Yesterday morning we took the 2 kids for a drive around after breakfast. Took the road to Gunung Keriang to see how the flood situation is like there. Usually that's one of the first places to be hit by flood waters. If the flood water there keeps going up, then it will spell trouble for the rest of us living a little more downstream! But mainly it was for the kids to see for themselves first hand.
It's easy to tell there is a flood situation here....one sure sign is the cars and bikes parked beside the road. Over here, when you see something like this, there's either some event (
kenduri, kematian) or flood happening. Earlier, we noticed that a primary school in the vicinity was housing people....clothes were hanging everywhere. And there were some soldiers playing with kids in the school compound....it has been turned into an evacuation center.
The water has receded somewhat as can be seen from the markings on the walls of this house; by at least one foot. That is good news for everyone!
Most houses here are prepared for the floods one way or the other. Such as this one with a little raft used to transport small children and household items out from the house onto the road.
A bridge leading to no where.... Well, it used to lead to a dike which is all but submerged now. Lakes are everywhere... in fact, it does look like the sea in some areas... faraway islands beyond, quite alluring and scenic ... beckoning.
Holiday on the islands anyone?? These islands are right in the middle of the paddy fields, now entirely cut off from the 'mainland'. When I first moved to Alor Star years ago, I used to wonder why some places were named
Pulau Nyior and
Pantai Johor. This is why. When the floods come.... and it is an annual affair; we get instant island and beach-like atmosphere. That was a time when people thought in the 'local' sense....the word
glokal had not been coined yet and people were not rich enough to go to the far away islands for a holiday. So, we had our seasonal beach/island resorts in our backyard. All they needed to do was just to add the words
pantai and
pulau... and we have our instant islands and beaches. LOL!
So, if you want a little adventure like this every year, rural and urban Alor Star is the place to be in. Trust me! It'll increase your stress level if you are the Type A Personality. 8) The water level can go up a few feet within a matter of hours...as those in Jitra experienced a couple of years back
On a more serious note, the scenery is actually quite breathtakingly beautiful at this time of the year too. 8)
2 comments:
aiyoh, feel a bit sorry for those poor people who are flooded out. must be hard work at worst and incovenient at best.
btw the padi field flooding reminds me somewhat of the scenes of the train travelling travelling through the water in Miyazaki's "Spirited Away".
yup...but it's something that people here are faced with year in, year out. In my years here, the one time which I really kena banjir stressed me out to no end.
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