I found myself thinking about the Revelation passage and 'War in heaven' and a sermon I had preached (many times) on the War on Drugs and how to overcome addiction (Rev 12:11&12a) 
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‘We all need space; unless we have it we cannot reach that sense of quiet in which whispers of better things come to us gently….(and we need) places to sit in, places to play in. places to stroll in and places to spend a day in’
We visited the Cameron Highlands in the Malaysian Peninsular. It is a well known Hill Station where people can escape the heat of the valleys. The picture is a drawing I did of the Boh Tea Estate. So restful, peaceful with various greens and patterns on the hills, like dollops of paint on a impressionist canvas - very heavily cultivated and fruitful.
It is a very British area - for example there are over 4000 land rovers - more land rovers per capita than anywhere else other than a British Army base. These are constant reminders, along with driving on the left and English plug system, all vestiges of the Colonial past.
This was after all a Hill station, where those who could afford it went to escape the heat of the Plains. The rest were left to sweat it out...
The tea plantations, strawberry fields and Butterfly farms are all part of the scene. A Little England - with the Old Smoke House maybe epitomising this quintessential Englishness. We had a Cream Tea in the Rose Garden, wondering for a moment just where we were. Real hospitali-tea!
We stayed at the OMF mission bungalow, which was like going back 20 years to another time and place. Wonderful hospitality,with 3 good meals a day and large bedroom with polished furniture. All set in a beautiful garden with a well mown lawn and cultivated orchids.
It was a great place to read and relax as well as a base for a jungle trek and great mountain views. And of course visits to the Tea Plantations and Strawberry Farms.
My Brother used to go to school in the Cameron Highlands - Slim School, named after the British General who fought the Japanese. So part of the idea was to find where he went. We lived in Penang but in the 3 years we stayed there in the 1960s, I never once visited Cameron Highlands. I was making up for it now....
We managed to find the school, now an Army Camp - 'Kem Slim' - now home of 'Kompeni Bravo, Batalion 165 Risik Tentera Darat' but were not allowed to go beyond the Camp Gate
We also looked around the Town of Tanah Rata, helped by an elderly local restaurant owner, who used to cut hair for the British soldiers garrisoned there. He told me about some of the buildings that had been around in the 1960s:
The Catholic S.K Convent School - now Heritage Hotel. Lutheran Bungalow and the Methodist centre that had taken over the old ‘Chechoo’ mission school.
Rev Simon Soh, a young vicar in training based at the All Souls Anglican Church, (Gereja Anglican), a converted Army Nissan Hut. It was situated just in front of and below the old Slim School. The diocese had plans to upgrade the Church and also build a retreat centre ont he land.
I went to his Bible study group later in the week . a dozen people in a nice apartment, who met as a regular House group. On this occasion they were studying the prophet 'Amos'
It was an interesting passage about 'destroying the summer houses as well as the winter houses' in the Mountains of Samaria, as the 'Cows of Bashan' sit and say 'bring us a drink'. It almost seemed relevant - particularly in the heydays of the Raj.
Now things have changed - the area is no longer British but Malaysian , though as I said vestiges of the past linger. It's as if the Malaysian Chinese have come back from Exile and 'reclaimed the land' ....
“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills. I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God. (Amos 9:13-15)
Maybe not vineyards but Tea plantations, and definately fruit gardens of strawberries. And it certainly looked like they settled well in the land the Lord had given them.........
