Hasil kerja beliau amat saya kagumi.

Sambil berbual2 kami menyatakan tujuan kami ke situ untuk jalan2 dan ambil gambar suasana. Seperti memahami our intention, dia terus mencadangkan kami jalan ke arah sana [sambil menuding] di mana ader sungai tempat orang2 kampung mandi, mencuci kain dan pinggan mangkuk, mencuci buluh dan lain2 aktiviti harian penduduk kampung di sungai.  Dalam hati saya dah super excited. It was too good to be true. Abang tu tambah lagi di sungai tu juga adalah tempat kanak2 bermain. Lagi saya teruja cause kids are the best when they are at play :).

Dan yg bestnya lagi, abang tu siap kata dia akan suruh anak2 dia bawa kami ke sungai tu. Such hospitality and so friendly! Things just got better and better I cannot believe it. And to think that we almost balik ke KL after the first unfortunate experience. Sebelum berjalan ke sungai tu, saya berterima kasih pada abang tu.

Perkenalkan Aidil dan Cahaya anak2 abang pembuat birdcage. So cute, right, nama mereka. 'Cahaya' is such a beautiful name :). Mula2 diaorg berdua ni malu2 tapi lepas tu sgt mesra.

Terus si comel Cahaya bawa kami turun ke tebing sungai. Ehh... nice pose and I quickly clicked.. hehe.
Di jambatan tu ialah Aidil dan ibu kedua2 budak ni. She is also sgt la friendly. Scroll down and you will see :).

Then kami nampak a couple of ladies sedang membawa batang buluh. Berat nampaknya tapi mereka steady je.

Later I found out that they were on their way home from a nearby forest. These bamboos were later chopped to small pieces and sold as chinese prayer sticks. A bundle of 100 sticks can be sold from RM4.50 to RM5.00, which if you ask me is way too cheap for all the hard work !! But this is one of the ways for them to earn a living.

Seterusnya tumpuan kami beralih ke kakak2 dan adik2 di seberang sana sungai.
'Toleh la naknya akak tu, toleh... toleh....'. And she did and I quickly clicked...hihi. Then realizing what I just did, suddenly saya rasa serba salah pulak. Mana la tau kot akak tu tak suka orang ambik gambar dia ke. Nasib baik dia ok je. Dia toleh balik ke depan dan continued to wash the bamboo.

Washing bamboo and clothes. Dan mesti saya katakan di sini yang air sungai tu sgt bersih dan jernih dan sejuk nyaman. Rasa macam nak take a dip je....hihi...

Adik ni tengah basuh pinggan mangkuk dan lain2 peralatan dapur.

Exactly the sort of shot I wanted to take.

'Dongak dik, dongak....'. And she did! Hihihi....

Actually the ladies were more meriah then what can be seen here. Sambil mereka doing their chores, mereka bersembang2 dan sesekali bergelak ketawa. Such a wonderful atmosphere.

Adik ni sedang mencuci kain baju. Kat bawah ader foto dia tengah melibas/memukul kain baju pada batu :)

Banyak adik ni kena basuh lagi tu. Penuh sebesin besar barang2 yg dicuci.

Adik ni baru bangun tido kot tersadai cam tu...hihi....

Truly orang2 Kampung Chinggong ni sangat friendly dan peramah. Bro ni I siap lambai [kita masuk kampung orang mesti la kita yg mulakan the friendly gesture dulu, ye tak?] dan dia senyum dan lambai balik.

This guy pulak nak mandikan anak dia. Kena je air terus si kecik tu menjerit menangis. Saya rasa satu kampung dengar kot...haha... so cute.
A father finding a spot on one of the rocks where he then placed his son on and bathe him. I thought this was such a beautiful sight.. love, care and devotion.

Agaknya air sungai tu is too cold for si kecik tu. Kesian dia. Tapi abah dia senyum gelak je...hihi. Habih satu badan kena sabun...hihi...

Telah selesai tugasan pagi itu.

'Pelepap!' Pelepup!'. Adik ni melibas kain pada batu. Can't get anymore traditional than this!

Akak ni lebih veteran. Lihatlah gaya dia melibas. Lebih kepada memukul batu tu! Tengok tu cara dia hayun! Punya la tinggi! :)

Adik ni melibas dengan cara yang begitu elegan.

Dah habis basuh pinggan mangguk, besin dan raga bagai, adik ni sambil duduk gosok gigi. Saya perasan dia sering melihat ke arah kami. Mungkin dia juga nak join kami dan adik beradik berdua tu. Actually around about this time beberapa budak2 kecik kampung lain mula joined kami di tebing sungai belah sini.

Macam adik yang tadi, dia float je besin tu tapi adik yang ni kena bawak sebab berat muatan. Tenggelam pulak nanti.

