This is the story of how I come to love elephant and made it my favorite animal.
I love elephants so much that Beau ended up tweeting this for my coming birthday,
*cue teary eyes*
My father had this craze of taking the whole family to road trips almost every school holidays. The whole family including my grandparents from my Mom’s side – my maktok & tokwan. They were then still very strong to walk and keep an eye on us three – kakak, Asyran and me.
He called it “Pusing satu Malaya” (around the Malaysia trip) and we would dread it so much because we have to cramp ourselves in the Ford car. Ironically,(I’m gonna be off track for a bit), the first family car’s plate number is the same as Beau’s plate number. What a beautiful coincidence!
Ok, back to the trips. So yes, all 7 of us in the car. Bless us all. Thank God for I was a tiny lil creature back then with my lil bro. So we will always sit on our grandparents laps all the way and Maktok would pack up some food for us to eat when we stop at some place scenic. Under the shady by the roadside, by the beach etc
The trips were long and tiring but I can safely say that by the age of 11 years old, I have been to all places in Peninsular Malaysia in that old car alright. Phew!
But among all the trips, I always look forward to our trip to Taiping, Perak. Taiping is very close to our heart particularly because Tokwan used to be based in Taiping camp when he served as the Askar Melayu during the pre-independent time and Maktok stayed there with him raising all the kids, including my mom. So when Bapak said, “Lets go to Taiping”, Tokwan’s face lighted up instantly.
As for me, I was so excited because a trip to Taiping means a trip to the zoo which means….I get to see the elephants at the zoo!
And this the beginning of the story on how I come to love elephants so much..
We would walk around the zoo for hours and my father and his photography thing, he would stop and make us pose at every single spot possible alright. I wasn’t a very enthusiastic girl when it comes to taking pictures back then. So I smirked or stand static and *kachiiikkk* I walked away.
No fun, right?
Yes, but there was one time, I told my father, I’m tired and I need to stop. (Off track again: I was already so outspoken when I was a kid. hehe). So my father asked me to wait in front of the elephant area while he tour around the place with the rest of my siblings. Tokwan was with me in front of the elephant place. Tokwan said to me, if I were to dance or just move around in motions, the elephants would follow and replicate my move. And I innocently did. I swayed and swing my feet up left and right and amazeballlsssss, the elephants followed! I swear!
Well of course not the whole cage la but 1-2 elephants in front of me and I think they smiled at me. *cue crybaby mode*
I don’t have my childhood photos with me right now but I can snap one or two when I’m back home next week but here’s one I found online oh my Godddd..these precious babiesss!
People passed by and saw how merrily I was dancing and talking to the elephants. Tokwan looked from the side and just smiled. I care about nothing else in the world at that moment. It’s just me and my elephants. It might seem simple but they made me smile. And I think they’re very happy to dance.
So that is the story on how I come to love this beautiful animal so much :)
But last night I came across this one picture on Facebook where they showed this elephant is hurt and it looked so painful :(
Breaks my heart when I see this,
Sighhh. They can’t talk to express their pain, you see…
Talking about elephants, childhood memories , now I miss Taiping Zoo. It’s amazing how one simple place can bring so many fond childhood memories.
And now I miss Tokwan. My wise Tokwan.
But don’t worry Tokwan, Kak Chik will come home next week! :)
And I will see if I can find that unphotogenic grumpy picture of yours truly at the Taiping Zoo, for your laughing pleasure :P
Till then, love all the elephants in the world ! They’re so cute!
and…they send positive message too!
Yours truly,
Lia
From Yours Truly 