Shih Chung Branch School: Prologue

It was 1981, I was five. That was when I first stepped into the compound of Shih Chung Branch School at Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, Penang. I can't remember much of the one year I spent in Shih Chung Kindergarten except the once after I was denied permission to go to the toilet I decided to do something outrageous (for a five-year-old) but more on that later.

My mum wanted me to start early in learning English so I was transferred to another kindergarten housed within Convent Light Street the next year, and boy was it a fun-filled ride! But that's another story.

Oh I do remember there was a HUGE (Banyan?) tree by the entrance of Shih Chung watching over me. When I left at the age of twelve in 1988, it was still a towering giant, greeting students, parents and teachers who passed by...


This is not the tree, but it had aerial roots like this one.

Source: banoffeepie.com