Quantum Leap - Vol. 1 The Leap That Starts It All

C003 Observations

"There should be a sort of civilisation around here by the look of the properly arranged fences around the path. A crude way to line the path here, but I guess this is their way of life, I reckon."

I thought inwardly as I stopped and looked around at the surroundings. The path was one matter but the fences were uniform in height and were neatly lined as though the people here have a lot of time in their hands to make a perfectly lined bamboo fence that had been halved and interlaced with one another.

"But it is surely an effective way in this kind of era. GOSH...! This freaking weather is so hot right now. I can't wait to get out of my clothes and wear something light...!"

I was cursing and was sweltering under those clothes as I am not used to wearing long sleeves and pants on a hot sunny day. Besides, my mind and soul had taken over someone's body but I still have my mind to think on my own and it is presently mine, even though I am just borrowing this body for the time being.

"You guys sure will get it from me when I get to that town... What a way to pull a joke on me, you old coonts...!!!" I shouted out to no one in particular as I walked along the path.

I wished someone was playing a prank with me and familiar faces would soon be jumping about and greeting me ad they returned back my clothes.

But I don't think it would be possible since I knew I had bigger feet than this and I knew they something BIG had transpired that made me take over this body.

I hollered to myself as I trudged on as it gives me the determination to walk in this kind of ill-fitting open-toed sandals and also the drenched pyjamas that I had been wearing since the day I awoke at the beachfront.

The closer I get to the source of the trailing smoke in the sky the faster I trudged on. The sight before me widened slowly until I reached a clearing. At the end of the clearing, I could finally see 'CIVILIZATION'!

I felt so thankful that my knees nearly give way and made me kneel to the ground and give thanks to the Lord above.

I thought that I could not reach the source of the trailing smoke but what greeted me was far from what I had expected it to be.

As far as my eyes can see, the sight of neatly lined rows of wooden houses on stilts gave me a sensation that I had travelled back into the past.

Not just the nearby past but WAY PAST a few centuries.

House on stilts...! Only houses near the sea would be built in that manner and there would be powerboats underneath their houses which was mounted on a trailer. It would then be tugged along by another vehicle it so...!

I was simply dumbfounded by the sight that greeted me as the scene that finally unfolded before I was simply way out of my expectations...! Wooden house on stilts? Where am I and which CENTURY was I in right now?

I was like a goldfish out of the water as I was simply opening and closing my mouth in a dumbfounded manner.

I had never expected to be able to witness such a scene before me as I only could depict this scene as those from paintings and drawings.

Yes... Drawings of such villages or settlements near the seas or maybe in those laid back houses near the paddy fields.

Yeah, the land of a thousand smiles would have that kind of settings but I don't think these people are Thai am I right?

Well, just have to find someone and interact and I could judge from there whether I'm in Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia or any other parts of the backward South East Asia...!

The house's walls were made from thick bamboo poles that were sliced into half and entwined and crisscrossed with one another to make a sturdy wall without any wire or screws to bind them except for a horizontal piece in the middle to hold them together.

The architectural design of the houses was simple and it's very well ventilated on hot summer days and nights. Not only was it well ventilated, but there would be may peepholes as well...!

Every single house was built on 2 feet long stilts above the ground, which indicated the prevention of water damage due to floods or water seepages as well as storage of a paddleboat, some fishing baskets made from wicker or any other types of materials underneath the houses.

I also saw a few rattan woven baskets meant to carry groceries as well as cone-shaped rattan is woven baskets to hold chicken inside it.

A 3 steps flight of wooden yet sturdy staircase was built from the ground that leads to the main door of the house.

A brown earthen clay pot was placed near the foot of the staircase either to store drinking water or as a means to wash one's feet before entering the house.

A small scoop made from the core of the coconut affixed with a handle was used to scoop the water from the earthen clay pot for that kind of purpose.

Beside every house, there were at least 4 poles that stuck to the ground and 2 horizontal lines were stretched in between with a few laundries hanged on to it; lightly flapping in the wind.

On the same pole, a few fishes that had been cleaned and dressed were tied along it to be dried as well. "Hey, won't the laundry that had been dried in the same way smell like fish afterwards?"

"My Goodness...! I could even see some greenbottles buzzing around it too...! Ewww...!"

I can't help myself but scrunched my nose like I was pressing it against a windowpane or something. Once a fly had attached itself to the stinky dried fishes, I am sure that there would be maggots coming off from it. But what I saw was the total opposite.

