Lutong Cinema

Not a good photo of the Lutong Cinema & it's now an SIB centre. Every weekend, my friends and I ( late 60s & early 70s) religiously went to meda wayang...afternoon shows be it hindi movies,chinese sword fighting or english movies. We bought the 50cents tickets,3rd class it was called & at times when there's not much money to buy an extra ticket,we had to share a seat. It was a must to eat chendol or rojak at the stalls before the show started. Each time when I walked down memory lane especially when the focus was on Lutong Cinema, I could see friends cycling to the cinema,merely to lepak,not many could afford to see the movies all the time,just cycling to chat with friends.
When a Chinese show was being shown, one could see the Chinese from Kpg Cina coming out in full force to watch Wang Yu as the One Arm Swordsman;when Hindi movies like Bobby were shown the Ibans & the Malay did likewise. I watched Bobby 9 times including the shows at Miri Theatre. The Bhattacharyas & the Sadasivans also came out to watch the hindi movies. those were the days....

This is the old church building of Good Shepherd Lutong. I remember the walls used to be in wood colour,dark & in later years,it was painted white. (Late 60s to early 70s) My friends and I used to watch people passing by; people going to the 2 churches,St. Christopher's Roman Catholic Church (where I used to go before ) & Good Shepherd's;people going to the mosque behind the Good Shepherd Church on Friday;people going to see the movies at the Lutong Cinema; people just passing by to the Lutong Bazaar. We enjoyed watching people passing by,commenting on them and we knew who's new in Lutong especially bala Ibans ke baru datai ari menua diau enggau kaban. We knew that if the newcomer Ibans went to GSC,they had to come from Betong,Saratok & Simanggang/Banting. And if they went to St. Christopher's,they had to be from Sibu area.

This used to be our 'battle field' where we played soldiers & had the local cherries as our pellets.

We didnot think beyond the 'battlefield'..very contented with whatever little we had. For some families,they only went to Miri town,once a month,if any. It was considered a treat if one had a chance to go to Miri town in a month. Usually after payday,my mum dressed us up,put our socks & shoes on and by the time my dad came back from work after 4pm,he drove us to Miri town in his blue Opel car. I remember my friends,6 of them, whose father had to take one of them at a time on each trip he made to Miri town.I almost could see the joy on Julia's face or Evelyn's face each time their dad brought them out of the house,waited for the bus under the mango tree by the roadside. (the mango tree is still there..facing the fencing of Good Shepherd Church)

This empty piece of land used to be where our lodges once stood. Our battlefield is now the carpark for Good Shepherd Church.