Grand Old Lady

Kota Kinabalu Town and Kota Kinabalu City

All women tell one same truth, that they were more beautiful 30 years ago. So as my home town – the town I was born.

In 1978, I walked the hill up to observatory. It was a mere wooden shade at that time. This was the best location to view Kota Kinabalu Town. I came here just to have a last view of Kota Kinabalu Town and take a snap shot as remembrance.

One month later I left Kota Kinabalu. Since then I am a traveler passing by Kota Kinabalu several times and never remain to stay.

Today, 30 years later, I am passing by Kota Kinabaly again but with a family. And I made a point to come as a family. This is their first time to this observatory. They view a beautiful city. But none of them have a more beautiful vision of the city then I have.

Kota Kinabalu City is beautiful, but she was more beautiful 30 years ago.

Genting Highland

4th Birthday

Malay Marriage

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year

Myth of The Big Rock in Kuching

They told me that my grand father has a piece of farm land beside The Big Rock. So I came to the rock to search and found  beside the rock is Temple of Maha Sri Maha Mariamman.

In “Wong Family History”, Christopher Wong mentioned about a “big rock” :

“……a “pony-tailed” son from China landed in Kuching by ship via Singapore and under the White Rajah’s program was allocated a large block of virgin land near a natural big rocky outcrop which is now a landmark along Rock Road, Kuching.”

Pang Lien Yin, my grand mother, also mentioned to me a few times between 1964-1966 that “…… your grandfather’s land was beside a huge rock along the Rock Road….”


This “Huge Rock” has since become the oldest earliest landmark of the Wong Shin Tshing, my grandfather, living location.


And Wong Syak Kee, my father, and his family members have been living just opposite this huge rock in the Batu Lintang Government Quarters area for decades.


While my father has never shown any interest in this huge rock, I came a couple of times in 1971 while still staying at quarter no: 66. It just 5 minutes walk.


Not quite understand why my father did not shown interest in his father’s (my grand father) history, but the verbal history of the Wong family was mainly passed down from the female :  Grandmother and Aunties


After 1971, I cam back again only in 2005. 34 years later.


These are recent photos in 2005 :

The Rock Road is named after a rock crystal known by its Malay name Batu Kinyang. It has a myth. The outcrop of rock is supposed to be a keramat, graveyard of a holy man, often visited by believers seeking divine help or just giving thanks for help already rendered. People began losing interest in the   place, however, when an abattoir was built nearby.
Read more:
http://www.theborneopost.com/2011/12/11/road-names-in-kuching/

Sri Maha Mariamman Temple at Batu Lintang is one of the three Hindu temples in Kuching City.

On the north side of The Rock is the newly completed Sri Maha Mariammar Temple.  This Hindu temple is another myth in the history of Sarawak.

Sri Maha Mariammar Temple was originally built 100 years ago on Matang Mountain kilometers from Kuching City. The temple was built by Indian and Ceylonese  workers recruited by the second White Rajah Charles Brooke to tend his tea and coffee plantation on the slope of the mountain.

The unsuccessful tea plantation was closed down in 1912 and the workers were given a choice to move down to Kuching or go back to India.

About  50 Indian families decided to stay back in Kuching. When they left the plantation they took the bronze statue of the deity Maha Sri Maha Mariamman. Later they moved it to a small temple built along Batu Lintang Road.  The old original Bilian wood temple on top of  Matang Mountain eventually forgotten by the young Indian generation till 1962.

This second temple beside Batu Lintang Road was familiar to me. In 1960s I stayed in Batu Lintang Government Quarters No: 117 and  No: 66. Each time I passed this small wooden temple I would be attracted by the ringing bell, or the colorful flowers hanging at the entry gate or by the Indian worshipper. 

On the right hand side of this temple were a wooden barber shop and a wooden sundry shop both were frequent by me and family members.  I came here for hair cut and family members came for sundry goods like rice, and sugar.

I left Kuching for too long and tings have changed much since then. The wooden temple was not more there but a much bigger concrete  big temple dedicated to the deity was built near by at Jalan Rock in 1991. The 100 years old bronze statue of the deity Maha Sri Maha Mariamman originally from the forgotten Matang Mountain is now finally rest and remains in the new Temple to be Re-declare  open soon.

