Nang Chong : Going to See Grand Mother

 

Wooden river boat or motor launch was the mode of transport whenever I wanted to visit my Ngie Mah (maternal grandmother ) in Nang Chong Village (Southern Village). U would get on a boat of my choice, depending on which time I wanted to travel at the Tua Pek Kong Wharf, or the down river wharf as they called it then. Touting was not the done thing at that time.

The friendly boat operators would look and say, "Going to visit your Grandma?" and they would point at the boats. But I would have to say I would like to leave Sibu at a certain time, and they would point again to the right boat.

There was no written schedule for travellers to read and one needed either to know which boat to take or ask any one on the pontoon. Every one would be friendly in those days and they would be very knowledgeable.

The motor launch, like Sing Hai Huong or New King of the Sea would take about one or two hours to reach the village. At every bend of the river I would have a peep to see if I could see Grandma's house in the distance.

The motor launch was quite a vehicle, operated by two men, one at the wheel and one at the back in charge of the engine.

What I liked most was when they started the engine to say that the launch was getting ready to travel. My cousin Kung Wei (Lau) recently reminded me of the code they used to communicate with each other.

After warming up the engine (may be 40 hp, or 40 head or tou) and checking all the engine was in order, the engine man would go to the front to tell the jaga luan (driver) that all was in order. The driver might take off his town wear or a good shirt and he would be wearing his white sleeveless singlet. Every passenger in the launch would take their seats, facing each other.

The middle part of the boat would be full of goods the passengers had bought in Sibu.

The children who were selling hard boiled eggs, newspapers, kompia and kampua, would jump out of the boat onto another boat to sell their goods happily. some women actually would like to spend their last few cents buying some kompia to take home.

When the driver pulled the bell three times, teng, teng, teng, it meant the boat would go astern or gosi tag...ad soon, he would man oeuvre the boat out of the jetty, squeezing out of the packed berth. The wooden launch was so well made and sturdy that it could slide out and free itself from the other boats.

Two pulls of the bell would mean the boat would go ahead. (Gohed). That would be truly the best sound we would love to hear.

Four pulls of the bell meant that the motor launch would go at top speed and sometimes, the little children would clap their hands when they heard that.

And off we would go, downriver towards Nang Chong.

the smell of the diesel still stays with me to this day.

The wooden windows of the motor launch were the sliding type and usually all the passengers would like them open. There was no air conditioning. The river breeze was soothing enough.

Some of the young people would sit on the roof top of the motor launch and enjoy some sun and a lot of breeze.