Tawau history

Today we are going back in time ... you might be amaze with what you are going to read.

This is where Tawau is located.

This is St Patrict School at Kuhara Road

The new Empress

The old HSBC, I think this is facing the football field near the Tawau Port.

The old empress

The chester street Tawau

Tawau Municipal Office. This is near the Sea side if i am not mistaken.

Holy Trinity Church Tawau. This is where i was baptised

The big fire in dunlop street during the 50's

Dunlop street

The former Dunlop Street

The old Sin Hua School

The new Sin Hua School

KLIK KLIK moment.

Wow mesti entry ini semua orang menjerit tak sudah heheeh . I am sure my sisters and brother will be furious that i post this entry. Tapi tak pelah. These pictures are taken a long long time ago in Betlehem hehehe. As you know i was brought up in an Oil Palm Estate, my mum is an English Teacher. We stayed in BAL Estate a British Company named CDC London (Commenwealth Development Corporation (L) Sdn bhd that started off during the 40's after the Brit invasion in Borneo. The Brit came to Borneo during the early 40's and started to do their plantation concentrating on Abaca in East Coast of Tawau. The actual name of BAL comes from the word Borneo Abaca Limited , Abaca or Manila hem comes from the Banana family used commonly to produce the Abaca Rope and Gunny Sack and used to transport Borneo Produce and Natural resouces back to thier main land London. During the early 40's Abaca is a precious comodity and cost highly in the market.

Soon after the early 60's, the Brit's have exhausted the natural resources in Borneo and opted to plant Oil Palm, Rubber and eventually Cocoa which would bring more money . So basically when we are young the only tree you see all around u are either Oil Palm, Rubber or Cocoa. Macam orang kampung pulak masa tu. I remember the Estate Manager Mr. Garect a Brit use to drive his land rover all around the estate . The estate people use to call him the "Head Hunter" and as a kid, we would hide everytime we saw his Land Rover because we are so afraid of him. He was believe to take peoples head and put it in the electric generator as an offering. Punyalah kuno masa tu. BTW I came from BURUT ESTATE ( entahlah macam mana diorang dapat nama ni)

There is a few estates names in BAL namely:

1. BURUT(Myestate)

2. Merotai

3. Bombalai

4. Table ( The Estate i work before) named because its a very flat area.

5 Iman

6. Tiger (named after a tiger found litering in that place)

I remember the distance of my Estate from town is around 15 mile ( masa tu guna mile) and it took us 1 hour plus by bus to reach Tawau the nearest town. Gosh going to school is a battle because kita kena bersesak sesak dengan budak lain naik bus eiterwise you will miss the bus. It would be a miracle if you catch a seat in the bus and weather is the main drawback when u stayed so far away from town , because when it rains , your white shoes will be brown of mud and when its is dry your white shirt will be brown because of the dust, so either way you still look brown. Just imagine going to school having to stand up in the bus ( which doesnt have any aircondition) for at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending how many people are in the bus. Kalau ramai orang lambatlah sampai because the driver have to make a few stops along the way.

As i said when you are in the moment , you don't really think of all those things because according to my mum, she use to walk to school almost 2 hours everyday, so taking the bus is a privillage to us. At the time rasa beruntung sangat naik bus everyday to school (Bas buruk pulak tu). I remember when i was in primary 2 and my sister is in secondary school, i use to imagine following the bus to school konon nyelah ... vanggalah masa tu naik bus.

This is my brother ( kurus je kan. macam addict pulak tu hehehe ) with my Uncle.

This is my neighbour the Perez's.

Me with Lilybeth the youngest of the Perez's ( Youngest ke)

Thats my sisters , the one with the handkerchief and the one next to the red cap.

Ini masa Hari kemerdekaan kot.

The one in the middle is my sister, during her nursing school.

Now this is the Mam Besar my mother with her comadre .

Oh gosh this is me. Gemukkan. Hate this pic

This is my brother the model iklan rambut afro aka si Bacho.

This is my sister with one of her friends named Amoi. Pelikkan sebab sampai sekarang aku tak tau nama dia. asyik panggil Amoi je.

So this is my brother and my sister the turkey girl.

we use to have many turkey at home tapi tak pernah makan sebab my mum geli makan turkey.

Geli tengok leher turkey tu. macam kulit si kapten katanya hehehehe.

Pelik tapi benar..

Today i got this email from emma ( my ex collegue from L & G Landscaping) , Pelik tapi benar.. ala ala kuching leprecorn ( betul ke spelling tu). Kucing tumbuh kepak engkau. Just imagine if we have wings kan. bolehlah kita terbang and we don't have to follow MAS or Airasia. So we dont have to drink at the airport cafeteria yang mahal 2 paun tu ( tau taulah kita ni kan negara ketiga) , lagi jimat kos, and yang paling penting jimat kos minyak petrol, tapi kan baru pulak aku terfikir if we are fat how. Like Illa and dot dot dot ... ops mesti kepak dia tak larat nak mengangkat badan seberat ittewwwww kan. hehehe.

baru nak terbang , terus kepak dia patah, kena pulak letak simen plaster. I think it will also make the National Integration possible, don't cha think so.

