(Happy Sunday Special, Sin Chew Jit Poh, 05/06/2016)
Taman Golden Dragon is located at the hill and with strategic location in old town Kampar. It was formerly a luxurious residential area during the tin mining period in 20th Century. One of the famous tin miners, Eu Dong Shuan (the second generation of descendant of Eu Yan Sang) used to own a luxurious villa in Taman Golden Dragon. Many young men and women loved to date and take pictures at this hill view villa. However, the villa has now been demolished and replaced with residential houses.
There is a traditional fashioned home stay at the foot of hill, which is designed and operated by Chai Wei Sin. Chai followed her husband who is working at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) to come to Kampar in 2010 after she completed her studies in Taiwan. They stayed in the upper storey of a shop house, while Mr. Saw Teck Woo and Madam Kong Ah Yeng, an old couple stayed in the ground storey.
“These shop houses in Taman Golden Dragon were built in 1968. But they were converted into residential housing later. We stayed in the upper storey of this house for five years only, but Mr. and Mrs. Saw raised their five children here, spending 46 years of their life time in this house. We moved to a double-storey house in 2015 in another area in order to have better playing space for our kid. It so happened that in the same year, Mrs. Saw decided to move to Kuala Lumpur to stay with her children, so they sold the ground storey to us.”
There is a spacious living room downstairs. The wooden sofa, cupboard, iron shoe rack, canvas cot, bedroom furniture etc. were given by the former owner. The cement stools and wood rack were handmade by Mr. Saw years ago. Chai repainted the house, changed a set of new but tradition-style sofa cushions and curtains, in order to refresh the old house, yet retain the quaintness. When you first step in, you will feel like going back to the granny’s home, warm and comfortable. Chai’s dream is to create a cultural and historical home stay so that guests could experience deep communication with the building, house owner and the community.
Chai comes from Kuala Lumpur, she admitted that in the beginning, she did not like living in such a small town as Kampar, because it is relatively less convenient and quieter compared with where she came from. However, the friendly neighbourhood and kind community made her later felt as if she was one of the inhabitants in Kampar. Since she has only a son, she always organizes different events in order to create chance to invite other children to play together. She also encourages mothers in Kampar to share resources such as organizing books exchange activity. Chai appreciates this land providing a quality life for her, therefore she wishes to make a written record for Kampar by utilizing her home stay and her writing efforts.
Written by: Emily Ng Pey Ling
Translated by: Chai Wei Sin
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