first days at school

Some of you would remember me as the scrawny little boy from Ulu Limbang. Some of you may remember me as the boy who had that deep eyes which looked into unfathomable depths, while some of you may remember me as one that had a very hot temper. And one of you called me "black dog" because I was, and still am, that dark little guy.

Years have gone by and lots of changes have taken place. Some of our memories may have grown blurry with the advancing years!

When I was first brought to Limbang town before I boarded the coastal boat to Miri I was rather under - dressed. My rubber tapper father bought me the Chinese sleeveless singlet which he thought was a good "shirt" and I wore that. I had a list of items to bring to school in Miri.

My father and I did not know what was "canvas" shoes. I was nine years old at that time and I had never heard of canvas shoes. To the best knowledge of the shop owner in Limbang, canvas was velvet. So my dad bought me a pair of velvet shoes. That created quite a laugh when I first set foot at Tanjong. I will tell you the whole story later.

Miri at that time was just probably three rows of shops and my dad and I went to the shops to have a look see. At the sundry shop next to the present Soochiew Photo studio I had my first taste of new goods which smelled well, "bau Cina". The Chinese towkay kindly told my dad that my singlet was not considered baju and I had to have a proper shirt. So Dad bought me two white cotton shirts which were made in China. In the 1950's the shops were all Chinese owned.

One interesting experience comes to my mind. In Ulu Limbang where I came from, the Chinese towkay sold every thing, very much like the present 7-ll shops. At the textile shop, I was very thirsty and so I asked my dad to order a lemonade. To the shock of the shopkeeper, here was one little big eyed Iban boy who wanted a drink. But he was kind hearted enough, and he did not want to embarrass me , he asked his assistant to get a bottle of lemonade for me.

Today sad to say, such kindness might not be a trait of a shopkeeper anywhere!! So here goes my thanks to the kind Chinese gentleman who was gracious. I would nothave known that word then...I just expected all shopkeepers to be kind to their customers!! Such was the perception of a little boy from Ulu Sarawak of a kind Chinese gentleman shop keeper who owned a little trading centre in the ulu...he was the banker, the pharmacist, the caterer, the hotelier (we often slept in such a ulu shop before leaving for the longhouse if we were late coming back from the town).

I am sure some of my readers who lived my experiences of that time would share with me some of these feelings....

More later....stay tuned...