A poem of hope..

TAKE EACH DAY, ONE AT A TIME

One day at a time - this is enough.

Do not look back

and grieve over the past,

for it is gone.

Do not be troubled

about the future,

for it has yet to come.

Live in the present,

and make it so beautiful

that it will be worth

remembering.

Monday blues..

GOSH... How i hate monday. Kadang tu duduk kat office ni menunggu sampai bilalah this clock will tick until i can go home. I just need some rest. Btw, i guess im so worn out today because i went for a jog at the back of my house at 6.00 am. Dah rasa badan tu rasa berat terpaksalah aku jogging sikit sikit kan. Esok i was thinking of doing it again until i can reach my ideal weight (68kg) So far sejak melangkah ke alam pekerjaan ini graf pun asyik positif je, tak pernah turun turun, i mean graf berat badanlah, hois fikir yang bukan bukan lah ni.

Jep went to Kl yesterday and Illa ask me to send her to the airport today. Sebelum balik tu dia belanja makan nasi ayam kidurong ... tap tap dia kena belanja dalam RM 18.00 in total. Tapi she told me she would rather spend it there , then at the airport yang cost minum je dah almost 5.00 for a small glass of nescafe. Why do u think that the airport all around malaysia ini mahal mahal belaka kan . Is it because , its an airport.... and only loaded people fly on the plane or its just daylight robery. Tapi setahu saya di Tawau, the cost for drinks and other food stuff taklah semahal di Bintulu, Miri , Kota kinabalu , Sandakan or Kuala lumpur.

Before i send Illa to the airport today, i manage to see Oprah Whinfrey aka My idol at channel 10. Dulu she was in channel 70 now dah tukar dah. Do you know that the crowning Miss USA now is formerly working in HARPO ( Company si Oprah tulah). She have been working at Harpo as an intern for almost 8 months before she was crowned Miss America, and now she is working for Donald Trump. She was then asked "since she is and was working for 2 most influencial people on earth would she become the next Oprah Whinfrey" then she said " no i dont want to be another Oprah, she is a great person but that is Oprah no one can compare to her, i just want to make my own name and be a great person myself ( macam tulah, the saying not that exact kan.) I remember wooing on her during the pagaent. Iyalah dahlah cantek pandai pulak tu, and according to Oprah , she graduated in Journalism with an honour and GPA 3.5 above, pandai dia ni kan. Vangganya aku.

P.S. Aku tak tau pun dia ni bekas pekerja si Oprah. So hari ni aku pun bercita-cita nak kerja dengan si Oprahlah hehehee . According to her people working at Harpo is so unbelievable and the staff are so dedicated to thier work. It seems that working with Oprah drives you to ur upmost limit. Gosh i wonder how that felt kan.

We are the world..

i think this is the best and most influencial song during the 80's. I remember I use to sing this song everday when I was in form 5( adus lama dah tu almost 20 years ago lah) . It does bring great memories to me and i hope to share it with you today,hoping that it would bring some nostalgic memories for you and me to reminise.

Baguskan teknologi terkini mengembalikan nostalgia masa lalu.




I remember my classmates use to sing the song , taking turns and I use to sing part bila Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie nyanyi heheh perasanlahkan masa tu,but it was fun kan. During the middle 80's we use to see the Solid Gold competition nowadays dah tak ada dah, kalau sekarang ni emm... American/Brit top 40 lah cam tu, and everytime this song wins i would jump up for joy, ala ala vanggalah lagu aku menang padahal tak dapat sesen pun kan.

Tears of Endurements

Looking at this, makes me wonder if i do want to publish this entry . I have downloaded the pictures earlier but then i put it under save mode because i am still not sure if i want to publish it.

Reasons why, i guess because death is not something that everybody really loves to think about, but then if we are only focus on all the good things in life then that would make us selfish right.

As i have mentioned earlier, my mom's older Brother died a week ago . You know what sadden me the most... looking at my mums face, those emptyness and the lost of a love ones. I remember my mum and my uncle planned to go back to thier home town somewhere in the Phillipines to have a reunion along with thier last remaining siblings and families, but with all the health constain and unexpected family commitments they postpone it until this year end.

I have told my mum earlier that if they decide to go, i might accompany her ... well to at least look after her and indirectly get to know my roots, but with my uncle death, i dont know if she still wanted to take the trip or not knowing that one of her reason of going has passed by.

Thomas J. Blantocas ( RIP)


My mum during the funeral



My grieving family

The graveyard my uncle was burried. A nice a peaceful place.

The internal place my uncle was burried.

P.S. May the lord blessed my Uncle Thomas Javier Blantocas in purgatory and may his soul rest in peace. Amen.