The flies do not attach itself to the stinky aroma of the drying fishes but just hovered close and flew away.

There was a thick coating of salt covering the fishes and u later learnt that the salt is a kind of drying agent to preserve these fishes.

Dried fishes would take something like 3 days to be properly dried once it had been sliced open like a butterfly. As for meat, it may be processed the same way and the end process would be jerkies.

The Japanese had the knack of making these dried fishes, mainly stickleback fishes that were found in abundance in their freshwater rivers.

Somehow, once these fishes had been properly dried, the Japanese could eat them raw, just as in sushi. But the maggots, yeah... I could just imagine them to be wriggling in the head and eye sockets of those dried fishes that need to be flicked off once in a while.

It would definitely be a delicacy waiting for the chicks and fowls underneath the drying and stinking fishes.

The thatched roofs on the houses were very simple indeed. It was made entirely by woven coconut leaves as it was a very good waterproof kind of shelter even though it may seem to be highly combustible in case of mischief.

Other than that, the maintenance of the structures was very simple, non-time consuming and very practical at that time.

In the middle of the courtyard, I saw several women clad only by a wrapping cloth over their bodies while leaving the shoulders and part of their legs to be exposed to the sun and environment.

The wrap clothes were made of vibrant colours thus making a stark contrast with its rather primitive surroundings. 3 women were wielding a long wooden stick each and were thumping away on a large, deep and hollow earthen mortar on the ground; presumably, they were crushing grains with it.

The grains that the 3 women were thrashing with their long wooden sticks were then transferred to another group of women.

This new group of women would then be winnowing the grains that the previous group had prepared using a large winnowing basket.

The husks of the grains were swept away and burnt to be turned into ash. It would then be turned into a kind of building material or fertiliser. The unburnt grain husks would be turned into a sort of fuel.

There were about 5 groups of women currently at work encircling a huge stack of firewood meant for a bonfire during the night.

Each of the women had their task at hand as they nodded at me as I entered the perimeter of the settlement.

A few chuckling hens, crowing c***s, waddling ducks and baby chicks were happily scampering around the yard; oblivious to the thumping noises made by the women at work.

A few hens even dared to move closer and peck at the ground where minuscule grains were knocked away from the mortar with every thump of the long wooden pole.

I then noticed a few women were using another wrap cloth as a carrier bundled with their sleeping newborn close to their sides or backs as they methodically took turns to pound the materials in the mortar.

The newborns were just being satisfied being close to the warmth of their mothers or maybe happily nestled between the bosoms as the babies were suckling happily as their mothers were working by their sides...!

Some able bare-bodied men were sitting on the ground with a thatch of woven mats underneath them.

All of them were wearing the same kind of knee-length pants that I wore too but with colours that seemed mismatched at that moment.

From the distinctive smoke and smell that emanates, I noticed a few of them were either smoking tobacco rolled with the leaves of the corn or chattering and joking away while drinking from wooden cups while pouring liquids out of wooden shaped gourds.

The scent of their rolled tobacco instantly brought about memories of how my mother used to make pipe tobacco for my father when they were both alive and well.

She loved to narrate me with her wartime stories back then when I was learning to walk. My mother would use a mixture of freshly squeezed pineapple juice and finely powdered palm sugar with coarse tobacco and leave it to dry under the sun for a few days to produce Homemade Pipe Tobacco.

And that time was during World War Two between1942-1945...!

One of the men sitting around and smoking was waving his hands at me and I happened glance backwards to see if the person was waving at someone behind me but I noticed that there wasn't anyone at all except me.

I raised one of my hand half-heartedly and sort of meekly waved back.

I am definitely not going to start any kind of conversations with anyone just yet. Because right now...I don't even know where to start since I have a vague idea of who I am right now...!

My ash grey hair had turned black. My size 10 feet had turned to be two sizes smaller and now I am in a very unfamiliar territory where I don't even know where this place is and I don't even know my own self...!URGH...!!!

I saw one of the men sitting on the woven mats and drinking from the wooden cups was gesturing towards me to come to him as he seemed to be saying something which I can't understand.

He was waving and beckoning me to come towards the group and I am pretty sure he was motioning for me to come to him.

I ambled towards the group and was still observing the place and trying to familiarise myself with the surroundings.

=*=

Dear friends, if you spot any errors, please leave your comments in the paragraphs or the chapter section. Thank you and God Bless.