Kisses Sweeter than Air Bandung

Though she looked like a frightened rabbit in her first year at Pasir Panjang English School ........

Maznah is 5th from the right in the back row

.
..... she grew out of her shell when she joined the Brownies.

My sister is in the back row, 2nd from left, looking snazzy in her uniform at the Botanical Gardens

I  was over the moon when she went to Crescent Girls School ......

She's first on the right, front row, posing under the flagpole at Crescent Girls School.

.... because I could get up to all kinds of nonsense in PPES without her noting down my  misdemeanours.


I must admit I was jealous of her because she was the favourite of our suave and handsome Pa'Uda Sheriff.

See what I mean? Note his spats, and he played real cool tunes on his accordion.  

In our family we did not use terms like Kakak and Abang -  just short forms of Nah, Nor, Mus and Akim - very egalitarian, but we know who to watch out for,  (like the older ones) and who to give in to (mengalah)  and who to push around ( the younger pests)!

Always the very feminine lass - unlike AsH her younger  sister - Nah  had the cheek to don my chic tomboy gear ...

AsH - the samseng from Lorong Abu Kassim 

..... to swank around like this.

I must admit the outfit looks better on her!

Nah was loaded with all the "sweet and pretty" genes from Mak, but she's not short of the grey matter . She grew up into a beautiful swan even though she was no ugly duckling.

Sweet little Malay girl of 12, I think.

A helluva smasher 5 years later.

After her Cambridge School Certificate she went on to teacher-training at Johor Baru......

The future school marm - fifth from left

 ......after which she was posted to teach at Parit Sulong, Johor.  It was very brave of her to be living and working so far away from home .  It was testimony to our Abah's trust in his daughter - to enable Nah to have a career which stood her in good stead for all of her future.

Then came the day when this cool dude from Muar ...

Abang Long went to Kota Bharu Teachers Training College.  This photo  was taken when he was at Muar High School. He's in the middle row, third from left.

..... was hit by Cupid's arrow when he saw this cool chick when they were both teaching at Parit Sulong.

Cool chick in sarung kebaya .  Sandra Dee - eat your heart out!

Like in a true fairy tale, they got hitched ......

...... hatched these four horrors ...

Stinky messy kids especially the impish boy on the left.

......  ( who improved slightly some years later).

With  Tok 'Mok  ( my mak) in 1985

They followed their parents' footsteps and brought more horrors into Maznah's and Haron's lives.

And so Happy Birthdays for  Nah ( 19th January) and  Bang Long (today).

Thank you for sharing  your love and life with the two idiots from Leicester.

Bang Long, I hunted all over YouTube for the song "Kisses Sweeter than Air Bandung" - knowing how it's your favourite drink but it was to no avail.  This is all I can get.  Just shut your ears to the wine.