Photo above : Mount Matang Sri Maha Mariamman Temple rediscovered in 1967 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mount-Matang-Sri-Maha-Mariamman-Temple-Kuching-Sarawak/200262026677821?sk=photos

Sri Maha Mariamman - The Lost Temple of Matang :  http://worshipdevotion.blogspot.com/2010/11/sri-maha-mariamman-lost-temple-of.html

Japanese in Batu Lintang

http://www.far-eastern-heroes.org.uk/Life_of_Riley/html/batu-lintang_camp.htm

The Japanese during the Second World War established an internment camp in Borneo Island.

This Batu Lintang camp (Lintang Barracks and Kuching POW camp) housed both Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and civilian internees.

This camp operated from March 1942 until the liberation of the camp in September 1945.



Before the Japanese conqueror came to this place was originally British Indian Army barracks. The Japanese extended the area to 50 acres (20 hectares).

The camp population fluctuated, due to movement of prisoners between camps in Borneo, and as a result of the deaths of the prisoners.

It had a maximum population of some 3,000 prisoners.

Batu Lintang camp : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batu_Lintang_camp



Our house was just 1 Km to this  location of Japanese camp. We lived in Batu Lintang Government Quarters Area 10 minute walk to Batu Lintang Teacher College where the POW Camp was located during the war time.

Little oil lamp over The Big Rock

Photo above: From top of The Big Rock looking toward South.  

At the right side is housing build in 1971. 

At the background is Government Quarter Area where my family lived in Quarter 117 (1959 to 1961) and Quarter 66 (1966 to 1972).  A row of wooden quarters could be seen in the photos. The windows were all closed indicating the houses were not being occupied. All these quarters have been demolish by 2010 making way for a mega commercial multi purposes area that include hotels and a water park.

In front is the Shell petrol station original location at the corner of traffic light. The station shifted 100 meters further up the Rock Road to give way to expansion of the highway junction.

Photo above : On top of The Big Rock, an ordinary oil lamp housed in special created lamp housing. Showing the determination of the worshipper who place it there has a determination to keep on the lamp burning.

“Give me oil in my lamp keep it burning, burning …..I prayed” 

This is a favorite song of my Christian friends. But the real determination to keep a lamp burning and burning I found in this little Hindu oil lamp.

An ordinary oil lamp placed on The Big Rock by a worshipper most likely Hindu because of the Hindu style clay lamp.  

Keeping an oil lamp in the wide open space to keep on burning and burning is impossible every knows. A breeze blew over and the fire is easily extinguish. A shower of raindrop not only put off the fire but also replace the oil in the clay with water. (Water is heaver then oil).

But wind and rain do not deter a Hindu devotee to keep his oil lamp burning burning till he return again to give it some more oil. 

A genuinely created lamp housing I never seen earlier. Hand made and unlikely made in Carpenter Street which is well known for skilled iron works. 

The square glass housing protects the fire from blowing wind.  The chimney on top keeps ventilation of flow of air and smoke necessary for the fire to keep on burning. The slanting corn shape keeps the rain water flow to the side. And an umbrella like shade on top keep heavy rain drops away.  A big ring handles on top for comfortable and firm gripping and carrying.

Wish upon a rock in Batu Lintang

By CHOONG MEK ZHIN 

http://election.thestar.com.my/sarawak/news/story.asp?file=/2011/4/16/sarawakpolls/8493165&sec=sarawakpolls

KUCHING: Though the city has grown in the name of development, there is still room for the mystical and it exists right here in Batu Lintang where there is a rock that is said to have mystical properties to grant wishes.

The dark-coloured rock is located beside a Hindu temple along the aptly named Jalan Rock and is hard to miss due to its size.

“Oh yes, the locals know about the rock. My grandmother made a wish on it once and it was fulfilled,” Manjeet Kaur Sidhu, 42, a businesswoman said though she had never made a wish there.

Birthday of Priya

8th January 2005 Birthday of Priya and Yisal

2nd Birthday

THE ROYAL LONDON CIRCUS

THE ROYAL LONDON CIRCUS

Owner Paul L.B. Lee and wife Doris Lee, Royal London Circus has 40 performers from 14 countries, the majority of whom are Mexicans.

