THE young and old are equally excited the moment they arrive at Happy Farm.
For some people, it is revisiting the good old days, and living in the midst of nature and the carefree life like it was back then.
And for many urban children in particular, this may be their first time seeing chickens roaming free, feeding the goats and encountering stingless bees.
Happy Farm is a 1ha family farm in Kampung Baru Bekok, Johor.
The more than 70-year-old farm, where the owners of three generations continue to stay, opened to tourists about three years ago.
Growing up in the farm, Yap Jun Hong, 20, said he was glad that his grandfather had insisted to keep the farm the way it was.
Tee showing the traditional way to make fatt koh, a type of steamed cake, at her house in the village.
A bio-technology graduate from Taiwan, Jun Hong is helping his father Yap Sau Kong and mother Sin Fah Chin to run the farm business.
Sin said most of the visitors were Singaporeans.
Public holidays and school holidays in Singapore and Malaysia are peak season, she added.
StarMetro met a group of 36 Singaporeans at the farm, many of them senior citizens.
Unperturbed by a drizzle, some armed with umbrellas went to explore the farm.
Choi Yoon Weng, 82, said he and his wife enjoyed the two-day-one-night trip to Kampung Baru Bekok.
Saw (right, in red floral blouse) and tour guide CJ Teo (right) with a group of Singaporean tourists at Happy Farm at Kampung Baru Bekok in Johor.
“We all are having a good time. Yesterday we also celebrated our friend’s 90th birthday in Bekok,” said Choi.
Sally Tan said the group would go on local and overseas trips together.
While many of them are elderly, she said their children felt confident to let their parents join the trips knowing that they would look out for each other.
Choi said they arrived by train and stayed at a homestay in the village.
Bekok train station, which is inside the village is a boost for tourism, too.
Apart from Happy Farm, other attractions in the village are the Sungai Bantang waterfall and a museum.
The warm and friendly villagers are also another selling point.
Tee Siew Lee shares her hobby in baking with tourists who come in groups to her house in the village.
Jun Hong holding up a toad at Happy Farm, which his family owns.
For RM6 per ticket, a tourist can watch Tee make the traditional Chinese steam cake – fatt koh or prosperity cake in Cantonese and take away a pack comprising six cookies, biscuits and cake.
Tourists could also use the toilets in her house, she said, as a value-added service.
“I liaise with tour guides who inform me beforehand so I can make the necessary preparations for making the cakes,” said the bubbly 44-year-old.
A mother of three, Tee said she works in the wet market slaughtering chickens – a business she inherited from her mother-in-law.
In fact, Tee is typical of new villagers who are generally hardworking and able to juggle several roles.
Another place to visit is the village’s 80-year-old coffeeshop, Chop Nam Kye, which is famous for its coffee and kaya bread.
The owners, Mah Chin Hoong and his wife Lim Yee Nee have their hands full during weekends as well as public and school holidays when tourists throng their little shop.
Before the village became a tourist attraction a few years ago, almost all its patrons were from the village.
The shop opens at 5.30am daily because the predominantly agricultural community starts work very early.
They will frequent the coffeeshop before heading to their farms or smallholdings.
“I am busier now after I retired,” Lim said.
At 58, she recently retired from teaching and helps Mah run the shop.
They took over the business from Mah’s father, Yap Kee.
Kampung Baru Bekok is also known for its many street artworks and murals.
Each and every mural is unique and tells a story about the village.
They also make good backdrops for photography.
Village chief Saw Geok Choo, 64, is very proud of the development in the village and was reeling off the number of tourist arrivals.
She keeps tabs on the number of buses arriving at the village.
Saw said she banked on tourism to provide business and job opportunities for the residents, especially youngsters in the village so they could stay on.
“Hopefully, some of our people (villagers) working eslewhere can also return when there are jobs and business opportunites for them,” she added.
Almost half of the population in the village are working and residing outside, including Singapore.
Villager Kong Wey Hon, 58, expressed her concern that there were more than 100 single old people staying alone in the village.
“Either their spouse has passed away or they are unmarried,” explained Kong, who is a retired nurse.
Like most of the new villages in the country, Kampung Baru Bekok has a fast ageing community and urgently in need of a way for the villagers to reinvent themselves.
The hustle and bustle in the village over the weekends and public holidays nowadays is a sign that tourism has put them on the right track.
