Bundles of Soh Mien

 

My Ngie Mah was best in drying soh mien in the sun.

Our neighbour in Brooke Drive, the Ting family were soh mien makers. So they would always give us the best soh mien (in 5 katis or 10 katis in those days) tied with a red thread per set.

When we took the soh mien home on the day ngie mah came to visit she would carefully made little "zi" or bundles like in the photo to dry in the huge bamboo tray meant for drying food!!

Grandma's handiwork was perfect, each one would be exactly the same size. She would tell us that the cook would easily and evenly cook the soh mien in the boiling water and no one would complain of undercooked soh mien. Or no one would complain that her share was a smaller amount.

Having equal sizes of soh mien would also mean that drying them was easier, without finding out any one bundle being under sunned!!

Grandma was always a good and happy worker.

How we loved her handiwork.

The Jetties along the Igan

 Several jetties are found on the left bank of the Igan. Before the Igan Bridge was built, ferries brought people and motor cycles from Sg. Bidut, Penasu and Bawan Assan, Ensurai, cross the Igan river to Sibu.

Many years ago, when my family wanted to visit relatives in Sg. Bidut, we had to make an appointment with them so that they could pick us up from Kampong Nangka. Today, from Kampong Nangka we can take a fast ferry to several jetties . It is very convenient. The ferries have been in use for many decades.

This is a photo of a big jetty. a double decker motor launch berths at its side to rest for the night.

This is a smaller jetty witgh a ferry on the Igan River. Ferries are the life lines of the people who live along the Igan River. They have to go to work in sibu, earn a living and raise families. Some schools are also built along the Igan River to serve the kampongs. Traditional rice farming and fishing are still being carried out along the river.

Beladin : Life in a Fishig Village

 

My cousin a Chinese school teacher used to teach in Beladin for may years. She was happy to be there and brought up her kids well.

A long time ago teachers and pupils had to travel for small coastal boats to reach Beladin. they would walk in the mud and then wash off the mud at the jetty.

Life in the 1970's was simple and people were happy to have food on the table and a bed a sleep on.

They were happy to be able to send their kids to school. Teachers were so well respected.

May God bless the people of Beladin. My cousin is now retired and living in Kuching. She has good memories of teaching in Beladin.

Mrs. JB Chong

 As a child I was often brought by my father to see his beloved and only aunt, Mrs. JB Chong in Queensway. 

He would drive his jeep to see her and she would reward him with some rambutans from her trees in the garden, I cannot now remember whether my father ever brought Ikan bertutu (marble goby) from his fish traps laid in the streams behind our house in Brooke Drive. But I do remember my father would pass messasges to her from my grandfather. My grandfather and Mrs. JB Chong were related  by marraige. My grandmother Chong was Mrs. Chong's sister in law.

When it comes to relations many people cannot follow the intricate connections and most young people avoid talking about in laws and relatives.

Some just shrug off and say better not to know.

But from a young age I was interested in cultural relationships and social ties. I find them most interesting and I do have a good memory for most cultural things. I have no problem remembering dates, events and names of people in history. Today I find it harder to remember figures and telephone numbers especially.

Now here I remember Mrs. JB Chong's kebayas, the embroidery and her precious photos. I remember the lay out of her garden which she probably replicated from some Singapore gardens she remembered.

I remember her scents and her powder and the way she combed her her in a nice bun or sangol. She never failed to tell us about her Peranakan history and the way food should be cooked. but later in life, she allowed her daughter in law, my aunt Meng toh to do the cooking without her supervision.

We all loved aunt Meng Toh to bits. Uncle Chung Sing her husband and first born of Mrs. JB Chong was a very very taciturn and talented pianist.

Mrs. JB or Ging Boh (Grand Aunt) was fond of entertaining visitors and relatives. According to my mother one of the best parties she ever saw was her birthday. She had her birthday photo taken and she gave that photo to every one dear to her. My father received one and kept in his album !!

My grandfather called my father BOHYINg (Poh King, his birth name) but my fatheer was DAI Gong to Grand Aunt . Dai Gong was his school name. In those days most Foochows had two names.

Aunty Pick and Mrs. Hoover

 

My grandfather Tiong Kung Ping was very adamant to have all his children and especially the daughters well educated.

