DEDICATION OF THE ASSAM KUMBANG ICE STALL - TO ALL MY TMGS, CONVENT. LSS (DARUL RIDWAN) and GEORGIE FRIENDS. Lets raise our bowl of ice kacang and leng chee kang to the Ice Stall of Assam Kumbang. Those Were The Days. Along the Jalan Assam Kumbang leading to Kamunting just after the corner to The Prison Training Center (Pusat Latihan Penjara - PULAPEN) on the right hand side there was a Ice Stall operated by 3 (three brothers). The stall was frequented by all, Malays, Chinese, Indians, Sikhs, infact you could find all races having drinks with their friends here. This Ice Stall was an extension to another small stall. This other stall was operated by a bow legged man whom all called Copek. He was helped by his deaf wife and also his two brothers who were school bus operators (I can only recall Ah Bas name). Those staying in the Assam Kumbang area would be definataly using the brothers school bus. The stall operated by Copek was well known for his Kuew Teoh Goreng, it was only 50 cent (50 sen) then. But enough about this stall. The Ice Kacang Stall or just Ice Stall IS/WAS the meeting place for all school boys and girls. Whether they were from King Edward VII Secondary (KE), St Georges (Georgie), Treacher Methodist Girls School (TMGS) or Convent Kota. This was THE PLACE to meet up and talk and have a bowl of ice kacang, leng chee kang with spicy hot curry mee. The ice kacang (now better known as ABC) was a delicious threat for all. So was the leng chee kang, where you could have cold or hot. The ice kacang was full of condiments, such as glass jelly, mata kucing (longans?), maize and others. It was topped off with a generous sprinkle of kacang (ground nuts). And it was the most mouth watering drink ever. A bowl of this ice kacang was enough for 4 person to share and it was only 30 cent (30 sen) per bowl. Leng Chee Kang whether taken hot or cold was meant to keep the body heat down. I do remember every Ramadhan my parent would task me with buying a few packets of hot and cold leng chee kang for Iftar. There were lychee, dates, glass jelly, nuts. and others that I couldnt remember. And it was a thirst quencher on a hot day. There would be bowls upon bowls ready full with the condiments and you just let know whether you want it hot or cold. And the ice stall owner would scoop up the syrup into to the bowl hot and added ice if you wanted it cold. The cost of a bowl those days was again only 30 cent (30 sen). Then there was the Curry Mee Man, in his normal attire of a white Pagoda t-shirt. His curry mee was the best that I had ever tasted. The noodles were drenched in hot water together with the taugeh, added to a bowl, add the curry (curry prawns) and a dollop of chili paste, and wallah you have a fine meal. The best part, everyone ate his curry mee, theres was NO HALAL sign whatsoever, we trusted this Curry Man not to put pork or any other HARAM food in the curry. And to my knowledge till now there was no accusation of him doing so. Those days even the Haji and Lebais could be seen eating this curry mee, but now I dont think they would caught dead doing so. The best of all the amount I had to pay for a plate of delicious aromatic tantalizing curry mee was 50 cent (50 sen) a bowl. Another thing that made this Ice Stall so special was the Jukebox located at the back. We all would spend our time here with our groups of friends drinking ice kacang or leng chee kang or sharing a bottle of coca cola or even a puff or two of cigarette. We would sit with our chinese, indians sikhs and others (one or two siamese) and listened or sang to the songs we selected from the album in the jukebox. We would browsed and select our songs from the display, looked at the code or the number of that song and inserted 20 cent (20 sen) and wait for our song to be played. It was here many budding singers learned to sing rock and roll, blues, ballads and sentimental songs. It was here we wooed our girl friends by selecting songs that had certain meanings or hidden meanings that only two love birds would know. It was the jukebox that we turned to when our love was brushed aside or unwanted. Then it was time to choose a song to soothe our broken hearts. Usually it was B-0 (Feelings by Albert Morris). Those were thrilling days, those were the days of our young lives, those were the days when living was easy. Those days will never ever return. We have now, but MEMORIES immortalised in words.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 05:13:44 +0000
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