It’s July, and it is the durian season in Perak.
Last week when I went back to Ipoh they were selling the “king of fruits” at RM3.00 per kg at the Stadium Perak. Today, after visiting Sakinah at her Polytechnic near Tanjung Malim, we stopped over at Behrang Station to check out the local durians. They were selling at RM4.00 per kg there.
Although I am not what Perak people would call a “hantu durian”, I do love durian. My love affair with the fruit goes back a long way to my pre-school days in Kampong Kepayang.
My Opah’s father, Nyang Sani, used to have a dusun at the far end of the village located in a valley by the Kinta River. Thus, we used to call the dusun simply, “Lembah”.
I remember our trips down to Lembah. It was a ten minutes walk along a trail well-established by Nyang Sani’s daily trek to Lembah to tend to his dusun. Towards the last part of the walk we would descend down a steep slope, and once at the bottom of it one would immediately see Nyang Sani’s well-attended dangau.
Lembah was a cool, well-shaded enclave. Tall durian trees surrounded the dangau. Other fruit trees included rambutan, nangka, cempedak and the odd pokok pisang, if my memory serves me correctly.
The dangau always had an open fire with smoke rising from it to help ward off hungry mosquitoes. During durian seasons we would lie down in wait for the durian fruits to fall from the trees around us.
When looking for the fruits under the trees we would have to wade through the long grass and thick undergrowths. But it was exciting. It was like a treasure hunt of sorts for us kids. The leeches would of course have a field day too, sucking on our blood. But kampong boys are not deterred by the odd pacat or two.
That was ages ago, now.
Now that I have a family of my own, I can’t help but compare how my kids experience their durian season. To them, durian season is marked by the few visits to the local durian stall. They cannot be relied to prise open a durian on their own, even if it was to feed themselves !
But they love durian nevertheless. Although my eldest, Sakinah, was not really into durian, her stay at the Polytechnic in an area where durian is cheap and in abundant has more or less converted her.
As for the Mem Besar, a Kedahan, getting hitched to a Perakian has forced her to acquire a taste for not only durian, but the wholesome fermented durian that is tempoyak.
Last week when I went back to Ipoh they were selling the “king of fruits” at RM3.00 per kg at the Stadium Perak. Today, after visiting Sakinah at her Polytechnic near Tanjung Malim, we stopped over at Behrang Station to check out the local durians. They were selling at RM4.00 per kg there.
Although I am not what Perak people would call a “hantu durian”, I do love durian. My love affair with the fruit goes back a long way to my pre-school days in Kampong Kepayang.
My Opah’s father, Nyang Sani, used to have a dusun at the far end of the village located in a valley by the Kinta River. Thus, we used to call the dusun simply, “Lembah”.
I remember our trips down to Lembah. It was a ten minutes walk along a trail well-established by Nyang Sani’s daily trek to Lembah to tend to his dusun. Towards the last part of the walk we would descend down a steep slope, and once at the bottom of it one would immediately see Nyang Sani’s well-attended dangau.
Lembah was a cool, well-shaded enclave. Tall durian trees surrounded the dangau. Other fruit trees included rambutan, nangka, cempedak and the odd pokok pisang, if my memory serves me correctly.
The dangau always had an open fire with smoke rising from it to help ward off hungry mosquitoes. During durian seasons we would lie down in wait for the durian fruits to fall from the trees around us.
When looking for the fruits under the trees we would have to wade through the long grass and thick undergrowths. But it was exciting. It was like a treasure hunt of sorts for us kids. The leeches would of course have a field day too, sucking on our blood. But kampong boys are not deterred by the odd pacat or two.
That was ages ago, now.
Now that I have a family of my own, I can’t help but compare how my kids experience their durian season. To them, durian season is marked by the few visits to the local durian stall. They cannot be relied to prise open a durian on their own, even if it was to feed themselves !
But they love durian nevertheless. Although my eldest, Sakinah, was not really into durian, her stay at the Polytechnic in an area where durian is cheap and in abundant has more or less converted her.
As for the Mem Besar, a Kedahan, getting hitched to a Perakian has forced her to acquire a taste for not only durian, but the wholesome fermented durian that is tempoyak.
4 comments:
SEKARANG : dah dihujung julai dan bulan pun bernama July.
A bad record in Kedah...less fruits.According to Tok Guru :Pabila ada kezaliman rezeki dari langit dan bumi akan tersekat.
I can see the truth.
Regards.
Assalamualaikum,
Lama tak singgah, cerita saudara mengingatkan saya dulu dekat Kepayang banyak tupai. Buah durian ada yang tobek bila luruh. Makhluk Allah ni tumpang sendawalah bila musim durian. Mewahnya durian sampai peraih Cina dari Kg Simee dan Pekan Karut datang meraih. Sekarang ni orang Kepayang kena pergi Stadium nak makan durian..hehe..
Di Tembok Ketapi
Salam saudara,
terima kasih kerana singgah di blog saya... oooh orang Kepayang ya. saya dulu ingat hanya ada satu Kg Kepayang di Sungai Raya, SImpang Pulai, until i got married baru tau ada satu di Fairpark sebab my wife ada uncle di sana.
And I went balik kampung last week too makan deghoyan weh. Murah le yeop. Ini pun baru lepas makan kuah deghoyan.
Saudara Di tembok ketapi
Now that you mention it, betul la. Dulu banyak tupai kat Kepayang. Sekali-sekala Atuk Hussein saya suka menembak tupai tu - dia ada lesen senapang patah.
Sdr Mior
Mike makan deghoyan tu usah bebanyok sangat - nanti angat pijor badan dibuatnya!
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