The Old Streets of Kuching Town

The Old Streets of Kuching Town

What today the tourist department dedicated as Heritage Walks is actually my daily routine school route during secondary school days in the 1960-1970.

I was studying at Kuching High School 1966 to 1971. This period covered entire span of secondary school. I lived in Bata Lintang Government Quarter because my late father was a government clerk in the Information Department at that time.

Every school day I would take the No 8 Chin Lain Loong Bus from Rock Road and get down in front the General Post Office from where I would walk a distant to Kuching High School. After school, I would then walk all the way from school to bus terminal at Open Air Market and take No: 8 bus back to Batu Lintang again.

I was in no way realize during then such route to and from bus stop and bus terminal would one day became tourist heritage walk to see the history of old Kuching. St. Thomas Church, Carpenter Street, The old court House,  India Street, Open Air Market, these oldest streets and old buildings are now what tourism classified as historical sites of Kuching.

The Hakka community I came from was then mainly an agriculture farming community that very much secluded from the main commercial business life of the town center.  It was this every day school routes that I came into contact and got familiar with the town forks.

After school, I left Kuching and have not been living in Kuching for decades, much has changed so much so that each time I return to Kuching recent years I could not recognized this "City" that once was my "Town". I lost direction most of the times driving in Kuching last year.

But fortunately the old part of Kuching Town remains familiar to me. Thank to Government's effort to preserve this old part as heritage and for tourism.  The school routes I took during those school days 40 over years ago still bring me back so much memories of those days, be it happiness or sorrow, achievement or failure. My "town" is been preserved by the Government and community as having historical value, what else can I feel proud of.

2005 I brought my whole family of two children (today still the same two) to Kuching for a family visit. In that trip, thinking that I would not come to Kuching often because I just could not afford the air fare, I specifically brought the whole family for a "Heritage Walk" of my school route and those photos snap shots became so valuable today.

(2006 Fernando changed the situation by ensuring "Now Every One Can Fly" with his AirAsia. I can came back to Kuching often since then. Thanks! Fernando.)

Here are some snap shots during 2005, 2008 to 2014 and some achieve images downloaded from Internet.

Days of the noisy Chinese Clogs


Making traditional Chinese clogs by now is a dead craft. Sadly, not because it is difficult to find these type of clogs in Kuching now, that the Kuching Chinese today do not even know that clogs was part of every day Kuching life just 40 years ago.

The Hakka call it "Kiak". In the 60s & 70sThere was always a pair by our bathroom door. The whole family share one pair (because only 1 person can enter the toilet or bathroom one at a time). Our toilet and bathroom was always wet and wearing "Kiak" was best solution for wooden Kiak is not slippery as rubber slipper and the high sole always keep both feet above water.

There are different make for male and female. Women wear the "waisted clogs" while men wear the clogs without the waist.

I watch the craft man make clogs in the 1960s-70s.   There was one (or two) clog making shop beside Tabuan Road opposite my school.  After school I would walked from Tabuan Road to bus terminal to take a bus home. Several times I stopped in front the clog shop to watch how a clog was made.

The maker sat on a stool and in front of him was a trunk of wood served as work bench. The block of semi-soft wood would be chopped into shape of a "Kiat" by a small axe. Small hand saw was also use to cut the under groove. The clog top was rubber width less then 3 inches. Nailed to the side with small nail with a lining of hard rubber cut from old bicycle tire.

I never like these Chinese clogs for its irritating noise and dirty. Reputable Chinese in Kuching do not wear clog. This clog is a symbol of those low-cultured Chinese in those days. The characteristic of low-cultured Chinese are viewed from down and up :  on down is the dirty and noisy clogs, on top are the dirty and noisy mouths.  Dirty and noisy mouth because the oldern traditional Chinese like to spit and say filthy words. They like to spit right in front of you, on to the ground, so that some one can step on it. And mouth filled with dirty words nouns of man and women private body parts. Such was the ugly side of traditional old Chinese that the young generation tried to image-laundry themselves by imitating "Western Modernization". "Western Modernization" was none other then Wearing proper attire  (not the singlet and noisy clog in the public), speak like a gentleman (never a filthy words such as male or female private body part.)

In 1970s there were still sound of the noisy clog, but by 1980s it was fast disappeared from sight and sound.

I am glad today, as I brought my 2 children for this heritage walk, gone were those dirty and noisy "Kiak". And gone as fast as the clogs were also those dirty mouths with spits and filthy words.

As traditional Chinese modernized into the 21st century so as their ugly-image of last century also laundryed clean.
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Central Prison and High School

Opposite the high school is the old Kuching Central Prison. The prison has a great impact on my life that after 1971 I pursue a lifelong as freedom and space seeker. No that I went into Kuching Central Prison and released in 1971 but that I was a high school student and graduated in 1971.

