Camping and cooking: Scouting at WPS (1963-65) Part 2

Jubilee Camp, Teluk Bahang 1958. Photo courtesy of Mr Hwang Hong Shi

TELUK BAHANG was a sleepy fishing village in the 1960s. To reach it from school, we had to take a Hin Company blue bus from Burmah Road to Tanjung Bungah, to a depot opposite Sin Hai Kheng Hainanese restaurant. At that stop, we had to alight and switch to another blue bus for Teluk Bahang. As Scouts, the main attraction of the area was Jubilee Camp, situated just after a promontory with huge rocks – a favourite spot for anglers. When we were camping, the Scoutmasters would go to a row of shophouses for provisions and its famous mee goreng. We were not afforded the luxury of this delicious dish as far as I can recall.

The campsite then, set on an undulating sandy and grassy incline towards the sea, had many matured coconut trees. There was a guardhouse-like structure at road level. This was where we kept our provisions and equipment. Nearby were one or two single-storey beach bungalows.

Coconut trees and undulating grounds: Jubilee Camp in the late 1950s.
Photo courtesy of Mr Hwang Hong Shi

In 1966, Penang hosted the First Malaysian Scout Jamboree at Jubilee Camp. Although it was touted as a most important event in the state’s scouting history, the charm of the camp site disappeared with it. The area was flattened with laterite soil to make space for contingents from 11 countries. For a week Jubilee accommodated nearly 3,000 people. I thought that greater care ought to have been taken to preserve the environs of the camp.

The following anecdotes on camping and cooking are from my three years as a Scout at WPS:

The “Lantern Lady” at Jubilee Camp: In 1964 (Standard 5), I was not allowed to go camping. Ewe Tee went and came back with the most amazing story. Jubilee Camp was apparently haunted. On some nights, a woman in white carrying a lantern would walk the area. She was said to have committed suicide because her husband had not returned from sea. Therefore, on few nights each month she would still go to the beach to wait for him. Ewe Tee said he saw her walk past their tent. The next morning a raincoat used to prevent rainwater from dripping into the tent had bloodstains.

Ewe Tee does not recall the story. However, another friend of mine, Patrick Choo, formerly from theSun, confirmed it: “I remember our Scoutmasters telling us stories about the ‘lady with the lamp’ and asking us to fetch water at night from the well.” Patrick was not from WPS but St George’s Balik Pulau. Their Scout troop used to camp at Jubilee annually too. My own suspicion is that it was a means of the Scoutmasters to keep a tight leash on their charge. They certainly could not afford to allow 12-year-olds to wander around at night.

Pranks at the camp etc: In 1965, when I was finally allowed to go camping, at Jubilee too, we did not see any ghost. A few other things were carved into my memory though:

• Colgate prank: Our boyhood activities were full of mischief. The Colgate prank kept me awake for most of the night because I knew, if I fell into a deep slumber, others might spread toothpaste on my face, or worst, in my pants.
• Going out for air: The other matter that kept me awake were the musty smell of the tent and the stench of our collective eight bodies cramped under 6ft by 8ft of thick canvas. They gave me hay fever. I was finally able to breathe properly by sticking my head out from under the tent. Luckily, it did not rain those few days.
• Soggy fried taugeh and burnt rice: Cooking the very affordable taugeh and rice in large aluminium pots (about 2ft diameter) over a makeshift stove was standard practice. It gave us a very soggy version of the vegetable dish. Often, the rice we cooked would be slightly burnt. Famished, we walloped them anyway.

The spring water tank in 2017: Disused and overgrown with weeds.
Photo by Lim Siang Jin

Cold spring water and dark nights: One of the iconic facilities at Jubilee was cold spring water that flowed into a large holding tank (about 5ft by 20ft). Some of us called it the “well”. The water then overflowed into a drain that led to the sea. To get to the tank, we had to walk along the drain and under a small bridge; above is the Teluk Bahang Road. The water was very cold. We shivered each time we bathed but it was fun. Sometimes we would see locals and picnickers there too – men, women and children – to bathe or to wash the salt off their bodies after a swim. Today the tank (right) is overgrown with weeds.

As Patrick said, fetching water at night was scary. So was going out to ease ourselves. There were no toilets then and we had to make do with the drain for any big job. The hurricane and carbide lamps helped a bit. Since they illuminated so little, a mere few feet, they constantly left us wondering what’s beyond the lighted space.

Chap chnai (Pacific mole crab) that is found in abundance occasionally at
Teluk Bahang. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Abundant seafood and dangerous currents: The Jubilee beach was rich collecting grounds for siput (tiny shellfish) and the chap chnai (also called the Pacific mole crab). They would appear as we disturbed the sand when the waves broke at the edge of the shores. They did not add much to our diet but food-gathering was good exercise. We were not allowed to swim though. We were told that beyond a few feet of the shallows was a trench that could swallow even the strongest swimmer. This could be true because the sandscape at the beach go through tremendous alterations over the course of a year. It would take very powerful currents to effect such change.

Mr Vellasamy was Class Teacher of 

Standard 4C, WPS, in 1963. This is the 

best photo I can find of him

Cooking with Vellasamy: As part of preparation for camping, Mr Vellasamy taught us how to cook – in school. Apart from the soggy taugeh and the occasional burnt rice, we cooked chicken curry. It was most memorable. First, we bought and prepared the ingredients — chicken (chopped into small pieces), sliced onions, grated coconut (from which we squeezed santan), curry powder, a slice of toasted belacan, coconut oil and salt. The oil and onions went in first into the heated pot; and then the chicken, curry powder and belacan. When the ingredients started to char, we added the santan and salted the curry to our taste. It was great stuff!

Mr Vellasamy has passed on. I have not met him since 1965. I have fond memories of him as a caring person who was concerned about our welfare and how much he could teach us.

This is the second of three parts.

• Part 1: Building character and skills in uniform. Read here. 
• Part 3: Hiking, Job Week and a bit of history. Read here.

– Lim Siang Jin