The first morning we were in Kuching, Philip and I went to India Street…
The first line of a song from the Broadway musical, “My Fair Lady” came to mind, “I have often walked down this street before,” but no, it certainly is not the same…
…as how I remember it to be when I used to do that way back then in the late 60’s and throughout the 70’s and later.
These days, there are shops and shops selling touristy stuff like these souvenir t-shirts…
…and these…
…or those clothes and textiles, probably from Serikin including one that used to sell books and magazines where I used to buy my copies of Fanfare. Needless to say, I was kind of disappointed as it was generally a case of you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.
Most of the old shops are gone now – the one where I used to buy those black vinyl records and one selling very nice imported crockery. I did not get to see Salih Ahmad but Chin Nam was still around, right next to this shop…
…selling textiles with those lovely ethnic designs…
However, I remember it used to be nicer, classier and sort of boutique-like when I bought a couple of pieces, probably sometime in the 90’s, to make my shirts for formal wear…
…and this time around, I decided to buy some more and get them tailored. I can’t jolly well be using the same batek shirt, the only one that I have, to any function that requires such attire, can I?
This shop is still at the exact same spot – I think it appeared sometime in the late 70’s…
…and I used to buy my trendy wear from there at the time. I did drop by but somehow I did not feel it was in any way the same anymore and I left without making any purchase there.
This restaurant…
…has been around like forever and the food did look pretty nice, the nasi bryani and the dishes to go with it…
…but there did not seem to be that many choices anymore maybe because of the Muslim fasting month or they do not cook so much anymore as they no longer enjoy the brisk business that they used to enjoy before.
I managed to take a photograph of the guy doing the cooking…
…in the kitchen at the back but unfortunately, it turned out blurry.
I was kind of delighted or somewhat excited to see that they still had these old wooden planks and door, latch and all…
…at one of the shops along that street. Evidently, things those days were made to last unlike what we have these days.
This is new, I guess…
…but it amused me somewhat to see the replica of a rubber sheet roller which was in fact, a machine for rolling cuttlefish.
Just round the corner, I came across the works of art of that celebrated mural artist, Ernest Zacharevic…
So what can be more fun than a barrow of monkeys? The answer is simple – STP pushing them…
Here, have a sip of my teh-see-peng (iced tea with evaporated milk)…
It certainly was hot that day! LOL!!!
As we were walking back to the multi-storey car park where we had left the car, I saw something I had not seen before – cops on bicycles…
Well, never mind that things have changed a lot and are no longer the same – I certainly enjoyed the walk and that very nostalgic trip down memory lane.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 