For 6 years I look upon the prison on the hill opposite. That concrete and secluded building inspired and motivated me to value my precious life. It reminding me that I also have a cell inside there if I do not live lawfully and  righteously.

I never enter this prison since 1971 until one day in 2013...... I broke the law that morning.

I crawled under the fencing beside Jalan Tabuan and squeezed myself into the prison compound and stood right in the cells where the authority once locked uncountable numbers of prisoners......

But these cells have no more steel bars and concrete walls around me. Only the barely remain cement floor remind me that this is really the location of that old old prison that I have been look up from across the road for many years during my high school years.

The prison has been demolished in the name of development. Gone is another historical heritage of Sarawak.

Demolition of Kuching Central Prison : http://www.thestar.com.my/Story/?file

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The Nigh Soil Buckets of Kuching

There are some distasteful things that the older generation once lived in the old Kuching tries not to bring out while the young generation completely ignores about.  One of those is “Night Soil Buckets”

It was 1980s when economy improve, that the Kuching Town started to improve with modern facilities. Only then the old town fork began to enjoy the modern hygienic “Septic Tank System” in every day life.  Before that the old Kuching have to put up with the primitive toilet facility the “Night Soil Buckets”

“Night Soil Buckets” are individual septic disposal or sewage treatment facilities used in the "Bucket Toilet". Buckets that users deposit their filthy shits. There is no other filthy word you can insult your enemy then calling him “You night soil bucket!”

"Bucket Latrines" is a manual toilet that rely a human to remove the every day human excrement. This is different from our today "Flash Toilet" that conveniently uses water pressure to flush away. (Toilet is a small room for passing motion, every one know that).

In these old shop houses of old Kuching, the bucket latrines were located next to the bathroom. User squat on the cement platform with a hole under which a “Night Soil Bucket” is placed. The bucket is portable in and out of a rectangular hole to the outside building from the back of the toilet.  The rectangular hole with a metallic flap functioned like today pet doors of modern house.

Each morning, a “Night Soil Collector” will come to flip open the metallic flap at the back of the bucket latrines and pull the full bucket of filthy shits out and insert another empty bucket.

The Kuching Town Board is very efficient and their Night Soil Collectors are very puncture. Every family knows the timing and avoids using the latrines at the time till after the Night Soil Man has done his routine in replacing with an empty bucket.

In 1980s, this century-old night-soil bucket system was phased out from the old streets of Kuching and replaced with the modern sanitation flash system. Today, when Kuching High School students walk their way up from Tabuan Road to school, none of them ever know the scenario (and the smell) of the same street 40 years ago when I also walk to the same school.

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United Nation’s statistic
Of the world’s seven billion people, six billion have mobile phones. However, only 4.5 billion have access to toilets or latrines – meaning that 2.5 billion people, mostly in rural areas, do not have proper sanitation. In addition, 1.1 billion people still defecate in the open. The countries where open defecation is most widely practiced are the same countries with the highest numbers of under-five child deaths, high levels of under-nutrition and poverty, and large wealth disparities.
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Night soil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : https://www.google.com.my/search?q=night+soil+bucket+in+kuching&oq=night+soil+bucket+in+kuching&aqs=chrome..69i57.7411j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

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General Post Office of Kuching

This above is a rear view of the General Post Office of Kuching taken in 2008.

Being a historical building,  there are abundant photos of this building in books, news media and internet. But all are taken at close-up partially of the building. Or either from the Southern end or from Northern End.  But no full view of the whole building  from the the very right front.  Non existing images can impress the viewer with a majestic fully front view of this history heritage.

Why even the authority unable to chronicle this majestic building with images of a full and front view? 

Its the limitation from streets again.

Those been to the location knows well that across that narrow street are tall buildings. And that no camera lens can capture the complete full view at a narrow distance.  The grandness of this architecture has never being able to express in a real photograph except in architecture drawings.

But there was one morning in 2008 I happen to passed by and amazed with what  discovered in front me was such a never seen before complete full view of  this colonial building. Grandness of an impressive building appearance enough to inspire many young local students to pursuit a career to be future architects to improve the appearance of  Kuching future outlook and skyline.

That old shop lot in front the post office has been demolished. And for the first time in a century of the Kuching history one can view fully not only from the aside but the very front of Kuching General Post Office.

The grand front view of a long building  uniquely unveil  for a moment in history before another new building veil it again.

Kuching General Post Office was built in 1931 during the reign of Rajah Charles Vyner. An imposing neo-classical style building with impressive Corinthian columns.  The building has ornate façade with semi-circular arches, ornamental columns capitals and friezes. A colonnaded portico serves as a corridor in front of the building.

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Stroll through time at Carpenter Street
by Lian Cheng, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on July 13, 2014, Sunday


Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2014/07/13/stroll-through-time-at-carpenter-street/#ixzz37Ukyz3DS