Let us remember Ian and thank God forHis life, his love and his giftsFor his cheerfulness and his smile;His enthusiasm and his flair;His love of life, and ability to live it to the full;His love of the natural world, and railways too;for his gift of friendship; his sense of fun;His passion for the gospel;His clear, faithful preaching;His yearning to share the good news with others;His love and concern for his brothers and sistersthroughout the worldwide church;And his love for his family;We thankyou GodAmen
Peter Brook, the Pennine landscape painter, was born in the winter of 1927. He taught art at Sowerby Grammar school before becoming a full time artist in his 40's. Peter has painted many areas of the British Isles including Scotland, Cornwall and the Potteries but his first love is the Yorkshire Pennines; often in winter. His paintings depict a vanishing world; a world of farmhouses on the moors, of mills, of people who inhabit the area etc and include an element of humour, which is so much part of Peter's character. Peter Brook married Molly in 1950 and they have two children. They live in West Yorkshire near his beloved Pennines and favourite woods. The Smithy Gallery
‘A feast, a celebration, a multi-cultural event of ‘world music’, a rich variety, kaleidoscope, mosaic, tapestry, with colour and variety, great diversity and various harmonies. Cultural differences being apparent and exaggerated eg African drums, Irish Bodhran, Indian Tabla and Pakistani Nal/Dolak . But still a Unity : One world - a praise song expressing the ‘Love of God’ and celebrating a common humanity. An increasingly energetic drum beat (like the Millenium Song: ‘A Perfect Day’.) One song with many manifestations: With people from the margins at the centre of the song’ (‘addicts’, ‘criminals’ ‘prostitutes’,’ unemployed’, ‘disadvantaged’ as part of this great recovery movement)
A good view of the Colonels house. We went behind pool to Sergeants mess beside Water Tower Plus a residential block past where NAAFI used to be and Health centre (Doctors) near a roundabout Didn’t recognise much of the bottom end of camp I couldn’t find Cinema or old school or parade ground . I imagine that end had been developed but the front end of camp was still familiar
I found our road near the roundabout (the next road after the officers quarters road and then our old house WONo3 above the door. The courtyard between the house and the utility block had been covered over and extended but the layout was recognisable Next door, on the left, lived Staff Sergeant Hornblower. His son Stephen was my age with water on the brain and a real nuisance. His daughter used to play with Liz
Below and round the bend was the road with the sergeant married quarters (Sergeant Morgan who appeared on Pegasus Bridge in the film the Longest Day). I remembered the tree where we played marbles and the small hill where I learned to ride a bike. The tree which I climbed at the front of our house and got stung twice in the head by Hornets. Dad killing a cobra in our back garden with a walking stick. Also a huge snake – a python - that a corporal had killed with a machete hanging over a tree like a trophy playing with plastic soldiers behind the servants quarters and napalming them with lighter fuel; making rice paper in the utility room on Mary’s (our Amah) ironing board
Her daughters Alexandra and Francis looking after us – I remember one time riding on Mary’s son Joseph’s motorbike and going to their Kampong and eating a cake she had made specially
I remember Setting fire to the field between our row of houses and the officers quarters circle a line of adults with buckets putting the fire out. Being stung twice in the back whilst Bob played his game of dare with hornets. Falling off my bike and my knee going septic and having to go to Taping hospital. Playing monkeys on top of the wardrobes in the bedroom, Cockroaches on the floor in the kitchen. Filling condoms from the bathroom cabinet up with water and having a water balloon fights. Onetime bubbles everywhere in the bathroom after a bubble fight and it being cleanest ever afterwards
The Officers houses were in more pristine condition, better preserved, with more original looking shutters and immaculately kept gardens. Military order had been maintained, with the officers mess now functioning as a museum .
I couldn’t remember where the ammo caves were nor the huge black water pipe we used to walk along. Saw where I learned archery, when the regiment was in Borneo the band stayed behind and organised activities for the families. Games galore and parties Jungle juice on sports days.
to be continued........
Tim is in Penang at the moment so I am publishing my notes written back in feb 09 so he for one can see where I went.
Our bus from KL arrived at 4am (we left KL at midnight) so we sat around KTM Keratapi Tanah Melayu, the Railway station with trains to Bangkok and Singapore from Butterworth.
This is where we caught the overnight sleeper in 1965. An old loco outside of station, seemed familiar, stirring long forgotten memories, which is why I was back after 45 years.
Cup of chai in market area and talk with Aamir then to ferry for early morning crossing. On the Pulau Angsa (built 1980) It was still dark Penang lit up over the water I remembered sea snakes, the Ambulance trip to Taiping hospital, arriving in Georgetown on SS Nevassa, picture of band playing colonel off to tune of 'moon river'
On the other side we killed more time with Roti Canai Murtabak in street side café. pulling the tea. Then at 8am an acceptable time we went to where Staying at YWAM base address above 2nd hand clothing shop.
Had a sleep and then something to eat before looked at parts of the Heritage trail George Town, Penang is a UNESCO world heritage site.
In the information centre a very helpful curator showed us books on old Penang , whilst it poured down with rain.
We visited a Temple, passed the mosque and then took a taxi to the station for the trip up Penang Hill Railway, a funicular railway built between 1906-1923.
I didn’t remember changing trains halfway, but bits of the walk around the top were familiar: mosque Temple No church, This is a hill station, like Murree in Pakistan or Shimla in India but on a smaller scale. Used in the Raj for relaxation, An aviary in old Hotel. Giant spiders and monkeys playing in trees cream teas available in a vestige of Raj, called David Brown’s lodge. Drink of coconut milk Old funicular coach. The Taxi there and back again cost too much. The bus would have been much cheaper.
6/6. As sea-levels rise, Dan Box witnesses one Pacific island community's climate change exodus