Side note: Actually, disamping foto2 di atas saya dan William juga banyak ambik gambar2 budak2 kampung [Aidil and Cahaya included] having so much fun bermain2 di sungai. Foto2 tu akan saya muatkan di entry yang akan datang.

Ok, now sambung balik cerita.... :)

Puas ambik gambar di tebing sungai, kami ingat elok la kami balik. Maklum la perjalanan balik ke KL agak jauh. Then tersempak pulak dengan remaja2 lelaki tengah rehat2 di rumah salah seorg dari mereka. Macam biasa saya berteguran dulu dan mereka ok cuma macam segan2 la  pulak. Tengok tu nak ambik gambar pun macam malu2 tak tengok camera...hihi...

Sempat juga saya clicked foto seorg remaja di kampung orang asli ini di suasana rumah beliau.

Salah satu rumah penduduk Kampung Orang Asli Chinggong.

Kami pun terus berjalan menuju semula ke arah rumah abang tadi bersama2 kedua2 anak dia. Tetiba datang seorang adik cute ni kelihatan begitu curious. Hai adik :)

Tetiba tu jugak di Cahaya entered frame...haha... so cute, right!

Sambil jalan tu sempat saya merakam beberapa lagi foto suasana kampung itu.

Sampai ke rumah abang birdcage maker, dia tak ader. Tapi kami bertemu isteri si abang tu. She is so friendly and quite chatty too. Seronok kami bersembang2 dengan dia.

Apa yang sedang dia buat? Dia sedang mengetuk batang2 buluh yg dah dipotong sebesar lebih kurang saiz jari dan dimasukkan ke dalam satu tiub besi. Lubang bulat besi itu akan membentuk joss sticks yg elok.

Inilah hasilnya.

Masa kami bersembang2 tu kami nyatakan juga pada akak tu tujuan kami ke situ. Akak tu terus memberi cadangan untuk bawa kami jalan2 sekitar kampung yang berdekatan. Wah! Tentu la kami tak tolak tawaran akak tu sebab tentunya ianya akan buat kami rasa lebih selesa and feel more welcomed since akak tu ada dgn kami.

Ini ialah kak ipar si akak tadi. Dia punya 4 orang anak yg comel2 belaka.

Inilah anak2 akak baju biru tu. Which 4 saya dah tak ingat dah...hihi. Tapi memang semuanya comel2 kan :)
I really thank the akak for allowing us to take her and her children's photos.

Bukankah ini senyuman yang paling manis pernah anda nampak? :). Rasa cam nak cubit2 je pipi tembam dia tapi takut pulak nanti mak dia marah...haha.

Then akak ni bawa kami ke rumah ini. Tak dengar apa yang dia tanya kepada penghuni rumah tapi lepas tu dia bagi tahu yang si suami tak ader. Katanya si suami boleh bawa kami jalan2 ke kawasan hutan berdekatan untuk ambik gambar2 yang cantik dan juga tempat memproses getah. Bukan kami tak menghargai, tapi kami rasa lega la jugak sebab kami kiranya dah behind schedule masa tu especially considering kami belum lagi lunch.

Tak sangka dapat shot macam ni. Mereka ni best la. Don't mind at all kami ambik gambar. Of course kami ambik gambar pun berpada2 la. For shots like this kami minta izin. Tak de la main tonyoh je kamera depan muka mereka...hihi.

An elderly man who seemed to have just gotten back from work. I did not enquire where he was from but from what I was informed one of the way to earn a living by the villager is rubber tapping. Perhaps he just finished his morning round.

Dan akhir sekali kami di bawa ke rumah adik ipar akak tadi. Nama dia Aching.

Akak tadi pun menjemput kami masuk dan diperkenalkan pada Aching. Dalam foto ini akak tadi menunjukkan pada kami gambar2 lama Aching as a young, strong, happy and vibrant young man.

Dalam rumah Aching cuma ada peralatan yang basic sahaja.

Dan ini Aching.
Aching berusia 19 tahun and he has to use a wheelchair to move around. Mengikut cerita akak tadi masa Aching berusia lebih kurang 11 tahun, dia telah diserang demam yang teruk. Selepas itu Aching sedikit demi sedikit hilang the ability to use his hands and legs like other people. I chatted a bit with him but he was too shy and only occasionally smiled. I was further told that once in a while his brother will carry him to the river for a swim. I almost teared up right there. Sedihnya saya dengar cerita akak tu. And most times while his cousin [who is staying with him] is out for work, the village kids will come around to help him with the daily chores. They'll cook and feed him, wash the dishes and fold the clothes. This just touches my heart. Then I got to know that the cousin will be getting married soon and will have to move away. Ini membuatkan akak tu risau....

....and it worries me too...

kampung orang asli chinggong, syed amran images,

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