Unlike those living in the town area, my home in Taiping is neither a terraced house nor a semi-detached house. It is an ancient
(the word "old" doesn't do any justice to its age) single-storied bungalow from pre-WW II..
We rented the house for a couple of hundred of ringgits per month, although my parents would love to own it. It has 6 bedrooms, but my dad uses two of them as storerooms.. It has a big compound which my parents would do their gardening.. the garden is full of fruits and vegetables, like papaya, guava, chilies, yam, sweet potato, egg plants, aloe vera and tomatoes. And of course, the usual flowers including hibiscus and orchid .. Too bad I inherited none of their green thumbs.. whatever I plant, dies.. :p
Concrete is used to build the frame of the house, while the partitions of the rooms and living space were done using wood.. and the top of the rooms are not walled up, so anything said in one room could be heard in the adjacent room..
The doors and windows too are old-design.. which I doubt many of the new generations have seen before.. The rooms have either one or two door leafs.. While the windows are made of wood with steel grills, and a metal ledge to decide how wide the window should be opened..
After my dad had put up mosquito nettings on all the windows, "visitations" by frogs, grasshoppers, praying mantis, cicadas, beetles, moths and other insects in the house had been cut down tremendously, but once in a while we would still get a couple of strays.. So in a way, I am not terrified of these insects as would a city dweller.. ;) Another thing, I sleep inside a mosquito net every night.. :)
Compared to the modern living in Singapore and Japan, there is beauty in simplicity staying in such a house.. I don't need air-condition, microwave oven, flat screen/plasma/LCD TV, home entertainment systems or cable tv to be comfortable.. As long as there is uninterrupted electricity and dependable (and fast) internet connection, I am contented.. :p
We rented the house for a couple of hundred of ringgits per month, although my parents would love to own it. It has 6 bedrooms, but my dad uses two of them as storerooms.. It has a big compound which my parents would do their gardening.. the garden is full of fruits and vegetables, like papaya, guava, chilies, yam, sweet potato, egg plants, aloe vera and tomatoes. And of course, the usual flowers including hibiscus and orchid .. Too bad I inherited none of their green thumbs.. whatever I plant, dies.. :p 
Concrete is used to build the frame of the house, while the partitions of the rooms and living space were done using wood.. and the top of the rooms are not walled up, so anything said in one room could be heard in the adjacent room.. 
The doors and windows too are old-design.. which I doubt many of the new generations have seen before.. The rooms have either one or two door leafs.. While the windows are made of wood with steel grills, and a metal ledge to decide how wide the window should be opened.. 
After my dad had put up mosquito nettings on all the windows, "visitations" by frogs, grasshoppers, praying mantis, cicadas, beetles, moths and other insects in the house had been cut down tremendously, but once in a while we would still get a couple of strays.. So in a way, I am not terrified of these insects as would a city dweller.. ;) Another thing, I sleep inside a mosquito net every night.. :) 
Compared to the modern living in Singapore and Japan, there is beauty in simplicity staying in such a house.. I don't need air-condition, microwave oven, flat screen/plasma/LCD TV, home entertainment systems or cable tv to be comfortable.. As long as there is uninterrupted electricity and dependable (and fast) internet connection, I am contented.. :p
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