大年初一的渔村 Fishing Village

Some interesting stories about Sitiawan, my dad's childhood place:

Once, there were two elephants who refused to leave each other as one of them got stuck in the muddy river and eventually both were perished in the rising water. The locals named this place "Setia Kawan" which means "loyal friend" to praise the elephant who refused to leave. Over time, this name became the Sitiawan known by us today.

In early 1900s, Chinese from the dialects of Kutian, Hockchiu, Hockcheng and Henghua which are collectively known as Fuzhou were settled in the area, including my great grandparents. Today, the Fuzhou people around Malaysia, including my father, traces their root back to Sitiawan.



Kampung Bahru, 新甘光 is a fishing village not far from my grandparents' house. It's a daily routine that grandpa will go to the only Chinese kopitiam in the main street of the village. I remember every year, he will ask us, his grandchildren to go to the street to have morning tea with his fellow kampung buddies. As I am always the earliest to wake up among all the grandchildren, naturally he asked me to go along with him. Albeit a bit reluctant, I followed grandpa, sitting on the backseat of his motorcycle, letting the hot wind whipped my face in the 34 deg Celcius heat.



每天清晨，新甘光沿岸都有一群人聚集。原來顧客們在海番經營的魚檔挑選著活海鮮。這裡原是個小漁村，奎龍處處，漁舟點點，還有一排排浮腳屋，是它昔日的面貌。

I always get to eat the fresh fishes from the market, according to dad. I understand that dad takes pride in himself as someone who grew up eating fresh seafood and had interesting childhood memories.



And I saw racial harmony, sincere and true.



The old and faded posters reminded me of how much I like soft drinks, especially from F&N when I was still young. This no longer applies to me now.

Continue to explore the street, I found that there were so many different forms of life beneath the piers.





As well as some dead horseshoe crabs, which are precious and well known for their blue blood!



That is why, I actually look forward to go back to Sitiawan every Chinese new year.

Read.
http://www.world66.com/asia/southeastasia/malaysia/sitiawan

All photos shot on a Sony Ericsson K770i.