Living in Padang Road.

The good thing about Padang Road was in our formative years, we lived with the different races of Sarawak, we had Ibans, Melanaus, Malays, Indians, Paranakans, and  different Chinese dialects. We became friends and learn to be tolerate our racial and religious differences. On festive days, we gave each other cakes of our culture.

Today, a friend came me these Ang Gu Kueh which reminded me of the neighbour opposite us. They were Henghuas, and their cakes were the same for every festival. These Ang Gus have become very popular in West Malaysia and Singapore.

At the background of this photo is a class 4 Government Quarter. A house I spent 6 years in two locations in 1959 Kanowit and in 1960-66 Sibu.  Augustine Cheong, a fellow Facebook friend posted the above photo. In Sibu, we had fun in this Padang road.

 Dorothy Abdullah was my one childhood friend. She lived 2 houses up from us. We played, my older sister E babysat for them. Recently a Jane wrote saying she remembered me, We were neighbours.

This Cassia fistula or Golden shower tree, is a flowering tree of my youth.When I was five, we moved down from a small town to Sibu. We lived in the Government quarters off Race Course Road. In the section across the road, there was this big tree. When it bloomed, it had big flowing sprays of yellow flowers. When the wind blew, the petals will drop to the ground. Sometimes, a whole spray will fall. This is why it is called a Golden Shower tree.

In Sarawak, the tropical weather meant an afternoon shower. People did their laundry everyday and we didn't have driers or washing machines. My sweet memories of this tree was my sister Margaret and I would jump across the creek when the wind blew so we could retrieve those sprays. We played brides using them as wedding bouquets. My mum would scream at us to help her bring the washing in before the rains came. We didn't listen, playing was more important to us.