Chun Hua School of Simanggang

Photo above : This open ground was our assembly ground. Once a week all student would line up class by class facing the left hand side of the photo. The principle would stand on a wooden platform where today is a blue roof top car shed. What the principle talked I no longer remember except one thing which he repeatedly urged all the student almost every assembly, that is "You must ware shoe to school.........or can you as a reminder"

In today Malaysia where all school children ware clean white shoes and socks to school, it is difficult to understand why a principle had to remind the student to ware shoes.

........Its a long story which most elderly today does not want to recall. In the 1960s materials items were not abundant. Shoes belong to the luxury goods that need to be imported from oversea. A pair of canvas shoe (usually brown for boy and black for girls) for each child at those day was as much as a financial burden today for parent to provide a hand phone to each child....... so most of us, including me, wear slippers to school. Only the girls wear shoes. One or two in each class even bear footed.

Above :

Left : List of donators to the school fund. The maximum amount was Rm150,000 donated by Lau Ngee Mung whose name was named after the Stadium Lau Ngee Mung

Last year Ragai Lang from Sarawak came to Tawau for his relative marriage and stay in our house for a few days. Ragai is a long time Iban friends of mine in Kuching now living with the son in Sri Aman (Simanggang). His 2 granddaughters are studying in this Chung Hua School.

This Chun Hua School is the Chinese school I attended from Primary 2 to Primary 5 in the 1960s. During my days this Chinese school taught purely in Chinese, there were not a single non-Chinese student at that time. Time changes. Now all primary schools whether Missionary Schools or Chinese School all use the same Malaysian primary syllabus, more and more non-Chinese send their children to school of Chinese background. And many of the non-Chinese do batter then the Chinese in all fields.

The old tree of SRI AMAN HOSPITAL

My tree is still there ! Oh, yes, a beautiful and pure memory of childhood with no care in the world beyond. This old tree is so heartwarming to see again.

Walking home after school, very often I would detour from the main road and walked up this side of the slop and down on the other side of the slop. Sometimes on the concrete but most often on the green green grass. (see photo above).

This tree could be 50 years old now. Birds still build their nests in its boughs. The tree itself has grown to a mass of velvet greenery still magnificent guarding the hospital entrance. Every time a breeze blow, the tree will whisper. Today it still whisper to me in the same old language of nature. Not in the language of English that could be written but in a language of nature for the heart to feel.

The British planted many trees in Malaysia. Most have been chopped down but some survived. Those survived become precious eco-assets for our future generation in Malaysia.

I left Simanggang in 1964 that seems inconceivably long long time ago, but this tree made me feel it was just yesterday and that time is immoral.

I hope to come back to my old walking path one day with my children with hope my tree remain still out there to share with another generation and hear it whispering when ever a breeze blow.

	VISION FOR PAEDIATRIC WARD TO PROVIDE PROMPT, EFFECTIVE AND GOOD QUALITY NURSING CARE BEARING IN MIND HEALTHY CHILDREN MEANS HEALTHY GENERATION
	VISION FOR O.T. UNIT TO PROVIDE SAFE. BEST QUALITY AND FRIENDLY SERVICE.
	VISION FOR OPERATION THEATRE "TO PROVIDE SAFE, BEST QUALITY AND FRIENDLY SERVICE"

	CLIENTS CHARTER SRI AMAN HOSPITAL Every patient is given quality treatment. Should a patient needs second opinion on treatment (whether emergency or otherwise) He/she will be referred to Sarawak General Hospital, Kuching. Every patient is respected and treated with great hospitality. Every patient is respected and honoured, and their documents are kept Confidential. Explanations are given for every procedure performed on the patients.

The first insect I saw is this 白粉細蟌 Agriocnemis femina oryzae (male)

This tiny damselfly hind wing is only about 10 mm.

This is a confusing species damselfly because of color changes from immature to maturity. When immature the male is green and orange but on maturity the synthorex developed with heavy pruinescence (white powder) on the head.

This one I saw is a fully matured male

In the afternoon I took a walk to the empty space one bushy wetland behind out old Government staff quarter 30 years ago.

I also saw 2 species from the Orthetrum family, first a Orthetrum chrysis then a Orthetrum testaceum both are male.

Orthetrum chrysis and Orthetrum testaceum look similar but they are completely 2 different species.
Orthetrum chrysis thorax is dark tending to black, and underneath the base of the abdomen segment 2 is a strong tuft of black hairs looking like a small curved spine.

In Orthetrum testaceum the thorax is a light orange-brown with NO tuft of hairs at the base of the abdomen segment 2.

While Orthetrum testaceum is found almost anywhere even in poorer quality habitats. Orthetrum chrysis is environmentally conscious.

The sighting of Orthetrum chrysis is a joy for me. Orthetrum chrysis do not occur in polluted or disturbed water. O. chrysis prefer pristine streams 原始的溪流 that means good quality water habitats....... My home land (after 30 over years) is still environmentally well maintained

On this hill were about 5 grand old Silk-Cotton Tree (Eriodendron anfractuosum) planted by the British. Today one still can be seen standing tall on the hill (see photo)

The old wooden British Colonial Treasury office was long gone making way for the present concrete building.

