Kampung Parit Penghulu: Traditional Games

On the last day of our trip, we visited Kampung Parit Penghulu. Our first activity there was a game, tarik upih pinang (palm frond sledding), which was exhilirating.

Our class was split into two, with the two halves against each other in a race that had two to three members from each team dragging another friend that sat on the dried palm leaf. We were supposed to somehow manoeuvre the palm frond around a red plastic chair and not knock into our opponents, which proved to be a tricky task since most people sitting on the fronds would lose their balance and fall off when the frond crashed into the chair or the opposing team.

It was an extremely fun game with a slight competitive edge to it. When we had to move on to our next activity, we let out a collective groan.

Our next game was gasing, a game of spinning tops. The aim of the game is to hit another competitor's spinning top over, making it lose its balance and topple. This cultivated focus and aim. Most of us had trouble even releasing the tops properly and having them spin, let alone aim at a specific target.

We enjoyed these two traditional games thoroughly. They gave us a timely reminder that in this technologically advanced world, where we spend our free time on social media and computer games, there are simple yet fun games (which do not involve the use of a light-emitting screen) that can be played too.