My last post on Kampung Agong is a photo collection of me! I don't normally like taking photos, or even posting them here, but I must be in a good mood that day, cause I love all these photos here. Granted most of them were taken by my new cousin, and they turned out really well, probably cause she has a good camera phone, and a good eye! Above, one of my favourite shots of me taken by her :)
Me on swinging into a paddy field <3
Me sleeping on the hamster wheel :P
Me inside a bird nest :P
Me on a buffalo :P
More bird nest....
And so much LOVE
Thanks for a lovely day out cousins! I am glad I rushed back from Cambodia to meet up with you all for this! Oh wow, what a wonderful time I had on that week alone :) Sunshine! Blue Skies! And everything nice! At times like these, you just feel happy to be alive!
As I'm blogging this in 2025, I might be taking a break after this post for Chinese New Year, and also settling down again in Singapore. After that I play to catch up on my backlog of Kyushu, Beijing, and Kansai-Hiroshima travel :)
Here is a collection of photos of me and my cousins at all the photo spots in Kampung Agong. Starting off with a blur one! Hahahaha. I kinda like this photo actually. It's like I purposely make them blur in the background. Anyway, I think it would be fun when we look back at these photos one day when we are all in our 60s or 70s.
Old cousins playing on the swing. We were all behaving pretty much like kids here :) It's kinda nice to see these two helping to push each other on the swing so that their feet can reach the area of the paddy fields, lol.
Look at her go! Enjoying the view and not even bother to turn back for a photo.
Kak Laz was nicer and turned back for a nice shot :)
I although these bird nest photos were hilarious. The two above looked like two angry birds in their nest.
Oh wait, here's one with the three of us! The photos are so super cute! <3
There were also these water buffalos around, so we all went and rode on it and asked the passer by people to help us take photos. I like this photo above, cause it clearly shows I am the baby of the three cousins :P
The new cousin was pretty game to post any post I suggested to her too. So we have a selection of cool post of her, like the one above of her running as a hamster in a wheel! Hahahahaha
Or of her doing some taiji quan on air....
Ah, the balance in life :P
First time meeting each other and already gone quite mad.....
And lastly, since we are all peranakans, I though this was a nice shot of us sitting at the entrance stairs of a kampung house. Long long time back, I used to visit my great aunt at her kampung house at Bagan Jermal, Penang. It was a place where all the relatives old and young used to gather, especially on Sunday afternoon, and especially for big occasions like birthdays and Chinese New Year. So I guess this shots reminded me of our roots :)
The photos taken here in the Part 2 entry requires a tram ride to the other side of Kampung Agong. The ride is only 4rm return trip, and judging by the photo spot at the other side, I would say it's worth the ride. I mean, the ride itself was kinda fun.
After purchasing our tram tickets, we waited for the tram at the tram stop. Even the stop is scenic to me.
It wasn't long to wait for the tram to arrive, and it's really just a motorised tracker pulling along a cart, and you get to sit inside the cart. The speed of the tram is super slow and relaxing, and for me, it really brings a feel of the kampung life.
The tram takes us all on a ride thru and across the paddy field. A slow sleepy ride.
I love the above scene. It's with people standing at the back of the cart. It looked so straight out of a Lat comic book of life in a Malaysia Kampung :)
When we reached the other side of the kampung, it was super hot so we stopped for some coconut jelly and drinks. Here's me and my new and old cousin taking a wefie as we took a break :)
After our lovely dim sum breakfast, the main event of the outing was to go visit Kampung Agong. I didn't have much expectation for it. In general, I wasn't a fan of instagramable places. I mean, paying money just to go in and take photo of yourself? Pass! But it was part of the day's outing, so I went along, and boy was it fun! And I had so many beautiful photos after the trip too! Thanks partly to my new cousin's better 'eye' and phone at capturing photos of me :P More on that later. First, the above is kinda like a fish eye view of the resting/eating place at Kampung Agong. Does't it look lovely? Hot! But lovely!
Here is a more 2D look for the place. So Kampung Agong is basically just a wide piece of land, and it's kept to look like a 'traditional' kampung. That means coconut trees and paddy fields and atap houses. But it also consist of photo spots for you to take nice photos! I think Malaysian needs to pay 10rm for entrance fee to visit Kampung Agong.
I guess it's private property. They kept the place so spacious that it was just so freeing running around this place! You could see Gunung Jerai just nearby! And large paddy fields all over!
Here is another scenic view of Gunung Jerai. As I kid, I would have love staying at such a place. Actually, I don't mind spending a few nights here as an adult here too. I don't really like city life much. This type of place is more to my style :) Very relaxing! A place that I can run wild in and be FREEEEE!
So here comes some of the cheesy photo spot. Bird nest is a popular spot. You can climb up one and look out of it to have your photo taken. Cheesy! But I guess since I've already PAID 10rm, might as well fully make my money worth!