The government quarter we once occupied is at the left hand side (today government office building).

During the British era in Sabah and Sarawajk flowering trees are usually planted in parks, big gardens, campuses of government establishments and educational institutions.

I picked up a pair of pods. They are such a treasure to collect from the ground.

The tree's large fruit pods contain silky fiber used for insulation, as a stuffing in mattresses, life preservers, pillows, and cushions.

Seeds from the ripe fruit pods contain oil which is edible and used in soap making and burned for illumination.

Leading up the hill once was a concrete steps beside a tall tree. That tree is possibly the same tree in above photo. I tried to find trace of the concrete steps we used to walked up and down the hills. What left is this concrete (photo left) possibly the remain of the steps. A closer look show that the concrete is composed of river-stones. This make sense as in those day there were no stone quarry in this area. The only way to get stone supply was from the near by river's upper stream.

Tze Yung Khor is the only traditional Chinese temple in this small town, located beside the river bank of Batang Lupar River. This is one of the few temples in Sarawak which is more than 100 years. The present architecture we see today was completed only in 1993.

Around the year 1849 when James Brooke established its forces in the Skrang region near Sri Aman, the Chinese, particularly the Teoh Chew pioneers settled down in Sri Aman and around the Batang Lupar area.

Before the turn of 20th Century, a small temple was thus built to cater for the growing Chinese population along Lupar river; this was the earlier Tze Yung Khor, with Tze Pei Goddess as the host deity.

The present location was relocated in 1899. It is believed by most adherents that the present location is seated on a good Feng Shui, a Live Crab Feng Shui. Many believe that because of the Live Crab Feng Shui & the blessings from Tze Pei Goddess, Tze Yung Khor had escaped many major disasters in Sri Aman.

In 1928, a major fire broke out in Sri Aman, devastated about 60 wooden shop houses. Tze Yung Khor was next to these shop houses; most parts of the temple, including the main chamber, was unharmed.

In 1961, a cyclonic storm swept through Sri Aman, the half an hour windstorm demolished most of the buildings in Sri Aman including Tze Yung Khor; however, Tze Pei Goddess and the two Protectors remained seated in the main chamber unmoved. Even during the Japanese Occupation in the 1940s, Sri Aman faced few tragedies.

And because it was seated on a Live Crab Feng Shui, before the 1993 major renovation, major parts of the temple was painted green, instead of using red traditionally for most Chinese temples, to avoid ‘cooking’ the Live Crab. With the major renovation in 1993, the practice is still maintained; all roofing of Tze Yung Khor is still kept green until now.

The notice board say "TIME FOR TIDAL BORE OCCURRENCE AT SUNGAI BATANG LUPAR, SRI AMAN" But at the below no time is specified.

The natural phenomenon Tidal Bore ( "Benak") occurs during the third and 18th day of the Chinese Lunar calendar month when high tide is rushing up the Batang Lupar. The tidal bore happen every time the force of the tide water from the sea rushing up the river causing the river water to reverse its flow. Large volume of sea water fills the river channel. The height of the tidal bore depends on the time of the year, weather and phase of the moon.

Sri Aman Town is where tidal bore reaches the highest water level. Sometimes 2 meters height. Sri Aman is 28 kilometers from the river mouth. From Sri Aman the tidal bore travels further up for another 30 kilometers to reach Engkilili Town.

The hotel I was staying was just 50 meters beside the river Batang Lupar and I did not come across such phenomenon. The jetty to watch the fascinating phenomena is just 2 minutes from the hotel. Perhaps it not time of the month yet.

Before 6:00 PM I came back to the location as near as to where my house once was. I missed the sun set I used to watch as a boy sitting on the stair case behind the house. The back of the house was facing west overlooking a hill where the sun would set behind it. Certain time of the year there were many big bats would fly at this evening time toward the setting sun.

The hill is still there, fortunately, not yet destroyed and flatted in good name of "development" as what happen to Kuching and Kota Kinabalu where I also live for many years and saw childhood landmarks being destroyed forever.

The sun set at the same direction as I used to see it 40 years ago. For the sun I placed my faith that it will remain so for ever.

Today there were no fruit bats flying over the evening sky for not the season yet.

I felt home sweet home.

Swarm of about 50 mosquitoes surrounded me. But those rest on my exposed arm and start biting are female because only female mosquito sucks blood.

I knew these are the same species of mosquito that sucked my blood 40 years ago when I stay here. (Only 2 isolated house then) It was my blood that I feed to their great-great-great grandmothers to reproduce and now that after so many years I returned to the same location to find their colony thriving.

I did not even know being bitten how many times because most of the mosquito bit do not cause pain. Some time a mosquito would bit through the sleeve to my arm. We grew up in this tropical country with variety of mosquito species and we could be I developed immunity to mosquito bites. But really the only thing I hate about mosquitoes is that they buzz around your ears with irritating sound.

There are two types of mosquitoes : the day biting and night-biting mosquitoes. These mosquito that swam at me are day biting mosquitoes. A close look from these photos seem they are different from the Tiger Mosquitoes in Tawau. I made a detail comparison between these mosquito in Simanggang and Tawau and if you are interested you can click on this page for more photos.