cafe@lui

My Sunday mornings have always been reserved for motorcycle rides to the country side, ie on weekends when I am not in some other parts of the world. So this time it was to a newly discovered place called Cafe@Lui, after Batu 12 in Ulu Langat. The ride on my Vulcan was with my Dmystify..d brother and his Honda ST. As it rained last nite, it was a perfect morning for mists with the cool morning air making you feel sorry for the rest of the world who have never woken up before 10 am to exerience this wonderful feeling.
The winding ride to this place takes you across the short Ampang Hills and then by the Sungai Langat. Pass number of cyclists, including Mat Sallehs. Cafe@Lui is a wonderful place. The owners have successfully bred Kelah fish, a native of Sumatera. Having breakfast of Soto reminds me of my (parent's) Kampung in Broeluck (Dutch for Barulak) near Payakumbuh. Bathing in the river where the mata air or water source is, beats this place as it is very much cooler. But Cafe@Lui us much more well organised iwth modern amenities.And there are no tremours here. Last year, I eperienced my first earthquake (albeit lasting 3 seconds). 10 Km from it epicentre, it was zohor and I was about to have kari kambing by the sawah in Setujuh. The second tremour was at my uncle's house up the hill in Tanjiung Alam, some 5 Km from Batu sangkar and Pagaruyung, the seat of the Raja raja Minangkabau . The tremour had killed 85 people all over West Sumatra. And o think that I was at Bukit Tinggite day before and along the mountain roads where most of the victims were. The quake had destroyed homes along the hill slopes.

In fact, I visited the Kampung of my good frend and media business associate, Zul, who had just completed renovating the mosque in his kampung. The beautiful mosque was funded from profits of his business in Malaysia. You know what? He was praiyng in the mosque when the quake struck, followed by a loud bang and crashing sound. Rushing out he discovered that the beautiful minaret had crashed in to the huge fishing pond in front of the mosque. Allah be praised, no on was injured.
But Zul's trauma resulted in him not going back into his house that day until 3 am when I went to fetch him to go to Padang airport for the flight to KL.
Poor thing. he had slept in the Toyota Inova while waiting for me. There were minor tremours every half hour for the next 24 hours and I don't blame him for being extra careful. But as for me, I simply snored loudly in my mum's house Broeluck, through the night, drowning any effects of the tremours and giving the rest of my family confidence to sleep through the night.
At the Padang airport, Zul suddenly discovered he had left his wallet behind, save for his pasport . Furthermore, he never went back to Bukit Tinggi until one year later, to catch up with his buddies over an overnight game of Ginrummy.
Being at Cafe @Lui I realised how blesssed Malaysia is. No earthquakes. Not much excitement save for the political rumblings, swearings, tuduh menuduh and liwat meliwat that have coloured the changing political landscape of this country.
Hmm, I do fancy the Sifu Omar Mee in Tanjung Tokong Penang. So I will take a detour to Permatang Pauh tomorrow evening to experience the tremour of the last day of campaigning. And stay till the results are out to witness another moment of history in the making.
As I left Cafe@Lui on my bike, the sun was beginning to change the temperature of the morning. I kept thinking of how the owners (a retired naval officer and his son-in-law) have put in their resources and the rest of their lives to preserving one of the last beautiful pieces of God's land for us city folks to enjoy and for theirs and our children and grandchildren to claim what is rightfully theirs as inheritance of this earth. After what the dentist and his cronies did to Bukit Chelaka (oops Cherakah) I hope I will also have the resources to do what Cafe@Lui did. After all there is gold in them there hills of Hulu Langat.
Thank you, sir, for giving hope to us kampung-at-heart city folks. (worst case scenario, I will just head back to Broeluck...)Can you kira....!