More cheesy photo spot. But you have to admit, it kinda looks cool. How could you be agree seeing so many heart shape? <3
Up close view of cheesy heart shape. Love the background of it! Blue and green!
The kampung also have some kampung activities you can try your hand on. Fishing with these basket net was one of them. I was actually amazed that there were actual cat fish inside!
See! I wonder if there is a place they cook them for you!
What a nice kampung view, a road leading somewhere, dunno where, but with coconut trees swaying at both sides :)
To spend ridiculously amount of money just to fly back for an outing with my cousins! Yes, I finally have cousinS with an 'S'. An unknown cousin who existed wanted to meet me, so I must keep my word for going out with her and my Kak Laz Yeo Beautiful! Hahahaha. What a name. So after rushing back from Cambodia in the evening, I was whizzed away the next morning to the above place somewhere in mainland Butterworth to have a dim sum breakfast. Just by the looks of it, it's nothing special and, to be honest, kinda worrying! But I trusted my Kak Laz when it comes to food!
The dining area we were seated at, a covered platform on the beach overlooking the sea! What a great place for a morning dim sum!
I mean, look at the table view! Those are the first serving of dim sum we had, all three ladies of us. We had just two rounds or so, which was considered little for me and Kak Laz :P We have a special cousin with us, mustn't show our true self to her yet! Hahaha. Anyway, I did enjoyed the dim sum. I did wish I could have stayed longer there just sipping tea and eating and enjoying the view.
I mean, just look at the sign at the shop! I already love this place as a tea lover, and totally agree with it! I should drink more tea now that I have time AND tea!
A typical tea pot and tea cup used at almost all dim sum place in Penang.
A cup of roster with my tea. I usually drink Pu-Er with my dim sum.
Best of all were these view! I've never seen Penang Island from this point of view before. As it was a beautiful day, the colour of the sea and sky were just splendid!
From a different view point, we could also see Gunung Gerai in blue too!
I could almost see my house from here!
Anyway, just to note, the dim sum platform was destroyed by strong wind and wave in 2024, around September or so. So we can't really visit the place again. Which just goes to show, you should treasure every single moment as if it is your last. Ichigo Ichie. One Moment, One Chance! Aside from all the drama, the owner did say they will rebuild it again once the monsoon season is over.... So there is hope for the future! But I don't know of an appropriate Japanese saying for hope.....lol
Here is a wefie of all the cousins, from left to me, Kak Carolyn, Kak Laz Yeo Beautiful, and Adik Cordy!
The second show in the Close To You series was title "A Suitcase of Taipei". I just love the poster of the event, cause it's so colourful. And Taiwan is all about scooters!
So ten minutes walk from the first venue, which was an ancestral temple, we next arrived at a modern French Cafe. The guide lead us in a packed cafe full of customer, and the pastries and cakes there were mouth watering. But we had no time to linger, as we were lead upstairs where the performances were to be held.
Here is my fellow volunteer. He was so quiet the first few times I met him. I even had to show him where the Komtar bus terminal was when we were doing a night shift at Komtar. Yet here he was now, leading a tour group around in Georgetown! I met a few other outstanding young people in the festival too, one of which was a fellow Peranakan guy named Alden. He was the most funny guy I met in the festival. Full of funny stories and super easy to talk to.
Anyway, back to the performances. This time, the stage was a suitcase. Yes, that's right, an old suitcase like the one you see in the photo above. The lady with the glasses was one of the 'puppeteer'. The other was his husband who works the projector next to the suitcase....You can refer to the last photo for more info.
And above is how the show is conducted. The 'puppets' are actually props instead of characters. And the projector is used to show scenes of Taipei, or objects on the screen of the suitcase. Sound and lights are also part of the performance.
Of all the props, above was my favourite, the scooter, and the city outline of Taipei. When they actually show the projection scenes of streets of Taipei while the scooter above move around it, I felt really nostalgic and misses the city watching it. I told the performers after the show that the scene of the scooter really has the 'feel' of being transported to Taipei.
I also asked what was the above red cardboard symbolises. There were actually many scenes with symbols or abstract concepts. There was even a sex scene! The lady told me that these were how the old housing of Taipei looked like. This was their main door, with their apartment unit shown outside. Wow, I didn't know that. I will pay more attention and look out for these the next time I happen to be in Taipei.
The star of the show, Taipei. The two helmets represent the two lovers who went dating on the scooter, before eventually getting married and living together. There were some weird market scene as well, and fish cooking.... lol. Super interesting! Mind totally blown!
And so I leave you here, my last post of my involvement in the GTF2024. As volunteers, we were also given a free ticket to another dance performance on a separate weekends as a token of appreciation. That show too was interesting. It was titled Convergence, and it was a mixed of Chinese martial art and dance. Here is a sample of their performance:
