Peace!
The bug has returned, with a rather tentative vengeance.
I had bicycles before, the first being a shared (with my three elder sisters) three-geared Raleigh Chopper during my Jalan Young pre-school days, which also survived our family's move to Jalan Damansara in 1975. I think that was where I learnt how to ride a bike, often falling every time I hit the root of the Ara tree in the garden whose reach was fairly substantial. My training ground was a narrow stretch of tar which was always reticent of the glowering grass on each side, every ready to pounce and render it invisible. It tries hard to qualify itself as a driveway of the government quarters which we called home, amidst lush fauna, just over two stone's throw away from the historic Lake Gardens of Kuala Lumpur (closer to Panggung Anniversary side - anyone remember that?). This was way, way before the Butterfly Park and Bird Park decided they should co-inhabit there.
Cycling did not figure much after that, until 1994 when my father bought me my very first racer. I was still living at the Jalan Damansara house at the time (which my father named 'Cendana', after his alma mater Bukit Chandan, Kuala Kangsar). The bicycle was a heavy silver steel-framed bike (probably a Raleigh, I can't quite recall) purchased at a bicycle shop opposite the Coliseum cinema on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. With a Shimano 16-speed gear system, I was liberated from only cycling within the neighbourhood; the city beckoned! Interestingly it coincided with my spatial liberation too - for the first time, I had my own 'room', which was actually the TV room with a curtain rail across its width, transforming it into my 'room' after 10pm (after which there was nothing to really watch on the Telefunken 26' anyway).
I started cycling to St. John's on Bukit Nanas for activities on Saturdays - it was either voleyball, sepaktakraw or some prefectorial duties. There was a gated bicycle parking space at the side entrance of the school, right beside the lone tennis court. One day, despite being chained to the adjacent grill, it was stolen - my heart sank! I half-skipped and half-ran down the hill to Campbell Police Station to report the crime - and 3 days later I received a call and they found it! Alhamdulillah!
After that early episode, I decided to go cycling every Sunday (when there were no kenduris). From Damansara, I alternated going to Pertama Complex and Sungai Wang Plaza. Pertama Complex was the main hangout for schoolkids my age at the time - mainly going to Victoria Music Centre (or King's one floor up) to make custom cassettes, as well as stopping by Joo Ngan's bicyle shop (could only afford to look - the only thing I bought there was a chain tool). That and looking for Iron Maiden t-shirts there or at Campbell's. At Sungai Wang I mainly went to the magic shop on the first floor, or just looking for interesting artifacts to be found within that cavernous mall. Riding in KL, I was the king of the road, whizzing between the traffic-snarled cars, occasionally kerb-jumping (on a racer, mind you!)
To be continued in Part II
The bug has returned, with a rather tentative vengeance.
I had bicycles before, the first being a shared (with my three elder sisters) three-geared Raleigh Chopper during my Jalan Young pre-school days, which also survived our family's move to Jalan Damansara in 1975. I think that was where I learnt how to ride a bike, often falling every time I hit the root of the Ara tree in the garden whose reach was fairly substantial. My training ground was a narrow stretch of tar which was always reticent of the glowering grass on each side, every ready to pounce and render it invisible. It tries hard to qualify itself as a driveway of the government quarters which we called home, amidst lush fauna, just over two stone's throw away from the historic Lake Gardens of Kuala Lumpur (closer to Panggung Anniversary side - anyone remember that?). This was way, way before the Butterfly Park and Bird Park decided they should co-inhabit there.
 |
| The Raleigh Chopper (image from Wikipedia) |
 |
| Panggung Anniversary at Lake Gardens |
Cycling did not figure much after that, until 1994 when my father bought me my very first racer. I was still living at the Jalan Damansara house at the time (which my father named 'Cendana', after his alma mater Bukit Chandan, Kuala Kangsar). The bicycle was a heavy silver steel-framed bike (probably a Raleigh, I can't quite recall) purchased at a bicycle shop opposite the Coliseum cinema on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. With a Shimano 16-speed gear system, I was liberated from only cycling within the neighbourhood; the city beckoned! Interestingly it coincided with my spatial liberation too - for the first time, I had my own 'room', which was actually the TV room with a curtain rail across its width, transforming it into my 'room' after 10pm (after which there was nothing to really watch on the Telefunken 26' anyway).
 |
| A similar-looking bike to my silver Raleigh, |
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| A similar Telefunken 26" Colour TV (cutting edge at the time!) |
I started cycling to St. John's on Bukit Nanas for activities on Saturdays - it was either voleyball, sepaktakraw or some prefectorial duties. There was a gated bicycle parking space at the side entrance of the school, right beside the lone tennis court. One day, despite being chained to the adjacent grill, it was stolen - my heart sank! I half-skipped and half-ran down the hill to Campbell Police Station to report the crime - and 3 days later I received a call and they found it! Alhamdulillah!
,_Golden_Triangle,_Kuala_Lumpur.jpg) |
| St. John's Institution, Kuala Lumpur |
After that early episode, I decided to go cycling every Sunday (when there were no kenduris). From Damansara, I alternated going to Pertama Complex and Sungai Wang Plaza. Pertama Complex was the main hangout for schoolkids my age at the time - mainly going to Victoria Music Centre (or King's one floor up) to make custom cassettes, as well as stopping by Joo Ngan's bicyle shop (could only afford to look - the only thing I bought there was a chain tool). That and looking for Iron Maiden t-shirts there or at Campbell's. At Sungai Wang I mainly went to the magic shop on the first floor, or just looking for interesting artifacts to be found within that cavernous mall. Riding in KL, I was the king of the road, whizzing between the traffic-snarled cars, occasionally kerb-jumping (on a racer, mind you!)
 |
| Sungai Wang Plaza |
 |
| Shops at Old Pertama Complex |
To be continued in Part II
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