tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7454765749762873474.post1776680289176130710..comments2023-12-22T04:13:40.422-08:00Comments on theperanakanconnection: Rantau Panjang-Sungai Golok: Savouring past memoriescswanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18173805507288461855noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7454765749762873474.post-72823859265804049172013-08-12T22:52:00.502-07:002013-08-12T22:52:00.502-07:00Epilogue
After fifty long years, I was all eager ...Epilogue<br /><br />After fifty long years, I was all eager to see what had become of Ah Kong's shop. Would it still be where it was, run by a new proprietor, or would any trace of the building exist at all? Now, I had the opportunity. I was visiting an old friend in nearby Kota Bahru and a morning's bus ride was all it took before I found myself deposited at the doorstep of Rantau Panjang. I alighted expectantly from the bus at the bus stand, which was no more than a regular bus stop, with unmarked berths within a small open square and a centrally located cubicle selling bus tickets. It didn't take long for me to realise that I was standing in what was the former market place, and only a moment longer to surmise that the block of shops just opposite was close to where Ah Kong's shop used to stand. Crossing the road, I must have also crossed my fingers with the hope that, against all odds, Ah Kong's shop was still standing now. Almost immediately, I was disappointed. Where I remembered Ah Kong's shop to be located, I found only a small open space between two blocks, where several motorcycles were randomly distributed. I quickly recovered though, knowing that it would not have been reasonable to expect otherwise.<br /> My churning stomach reminded me that it was lunch time, so I duly sauntered over to a coffee-shop quite close to where Ah Kong's had been. Over a meal of curry chicken rice and rose syrup drink, I looked back at the market square, and pondered that scene from distant memory where eight friends, in camaraderie, had stepped up to Ah Kong's doorstep with the thought of relishing such a meal.<br /><br />(The epilogue is fictional)Writer's Lodgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18108185112936720253noreply@blogger.com