Lutong

..continuing from where I left off:
Life in Lutong then was good. There was always enough even though horde of relatives came to stay,I never heard my mum or dad complained. According to my mum,my dad's take home pay after deductions from the chits at the LRC, usually came up to 180 ringgit. The chits I mentioned were chits that either my dad or I (usually it's me) signed at the club,after ordering food or drinks, and before the end of the month, the signed chits were sent to Shell office, & there they made the deductions for payment to the club...and my poor dad only had that much to take home to my mum.
Each time after payday,my mum walked to the Lutong Bazaar or Pasar Lutong to see Ah Kim,whose shop is No.2,in present day Lutong. Most other mothers did likewise as well...maybe different towkays. (grocer) Ah Kim and wife smiled when they saw my mum walking towards their shop and from a distance my mum could see Ah Kim's hand opening the drawer to take out a stack of '555' booklets. He took out one & counted how much my parents owed him for the month's food ration. After paying that,it's time to get groceries for the current month. This went on,month after month.
I studied at the Chung Hua kindergarten and I could speak fluent mandarin and cantonese. Most mornings,when there's no class, I went to the pasar,to the market to buy the famous mee Lutong..MEE ATAK as it's known now. Atak's parents were always happy to see me when I made my order in either cantonese or mandarin. A packet of mee then cost 30 sen,then 50sen, & then 1 ringgit. Now,when my brother or I buy Mee Atak,it would be between RM2-RM3 because we ask for 'special' - more char siew. For those of you who have never eaten Mee Atak, drive to Lutong market & ask the people around where Atak's stall is..give it a try. I know there's a lot of people who used to be Lutong folks but move elsewhere, are 'addicted' to eating Mee Atak that they would 'ta-pau' back to say, Kuching. Next,I'll write about Lutong Cinema & the stalls at the panggung.(Cinema)