Life@50+

If you are 50+, then it's time to think what will happen in another 50 years. What you can do now (the next best thing to do) is to write a book, on anything you like. Yes, write anything, even a new language, a dictionary or even an encyclopaedia. Ghostwriting looks good.

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Kunak and the Black Dragon

I had just finished working on Dr Abdul Samad bin Pagak's biography. It took me 2 days to figure out who he was and what he did. Anyway, that's done tonight and I went on to read a thriller. At first I had thought it was a real thing but the end of the page tells it's just fiction. I had believed a Black Dragon really exists. The anticlimax was the statement 'the Black Dragon is Japanese'. At that point I burst into laughter. LOL

I love ships, so this Black Dragon story is good for me.

Try and read it here:

A MEETING WITH THE 'BLACK DRAGON' [Articles + Illustrations]

The Straits Times, 16 November 1952, Page 15

I saw it coming
I saw it berthed
I saw it sailed


THE M.V. KUNAK

I had travelled with my family from Borneo to Collyer Quay in Singapore circa 1967/68/69. When we arrived in Singapore waters, we were required to stay-put till the ship's captain had received the green light from the medical doctor to alight. I was inspected for hair lice, etc. It did take some time before all our health papers were cleared and we were allowed to enter Singapore.

Here's a real ship that I went on and sailed from Jesselton port in Sabah to Collyer Quay in Singapore. This ship couldn't come close to the quay, so it anchored far away from the coast in Singapore. We boarded a small boat to get to Collyer Quay. I was 9/10/11 years old. This is the M.V. Kunak.

This is the M.V. Kunak, an old ocean liner. It was initially owned by the Dutch shipping company, KPM. It was purchased by the Straits Steamship Company in 1960. It was empty when I stepped on board in the late 1960s. I remember this ship coming into Jesselton port to pick me up. It was a great feeling watching this big ship sailing in, to berth at Jesselton port. This must be circa 1967/68/69.

That's all the passengers on M.V. Kunak. There's me somewhere up there on the deck.

That's me with my siblings on M.V. Kunak's gangway. I'm the one holding my skirt down.

Someone walked down the shaky gangway. We were called in. and it was time to sail.

It was goodbye time. I'm the only girl on the deck. My eldest brother is standing next to me. The white man at left was the only other passenger apart from our family. I left my father to continue his work in Sabah while my mother, my siblings and I returned to the Malay Peninsula via Singapore. Then we went to live in Kelantan. I was very ill at this time (with tonsillitis) and I was swallowing antibiotic capsules and vitamin C.

Other links:

http://sabahan.com.my/sejarah-nama-kunak/