Last Friday, during Moulidur Rasul, mom called up and asked if I was to join her at my Grandpa’s garden to collect Engkabang. Errr, she did text me before that, but I was still fast asleep, and when she called up and said “Are you still sleeping?”, and my reply would be “yes”, she immediately said “Then it’s time for you to wake up then”.. which I eventually did after noticing it was sunny outside.
Mum told me that my aunt will be expecting me at the village, so I had to hurry since my aunt has already left, and I didn’t want to hold everybody up. Bathed, and rushed to a nearby cake stall to buy some cakes to eat on the way home, and also went to Tasty Corner to buy 2 can drinks.
On the way, I ate the curry puffs I bought, and drove as fast as I could home. The SAGA BLM has amazing pick up, and they move fantastic at the speed of 90km/h. By the time I reached home, my aunt and mum was no where to be found, but my granny was there. She asked me all sorts of questions, like did I have a tambok(photo above), did I bring food, water, and how on earth am I going to the jungle in shorts, short sleeves and only using my Adidas tracking shoes (well, she didn’t know it was tracking shoes)… When I met with my mum and aunt, I had the same conversation again and was eventually forced to bring a long sleeve and a golf cap =P Somehow, after years not going to my grandpa’s garden, my family has forgot that I actually knew what to expect when going to such a place, and I have a good nudge that they feel that I’m already ‘a town’ person.
Can’t blame them also because I don’t like farming..teeeheee…
Anyway, the main reason for this trip to the garden was for this fruit called Engkabang (pic above).
I learned that this fruit catches quite a hefty price in the market, and the fruit, once processed will produce oil. Don’t ask me about details, because I don’t know much about it. In fact, Googling the word came back with little information.
This is only my second time collecting Engkabang (due to the fact the fruit only bears once in four years), but this time it was serious work. I actually had a serious back pain at the end of the whole process. The 1st time I collected Engkabang, my cousins were heavily involved, and we were all around 10 years old (if I’m not mistaken). That was a fun time. Reflecting back, I can’t believe how we cousins sat on a tree trunk which crossed the Tubah River which then had strong current, in the name of ‘collecting Engkabang’.
Yea, of course we were more fond of playing in the water than actually doing work… and I can’t imaging how worried our parents were during that time. One of my cousins lost her boots due to the strong current… *smile Again, I can’t imaging how worried our parents were, and at night, we still had time to run up and down my grandpa’s house continuously, ensuring everybody in the house that we were alive and kicking 😛
But, the other day was different. Everyone was working, and there was little fun. By 2pm, I can say I’ve surrendered. Was really tired, and my back was killing me. My grandpa whom came later managed to get more Engkabang than I did, and he was working on an injured foot. Gosh, I admire him!
Anyway, if there is anything I’ve learned from this trip to the garden, it would be ‘NOT TO WEAR PERFUME‘ to the garden (Already used to spray up before heading anywhere) because… everywhere I went, these insects we call ‘HONEY BEES‘ followed me around.
They didn’t sting, but landed on my body, looking for something I believe is honey. Well, I can’t blame anyone for thinking I am sweet.. teeeheeee… (I know, masuk bakul, angkat sendiri..LOL!!)