my kampong shoot that i just came back from was really an experience. it was one of the worse living condition i`ve been through but it was better than i expected already...
the serenity was surreal, ten steps from the door was a river with boys and ducks swimming in it together, mountains in a distance across the river where the sun rises. the padi field was the horizon for the sun set.
first day:
we reached the kampong after a flight and a bus ride to this place in malaysia which happens to call Bukit Merah as well. The whole house was just built up in cement finish and no extra furnishing. The padi field behind has just been harvested and the smell of fresh mud filled the air. entering the house the first thing i was greeted by was flies. not a few. millions of them flying around in the house. i was really shocked because i have never seen so many flies in a house before. the plastic cover for food is blue with black polkadots on it (flies). farmer said they only come in for shelter from the sun in the afternoon from the chicken farm bout 6 km away.
the farmer has 5 kids one in ipoh boarding sch the other 4 are still very young and they love us all. we stay with them in the small house as they gave us the masterbed room and the kids room while their whole family insisted on slping in the store room, i was the guardian on the contract for the two guy kids so i had to slp with them in the kids room while my producer slept with the girls in the masterbed room, the rest of the crew slept in another house 5 mins driving distance away.
second:
we went into the padi field, all the kids were complaining all the time when they are all in boots and look so clumsy in the field while the farmer's second youngest kid who is only 5 runs around barefooted on the field doing 5 times better than the 10 year old singaporean kids. we went out for a very nice dinner across a mangrove swamp.
the highlights of the night's event was to go to a place to see fireflies. the whole area was pitch black, it was so dark that the moonlit actually came into use. we got off the passenger van and find infront of us a forest with glittery stars in them, there was this tall huge tree, it looked like a christmas tree with the small lightbulbs twinkling on them. it was really amazing. we caught 2 there and brought it back with us. found out that the place we went was actually a cemetry only when we came back.
third:
went to village school and it was really much better than i had expected, the kids are all so friendly and polite while ours were so self centered and full of themselves that they think they are too smart to even talk to them. the camera man got so angry with one of the kid that at one point he shouted at him " where did u left your manners? have ur mum taught you none?" ok i edited abit because he was so angry he blurted out some broken english.
that night we brought out lanterns and mooncakes that we bought to share with the farmer and his family. we finished the whole shoot one day ahead of schedule and we decided to leave for penang that very night. it was very last minute and the kids were quite lost and very sad. they just sat there looking at us bringing out bags of clothes and equipments.
when i was done i went up to them and hugged the 3 boys and i didnt know what to say because they dont understand much english. i could only say telimakaseh and went to the "ibu"(mother) and held her hand to my forehead to thank her for taking care of us and we left. the lil girl came up to me with the bottle where we kept the two fireflies, i took it and looked at it and pulled her out where we set them free together.. left the simple place for the cities again. we left for penang at 3 30 am.
<< Home