From a very young age the daughters were sent to board with Mrs. Hoover who ran a good Methodist Yuk Ing Girls' School in Sibu. 

According to my Aunt Pick who was No. 8 daughter grandfather had made sure that Mrs. Hoover would take his daughters . So Aunt Lily (no 1) to Aunt Carrie (no. 11) all were boarders while Grandfather moved the family from Sg Merah to Bukit Lan, from the rubber mill of Bukit Lan he moved his family to Binatang where he co founded Binatang Foochow Settlement with Rev Yao shiao Khing and Ling Ming Lok. From Binatang he moved his family to Pulau Kerto and then back to Sungei Merah. through out all those years he made sure that his children did not interrupt their educational pursuits.

Out of his 11 daughters 6 became teachers like Mrs. Hoover!!

Aunt Pick remembers Mrs. Hoover as a very strict disciplinarian.

One day when she was just 11 years old Mrs. Hoover asked her to get something from the shop. But after running to the shop Aunt Pick forgot what she had to buy because she was so scared! So she sat at the steps of the Masland Church trying to recover herself and calm down her fears of Mrs. Hoover.

Luckily 7th aunt came along who remembered what she had to get and the two sisters went to the shop to complete their mission.

Aunt Pick said that her fear of Mrs. Hoover never lessened but as she grew older she started to appreciate what a wonderful mother like figure Mrs. Hoover was. In later years Mrs. Hoover lived in Perth and my aunt Pick went to visit her often when she furthered her studies in Australia.

Love must be tough.

My mother Lau Hung Chuo

 

Well known proflific Chinese writer Yong Gien Huong of Sibu wrote a book, "Their 3 Years and 8 Months" depicting oral stories of women who suffered and lived through the Japanese Occupation.

It was written in Chinese and funded by the Sarawak Chinese Cultural Association. I was proud to be a part of the publication in some small ways.

My mother's story covered her growing of rice for 3 years, her great harvests as a single young lady planting disguised as a boy. She was able to put rice on the table for her father, brothers and sisters while she and her young sister also subsisted partially on sweet potatoes and sasgo. She feared the arrival of the Japanese soldiers who came and took away precious chickens and ducks. She had to hide her pigs in a pigsty away from the river banks and away from the eyes of the Japanese soldiers.

While making sure that they had food on the table she also saw how her ffather, my grandfather, suffered from a herniated intestine and slowly succumbed to the great pain and died in 1944 just months before the Japanese surrender. He was unable to receive any surgery due of the difficulties of those days. It must have been a very painful slow death for him.

Born in 1926 my mother was the breadwinner so to speak for the family during the Japanese Period. She was 15 years old but she was according to her as strong as an ox and working like a man. She was never scared of hardwork. She looked after  3 younger siblings, her own father, and the family of her oldest brother, Pang Ping.

My grandmother was stranded in China from 1938 to 1945 with my second Uncle and 3rd Aunt.

My second Aunt, was married and living in Sarikei, while my eldest aunt was in Sarikei. Both were married and having family and children during those difficult days.

Building Bridges - Hawaii Beach, Bakam.

 

“Learn to when to build bridges

When people or life disappoints you it's normal to build a wall and not allow anyone to climb it.
When people get hurt they need to Learn how to build a bridge and not walls.
In reality you should be building new bridges when life disappoints you build bridges to connect with like-minded others to connect with you.
If you but a wall you do not allow yourself to connect with others.”
― Charles E Hudson

we often visited Hawaii Beach along Bakam Road over the years. I was impressed by the Goh family who has been living her for more than 100 years.

Their  grandfather came as a trader but later decided to set up shop on a piece of land he acquired on the sand spit. He then built a good Malay house with the help of Malay builders. This was the Goh family house as well as shop which served the community of Kedayan, Melanau and Malay fishermen well. Later a few Chinese families moved here to avoid the Japanese onslought.

Today there are 6 kampongs in this area each with their own head man.

The Grandfather Goh beuilt the first wooden bridge across the River Naan. Here is a photo from the bank of the spit.

Mr Stephen Goh said people don't realize how convenient it is to have a bridge. However to him this social contribution is from the heart of the Goh family. It is for everyone's convenience. Happy to think like that.

May God bless the Goh family.