WHEN Ahmad Ngah Nordin was attending the St John's Institution primary school afternoon session in the early 1970s, he would spend time at the Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve "bubble car" before the school bell rang.
Ahmad, who has lived in the city here since he was born, said he spent so much time there that he could not count the number of times he was in the Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve (now known as KL Forest Eco Park) cable car.
The 57-year-old referred to the cable cars as the "bubble cars", as they were popularly known back then, because of the walls that covered the cars, which gave them a slight bubbly shape.
"When you are in the bubble car, which started off from the Bukit Nanas station, you would be able to see Kuala Lumpur's skyline where the 'green meets the city'.
"There were two versions of the cable car. One was the bubble car and the other was the swing-type chairlift, which was divided into 'two lines' going in the same direction," he told the New Sunday Times.
The chairlifts were located at the other side of the platform, where people would get off to walk around the forest reserve.
They gave passengers a glimpse of the green lung of Kuala Lumpur, which was gazetted as a forest reserve in 1906 with a land area of 17.5 hectares.
"The chairlift was more complicated than the bubble car. You have to stand upright and wait for it to come to you, then you would quickly sit on it.
"It was like a swing, but a moving one and you had to be fast. And your legs would be dangling from the chair and there was only a steel barrier to keep you in place.
"The chairlift would descend into the greener side of the park and then you could opt to walk back via a special pathway."
Ahmad said the ride would be around 300 to 400 metres off the ground and there was a similar pathway below following the cable car ride for those who preferred to walk.
"It was really nice up there as it had this cool air and the sound of the animals.
"I think I went there until I was in secondary school, but at the time there weren't many tourists during the weekdays."
Ahmad also recalled the time when the cable car service was stuck and passengers had to wait for a moment.
"It was okay, but you did hope there was no wind or else the car would swing."
Ahmad admitted that his family was not aware of his cable car adventures.
"No one knew that I was riding the bubble car because my older sisters attended schools in Setapak and Ampang.
"From Monday to Saturday, I would ride the bus from Gombak to my school and then I would go to the cable car before school started. The cable car was just behind my school, so why not go?
"One day, my friends and I who were in the bubble car were teasing a girl from Convent Bukit Nanas just for fun. But when I went home, I saw the same girl. She was actually my sister's friend, and thankfully she didn't recognise me," he recalled fondly.
He said the trip would take about 15 to 20 minutes both ways and at the end of both platforms were souvenir shops.
Ahmad even bought a special Hockey World Cup badge from one of the shops.
He also remembered the development of the cable car when the builders were rolling the cables.
However, Ahmad could not recall an accident in which there was reportedly one fatality before the cable car service was discontinued in the 1980s.
He hoped the cable car service would be revived one day soon to woo more tourists to the city and appreciate the scenic forest reserve.
"It would be nice to see it up and running again because I want my family to share my experience and later take a picture for posterity.
"Having such memorable times there during my childhood, I want tourists to enjoy exploring Kuala Lumpur, too."