Growing Up Part X

I know it’s been a looooong time since I posted my next instalment of Growing Up. Better late than never…..
It was that time after 2 wonderful years in Wolverhampton, UK that we now had to head back home to Malaysia. It felt strange then because when we left for the UK, home was Malaya, and now we were headed home to what it’s called now, Malaysia. Guess you guys out there must be smirking at me telling my age!
About a month before we were to leave, my late Uncle Daud came to visit us because he was had to bring home our naval patrol boats. Uncle Daud was in the Navy. We had the opportunity go to the docks and visited his ship, and whilst inside, I saw a cabin door that was labelled “Magazine.” Being young and naïve, I smiled at Uncle Daud and asked why must all the “Playboy” magazines be kept in a locked cabinet? You probably guessed right that he laughed his head off.
Anyway, he sailed off the next day and we went back to our hotel in Southampton. What were we doing there? Well actually all of us were going back home by the cruise liner P&O. Can you imagine that!
My brother and shared a cabin whilst Bah and mom & Fizah in another. We were in the First Class. It was really luxury to the extreme. My Aunt had a berth in the economy class as Bah had to pay for her personally.
That night we went up on deck as the ship lifted its anchor and sailed out of the harbour. It was a sad feeling watching the country you stayed for sometime getting further and further away as the ship sailed away. I hadto wipe a tear away.
We slept nicely in our bunk beds but were rudely awakened with the ship’s rocking left to right & bow to stern. We were in the Bay of Biscay, the open sea out of the English Channel. It was terrible. I was sea-sick the whole time. I couldn’t understand why Bah and my brother didn't have a problem. It was infuriating but I didn’t have the energy to be angry with my brother, too sick to do that.
Everything became heavenly as soon as we nosed into the Mediterranean Sea. It was calm and the weather nice and warm. There were many things to do on board the ship. We could go swimming, watch movies, play table tennis and also made a few friend along the way.
What I liked about the trip home was that the ship stopped in many harbours. The first was Aden before we cross the Suez Canal. We were allowed go down and tour the towns too. Crossing the Suez Canal was an amzing experience. The ship was so slow that along the bank where we were watching from the deck, an Arab boy was cycling along with the ship. You know what, he was faster than we were!
As we got into the Arabian Sea, our next stop was Bombay. Bah was so excited about visiting Bombay. I didn’t know why at that time. When we got down into Bombay, Bah brought us along as if he knew the place. He was mentioning it was just like back home. He pointed out to the “kacang putih” seller (this is a person who sell different types of nuts). As the norm, he carried his goods on top of his head. Bah stopped him and he put down his tray. What surprised me was that Bah bought some speaking in Malay! What was more astonishing was that the Indian kacang putih man seemed to understand him! Nowadays, I frequent Bombay (now called Mumbai) a lot in my line of work, I do think of Bah at times especially when I see a kacang putih seller.
Colombo in Ceylon was the next port of call. After that, we crossedthe Indian Ocean and next port was Penang. Home at last!
Of course Bah had to bring us to meet some relatives in Penang. We even went to the Botanical Garden. Fizah had the worst experience in Penang. A monkey snatched the fruit from her hand and that frightened her a lot. Later, Bah bought bunch of rambutans. While we were eating them, Fizah suddenly started screaming her head off. We didn’t know what as wrong until she showed an ant crawling up her arm. Can you imaging that she had not seen an ant before!
Back on board, just one more night and we were to disembark in Singapore the next day. As it was the last day, I thought I might as swim at the pool while I could. My brother had beaten me to it. He had left earlier in the morning for the pool. As I was about to get into the swimming trunk, I noticed it wasn’t mine. It was my brother’s because the string that tightens the trunk was missing. OK, as it was the last day I didn’t want to spoil it. So I used it, a bit loose, but it was alright. Went to the pool and started swimming. Saw my brother there and gave me the dirtiest look I could. The pool was nice but crowded. I had to keep pulling up the trunk from time to time, but it was alright, until I step out of the pool, and a group of boys jumped in dragging in with them. I was caught by surprise. Not being the best of swimmers, my first priority was to get much needed air into my lungs. I kicked the bottom as hard as I could to surface and managed grabbed the side wall.
Coughing out water and gasping for air, I was oblivious to those around me. All I knew was that I had to hang for dear life onto the side of the pool. Until I started to hear laughter around me and my brother swimming frantically towards me. He said in a serious tone, that my trunk was covering my ankles……..
I will not comment any further on this issue nor tell you how I overcame that embarrassing situation nor the conclusion of it. I just like to say that life is not fair to the second born.
We harboured in Singapore. My Pak Long Dang (Bah's eldest sibling) was there to meet us with an entourage of family members. I can’t recall how all of us got into the small cars or where our large amount of baggage went. All I knew and wanted then was to cross the Causeway and back home, sweet home.