Monday, September 11, 2017

Highways of the Past - River Spirits and Bees



A harvested beehive and soon-to-be. Zoom to see if you can spot the 2 hives.

A trek up an ancient highway still serving communities generations on.

According to Ustaz Amin, this is a beginner tree for the budding beehive harvester. Usually working in pairs, harvesting is almost exclusively done at night only. Half expecting a scientific explanation on bees being docile at night - but no. It is so that the climbers can't see how far they can fall. Advanced harvesters will climb trees that go as high as 150 to 200 feet and no matter how seasoned they are - they all do it at night so they don't see how high up they have climbed!

Pokok keramat
Sit down with the locals and they can tell you tales which stretches back to their ancestors decades ago regarding this very tree situated where 2 rivers meet. Days before the advent of modern medicine, many will discard ill and dark spirits that are believed to be responsible for ailments that afflicts members of the family.  Part of the trunk has been cut in pieces and left in the water but even the Great Flood of 2014 did not move those pieces - when the river broke its banks and flooded nearby villages up to roof level. You can take a boat ride and creep yourself out by looking at those very pieces today.

Highways of the past - no traffic jams
Private jetty belonging to Kementerian Kesihatan
There are still communities (out of their own volition) that are cut off from modern civilisation where the sole mode of transport is by boat. This private jetty operated by the Health Ministry will be put into action whenever there is a medical situation upstream.

#KualaMedang #BeautifulMalaysia #hiddengems #heritage #highwayofthepast #historysoonforgotten