Old picture ...

Please note that my other blog: Life in Sarawak is officially close. I find it hard to maintain 3 blogs ...so, decided to put this favourite posting of mine here instead. This was posted a few months ago.

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My dad found an old photo (and i think this is the only one he has that is still in good condition) of him and my grandparents. It was in one of his briecases containing his personal documents. He has been looking high and low for this pictures and thank god he found it …it is actually a group picture, taken on my dad’s very first visit to Kuching (known as Sarawak at that time coz it is located near the Sarawak River). And he said this might be the his first picture ever…and that time (i think around late 1940s or early 1950s) people didn’t venture out of their longhouses to other areas very often. And it is very costly to go to Kuching too. Dad also told me, unlike the present time, there were no road linking our village in Bukit Begunan to Kuching. They have to take a sampan, from Mawang (I honestly don’t know where this place it and I couldn’t imagine going to Kuching using a boat!) and it took them a few days to get there. Since this was their first ever trip to Kuching, they took this picture as soveniour…


When asked as to why my grandmother and my dad were not wearing any shoes, dad’s respond was simple “at that time, people don’t wear shoes…and going to Kuching is actually a new experience, and not many people wore shoes”…i guess i am judging the picture based on my own experience…But, I can sincerely say that I am proud of my grandparents, they ventured out of their “shell” and have the opportunity to experience travelling to far away places – yes, we can consider Kuching in 1940s as a far away places..coz it took ages just to get there…using sampan, and i cannot imagine what the conditions were like…imagine how hard the owner of the sampan have to paddle in order to reach the destination…paddling for a couple of days sure is no fun!