The big tree which used to be my favourite playground

Continued from A nostalgic look at my old primary school in Muar.

At another suburb of Muar town I felt a strong urge to have a close look at a big tree.

I wanted to make sure is this the one I used to regularly climb up when I was 12...

It's hard to tell from afar as it has been 32 years ago. What I do know, the tree is close to the old colonial bungalow shown in the first picture.

The location looks right but I remembered it slightly different. There were no other tree of this size besides. Then I saw a big branch which brought up some clear memories.

Ah yes. This is the one. Me and friends used to climb up to the base of this branch. Then we practically ran all the way to the end where there used to be a vine good for swinging.

It's just they have cleared most of the growths around and then fenced the tree outside the compound of the bungalow. That is probably why at first I found it hard to connect with the memory.

I had to spend sometime examining it from all angles before I could confidently say this is the big tree which used to be my favourite playground. For the record this is the 1,300th article in this blogspot.. :]

A nostalgic look at my old primary school in Muar

This is some sort of continuation from The 'secret' wedding in Pontian....

After the wedding in Pontian I returned home to Selangor only to rush down south again Sunday morning to settle an official matter in Muar. The following day, while waiting for the matter to be resolved I drove around the suburbs. Coming across my old primary school I decided to check it out.

As it turned out they have shifted the gates to another location about 100-150 metres to the east. For the record the buildings here used to be shared by two schools, one known as Ismail 1, another as Ismail 2. Mine was Ismail 2. Now the buildings are left to only Ismail 1.

Still, it is the same premise and they still have old buildings from the time I first studied here nearly 40 years ago.

I still remember the meeting hall well.

At one part there used to be a big glass cabinet containing a number of stuff animals. If I remember correctly there used to a stuffed sun bear and leopard among others. Those were the catches made by a previous headmaster, a Briton who was an avid hunter.

The back part of the hall.

Time to have a look at the classrooms. This is a new building.

It is the old ones the gave me fond memories.

Hah. This used to be my first class, the one I entered in Standard 1 in 1977, the class called 1 Serindit.

I used to regularly climb the roof of the hallways and jumped down. Yep, I was one of the hyper-active kids.

I wanted to check out my later classes. But as it turned out most have been demolished to make way for new buildings...

The 'secret' wedding in Pontian...

Continued from Looking for the island called Pulau Sialu.

It has been said in the article At Kuala Linggi with college old friends that me and some old college friends visited a number of places en-route to another friend's wedding. Well, on Saturday afternoon we met the friend in Batu Pahat and then accompanied him and family to Pontian for the wedding.

For certain reasons I have to conceal his face and that of family members who could make him recognisable.

The wedding which is his second one has to be kept a secret at least for a few months.

Only some people are allowed to know and they have been reminded to keep it a secret to others. A pix of the old friends. All of us used to stay in the same room 26 years ago except one.

Me posing too...

On with the bride and groom. We could share stories about the wedding, just don't say who got married, hehe... :]

Looking for the island called Pulau Sialu

Continued from Batu Pahat river mouth.

Next I walked south feeling my way for a certain purpose.

I want to look for an island called Pulau Sialu. It should be somewhere around here.

At this juncture I've walked for nearly half a kilometre with no island in sight.

So I went further south or rather south-west until I caught sight of what could be the island,

But I could only see half of it. You cannot verify that is an island just on sight... for all you know it could a peninsular of sort.

It is hard to negotiate around the waterfront due to the steepness of the stone face. So I have to cut through the nearby hill...

I walked until I reached an opening to the waters...

There. At last I could confirm this is the island called Pulau Sialu...

Batu Pahat river mouth

Continued from The 'beach' called Pantai Minyak Beku.

Close to the 'beach' you can see a bay of sort...

It is actually the place where the Batu Pahat river flows into the open waters of the Straits of Melaka.

The actual river mouth is not so wide.

Zooming in...

But the way the land around extends make the river mouth looks this wide...