After the show, instead of following the crowd stream toward the exit, we look around the compound for interesting things. We saw a corner where the small horses/ponies are so we walked to the horses. There are the small cute horses. I aimed my camera to snap a photo for souvenir but suddenly at the dark corner another side, a voice shouted to me. It was the worker who looks after the animal. I understand it means ".. no photo allowed, go out, it’s late and we are closing our gate..."

There were 3 elephants the circus has. But today we saw only 1 performing.

4 years ago in December 1999 two of the three elephants died from the sudden cold hit in Shanghai, China. Veterinarians from Shanghai Zoo rushed to the circus immediately after they heard the elephants were ill.

The Malaysian elephants are used to living in a tropical environment and can't bear the cold winds .

The elephant we saw performing tonight name Aidi age 11. The only survivor of the 3.

Source : http://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=4622

The same night these 2 young elephant of the circus die, a baby boy (human) of the circus was born.

“Shanghai”, name of the baby boy, was born to 19-year-old Greek mother, Sofia Fateka, who joined the circus the previous year 1998 in Athens, and acts as a teeter board player. The baby's father, Bautista Armando from Mexico, also performs on a teeter board.

The baby, weighing 3.9 kilograms, was born at the Shanghai International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital.

"We have nicknamed the baby Shanghai to mark its extraordinary birth," Sofia Fateka the mother said.

Source : http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/history/00-01-14/c04-cold.html

Aidi, the young elephant, survived a sudden cold in Shanghai while his 2 partners died 4 years ago. But Aidi himself carelessly cause his trainer dead recently.

The circus was in Sandakan in October last month before arriving Tawau this month November.

On 22 October 2003, during a routine practice session on the circus ground at Sandakan’s Sibuga Sports Complex, Aidi carelessly swing a powerful lash of the trunk to his trainer, 40 year-old Amanat, who had 20 years experiences in animal training in Indonesia.

The trainer Amanat sustained serious abdominal and head injuries after hurled against a container before falling onto the ground. The unconscious Amanat was warded at the intensive care unit (ICU) of Duchess of Kent Hospital.

The following day hospital staff removed the life support system after Amanat showed signs of recuperating. Amanat could talk 2 days later but he develops high fever, low blood pressure and irregular heart beat and died a few hours later.

This is the first dead incident case in the history of Royal London Circus.

Source : http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=22522

The remains of the Indonesian elephant trainer Amanat flown back to his hometown in Jawa Tengah for burial. While the circus continue the carnival to Tawau where we are watching tonight.

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I bought the tickets weeks earlier. The lowest price among the three seating classes.  My family of 4 plus Munium who is a Baha'i friend from Sarawak. Xing is less then 1 meter height the ticket price is Rm10.00. Yin is a baby occupy no seat so no ticket needed. 

For the 3 adult tickets Rm21.00x3, I was also given 3 free drink coupons to exchange for 3 cups of cold drinks from SugarBan fast-food restaurant. (The SugarBan Tawau branch was closed down sometime in 2005.)

Though a father of two kids now, I still love circus as much as a child. My first circus show was in 1965 in Jesselton Town (now Kota Kinabalu City).  The circus name was something like “New World”.  The circus tent was raise at an empty ground beside the Medaka Padang and behind the old railway station where the location of Dreamtel (Dream Hotel) is now today.

That first circus I went to had as many as 4 elephants.  During the days when not on show, the elephants care taker brought the elephants further down to the hill slop where the elephants were free to roam for leaves for foods. The location was behind  today’s Hotel Shangri-La.  I was Primary 6 in Chung Hua Primary School. After my afternoon extra tuition classes, I would walk a short cut home up the hill behind today Hotel Shangri-La. And there I saw the circus elephants around the hill side pulling up all types of green leaves for foods.

The elephant lifting up a trainer.

Royal London Circus

Elephant Show

2003-11-16 Tawau Town

After the show

After the show, as we follow the crowd going out. We passed by the place where the few mini ponies (miniature horses?) are kept.  We saw such short ponies in Paraguay in 1997 when I was working there.  Xing had a picture taken there.  They are cute creatures.

