26 years .
That's how long this pushcart cendol man in Kulim has been operating .
According to him , he started on the opposite side of the road and then when the stadium was built , he relocated beside it .
He's still producing the ice crumbles with this ice machine . Which makes me recall the days when I used to watch other cendol men shave ice by hand , using just one single blade wedged in the middle of a wooden plank .
What I'm really here for is , the nostalgic quiet experience of sitting on an unstable plastic stool ,out in the open , next to the roadside . While the sun blazes , we pull our chairs to huddle together and hide in whatever shade we can find as we gingerly balance the small bowl in one hand and savour its contents with the other .
Because we'd arrived just as he was to call it a day , I got the last bowl of cendol .
" Ice kacang ? "
Ok then , let's give it a try .
While I've never ever had ice kacang put together this way ( nutmeg strips , raisins , tons of other ingredients like red beans , creamy corn kernel , syrup , evap milk , etc etc etc ) , the more vintage person in our group remarks that it has been a really long time since he had what he says is how ice kacang used to be like .
And as he lapped it up quietly , I saw that a boy had emerged . His eyes had glazed over as it too brought back a flood of memories .
I'm not saying that his cendol and ice kacang is the best . To me it is pleasant enough .
What's really incredible is , being able to sneak back in time to re experience again how things used to be and yes we really enjoyed our short time here standing or sitting by the roadside , chatting , slurping before being contemplatively silent , lost in our own thoughts , staring at the grass or passing vehicles .
Location : beside the Kulim stadium , Kedah
2 comments:
that is my grandfather.Thanks for uploading it at your blog.
#cendol
You're welcome . We enjoyed chatting with him :)
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