SOME PICTURES OF EARY KP YEARS
An old picture of TMS in thge early 1930s (From internet many thanks to author) soon after the new building was opened. Note that the hill behind the school, Bukit Temensu was a thick rubber estate used well into the 1960s as a cross country run path including a swamp that grabbed your legs at the foot of the hill on the other side Note that the hostel is where itr still is now .
Below in the Centennial year is the very crowded hill as ot is now and includins a new 3 storey block near the Tampin road and front gate of TMS and the rubber estate is all but abandoned .
By the 1950s the opium shop on 198 Jalan Tung Yen (see Blog 8 in this series on Kuala Pilah History) had long closed down and was the Seri Menanti Bus company offices. . Now a Singer Shop
The old pre war club, war time police station on Jalan Tung yen had by the 1950s become government Dental Clinic (now a social welfare training centre)
Another landmark on the Seremban road entrance to KP was this dragon decorated functioning fountain (photo from rear) that stopped functioning in the 1950s and has been torn down. It was a gift by the same Towkay Tan Puan who has the most decorated house in KP opposite the Bus Stand in commemoration of the Coronation of King George the VI in 1937 (film of his life won awards - King's Speech recently)
The large concrete building at the background is the KP Post Office on Bahau Road and the lower smaller building was the JKR office . Note the large box like lorry on the road -the ubiquitious Ford Canada surplus WWII truck recycled to be timber trucks and even buses in the 1950s.They were familar sights in the morning and evenings fetching timber logs from Pahang via Menchis through Kuala Pilah to KL. Long seen as workhorses of the timber and consrtuction trade they are now purpose built in Malaya as lori Hantu (Ghost Lorries) as they have no road worthiness certificatye and can only be used off road and in jungles and construction sites
More Pictures Later
Looking at the old post office reminds me of days of old when I used to visit my father who was a postman. We lived in the postal quarters just a spit away from the post office. Everyone in KP knew my dad. He's Lim Chee Seng, the only Chinese postman, who rode his big red bicycle to deliver mail. He loved his job and it showed. He was loved by all. All his five children had names but town folks knew them as anak-anak. postman. He retired in 1998 after about 40 years in service. He's 92 now and is a resident of the Mercy Nursing Home in Seremban. I hope more people would stop by and say hello or thank-you to him for all the mail he's delivered with a smile and a friendly chat.
ReplyDeleteLatest update...my father passed away little over a year ago. He was preceded in death by my mother. He was one of a kind; they don't make them like him any more. While he was strict and sometime abusive, he taught us the meaning of hard work and the value of a dollar. He would often say he ate only bread for lunch at work so that his family could have more. He never owned a car or even a motorbike. He bicycled wherever he went. We all had to settle for hand-me-downs, from clothings to shoes to everything else. My mother would eat more rice so that her children would have the meat and vegetables. Both my parents have left an indelible mark on me. To this day I still eat more rice than meat and greens. I thank them both.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have pictures of the Seramban cluband some neighborhood of Kuala Pila in font of the club? If so, kindly share, my Mother-in-law now 93 years living in Toronto is reminiscing a lot about Kuala Pilah, her birth and childhood days. Unfortunately we dont have pictures to show her. Thanks in advance.
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