We stopped to have a close encounter with the mini-horse. The crowd flow fast and soon we became the last batch remain inside the circus compound. This was the time a keeper came and shouted at us to leave. He shouted instead of telling because he can’t speak Malay. So apparently he is a foreign worker.

I was curious on this. This is definitely not a proper way in handling customers in business.  Circus is an entertainment business relying on the support of happy customers.  When a customer take the trouble to come to a circus and found amusement in things. This is a positive sign of success in entertainment business.  But suing visitors away as soon as possible signalling a declining entertain spirit.  How can a circus survive long with no more curiosity to attract new visitors?

We did nor argue or persist but left. 

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We have our telephone after 2 years

Finally FUMA technician came to install a telephone for our house. It took the telekom company 2 years to give us a telephone line. We move in this new housing estate in September 2000. An application for a phone was immediately submitted to Telekom. Then we waited.....waited.....and waited.............

......waited till today finally, 24 September 2002, we had our phone. Why an technology advance company like Telekom Malaysia need 2 years to do a simple job ?

Yin 5 months

2002 National Day

31st August 2002 Malaysia Day

Tinagat Beach

2nd June 2002 Yin's first outdoor picnic at Tinagat Beach, Tawau

1974 SMK Beluran Form 1

Form 1 SMK BELURAN 1974

Back Row : Manjalip, Sapilin, Amat, Ghami, Teck Suan, Mohd. Isa, John, Diawang, Gahing, Frederich Mail, Bidin.

Middle Row : Hock Kim, Mejiu, Nawang, Asmat, Kwan Mei Lun, Maigu, Jalis, Jeffrey, Idris, Donu.

Front Row seated : Fatmah, Fatimah, Rosidah, Rita Diman, Rebecca, Miss Aminah (Teacher) Rosni, Rita Toncil, Rajmah, Soh Suk Lug, Norma.

Back again - its a 29 years time

28th May 2002 Back to Kuala Sapi after 29 years

1 Month Wong Mei Yin

25th May 2002 1 Month Wong Mei Yin

1 Month Wong Mei Yin

25th May 2002 1 Month Wong Mei Yin

10 Days

5th May 2002 Wong Mei Yin 10 Days

MAUCLEA OFFICINALS (RUBIACEAE)

Under the MAUCLEA OFFICINALIS (RUBIACEAE) tree on 25th April 2002

Tawau General Hospital

24th April 2002 Afternoon Tawau General Hospital

There is a butterfly on my shoulder

Our House

Our First House

September 2000

We bought our first house by 10 years installments from HSBC.

Shirley's saving is just enough for starting with: Down payment, lawyer fees, stamp duties etc.
The rest would become my liabilities for the following 10 years.

New House

1967 School Holiday Trip To Kota Kinabalu

June 1967

Its school holiday again. The short holidays is only two weeks. I was in Form I in Kuching High School. My parent several months ago decided to make a trip to visit Grandmother in KOta Kinabalu.

We flew MAS airline forker friendship which stopped over to pick up passengers in Sibu and Miri before reaching Kota Kinabalu. Perphap with a short stop in Brunei which I am not very sure now. But I definetly remember the stop in Brunei on the way back because our whole family put up a couple of nights in Modern Studio owned by Grand Aunty who married to Brunei from Papar.

Grand Uncle run Modern Studio situated in the mid of the town. ...........
I remember the adult talked about a new Sultan of Brunei. That the old Sultan felt he was aging and that it was time to let the son (the eldest son?) to take over the Sultanet.

Being a photo studio that took pictures for customers, the shop also sales picture flames and postcards. Among the postcards display stack were postcards display for sales. Being no other thingd to do to past time, I browse and browse the postcards over and over again. Among the postcards displayed I remembered were The Mosque with Goldren Dome and portraite of the Sultan and the new Sultan, the son. Later Grand Uncle gave a complete set of the postcards after noticing I shown great interest on it.

I kept the postcards for many years until they gradually displaced and lost as time pass by. But the faces of the Sultan of Brunei both the father and the son still I can remembers till today.

Shirley's Birthday

Malaysian Day 1999

k

Wedding ceremony of Anita

31st May 1999 - Wedding ceremony of Anita in the house of Anita.

Chinese New Year

15th February 1999 Chinese New Year