Been There, Seen That, Cannot Remember!

That's how I feel right now when I try to recall the places we have been to these past years. Now that we have not frequent overseas travelling as often as we used to, the least we can do right now is to savor the thoughts that we have been there before. But then, just where have we been then ?

I recall the very first time that I flew. It was the old Fokker twin- engine plane that could carry a maximum of sixteen passengers. My late father was transferred to Kuantan in the early fifty. It must be in 1952 ? I am not quite sure of the exact date but it is around that time then. There were nine of us in that plane, en route to Kuantan. In those days it would take three river ferry crossings to Kuantan, and a journey that could easily take twelve hours due to the uncertainty of the timing of the river ferries which could carry only four cars at a time and if there happened to be a lorry or a truck on board, then only two other cars could get on them. Thus as it always happened, when you reach the ferry terminal, there would be a que of several hundred vehicles on the waiting line. The crossings average between fifteen to thirty minutes and hence on the average, the waiting time between each ferry loading was forty minutes. You can just imagine how long a waiting period that could be and to add it all cars were not air conditioned then ! The steaming heat in these cars would make you drench with sweat ! Worst still, the public amenities such as toilets and snack outlets were non existence then !

Well, that must have given reasons enough for my father as a senior government officer to be approved a family flight to his place of transfer. Since the planes were all government owned then, it was the norm for government servants of those days to fly to do their assignments when these were in Kota Baru, Kuala Trengganu and Kuantan, places deemed to be not easily reached by land transport for urgent assignments.

For all of us then, the flight was a sheer experience and excitement. The plane did not bear any semblance of the comfort of the present airlines. The seats looked like makeshifts since the plane could also be used by the armed forces for carrying goods etc. Of course no drinks or foods served on board. I recall seating just behind the open cockpit where we could see the pilots at work. They were British pilots and were not at all sociable. In fact they never even greeted us when we came on board. It was as if they were too preoccupied with getting the plane to fly. Hence I could not or rather we were all told prior to getting on board that we must remain in our allotted seats and not move on board . There was no air conditioning on the plane but there must have been fans all around since we could feel semblance of moving air in it. The flight itself was about an hour . Fortunately none of us had the urge to response to mother nature's call for I could not see any lavatory on board. Even if there had been one, I could not spot any signage on one. That was a relief at least. However, on looking back, we must have been very well toilet trained then or for better words we had to be one since in those days, the absence of public toilets was the norm rather than the exception as is evidence these days when all along our highways the amenities are there for all of us twenty four hours a day. In those days, when you are travelling, only the bushes could serve your needs for such emergencies !

The flight was not too bad but I did have air sickness and vomitted when we experienced some air turbulence half way to Kuantan. However, it was normal for me to suffer motion sickness on land and sea travels. I could not help feeling motion sickness when driven in cars or buses and worse of all in boats on the open sea, a weakness that still remains to this day - the very reason why when I am in any vehicle I insist to be seated in the front seat. Fortunately I do not have it when I am driving ! Anyway, the airstrip in Kuantan was sufficient enough for small aircraft landing, just as all the other landing strips in Kota Baru, Kuala Trengganu and Ipoh of those days. Our biggest airport was then at Sungei Besi, the one that is now used by the armed forces .In those days there were not many commercial planes flying in and out of our country. World travelers were not only exclusive to the very rich but confined to the military and government personnel. Hence travelling by plane like we had then was really something very special. Talking about special, yes I did have a special flight to Kuala Lumpur in my early days when I was in Felda in Kuala Trengganu when I was directed by my Felda Chairman, the late Tan Sri Taib Andak to take the first flight back to Kuala Lumpur to meet up with the then Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak's personal super-numernary officer Tan Sri Fergerson to talk about my scholarship problem with the Education Ministry. This was the incident when I broke away from my assigned teaching job with the Education Ministry and worked instead with FELDA without the Ministry's knowledge or permission. But that's another story which one day I will relate to you.

It was during my Undergraduate days at the University of Malaya when I was in the second year in 1960 that I experienced my best and most interesting prime international flight overseas to the United States of America. The University selected two of us to represent the country's maiden University - indeed the University of Malaya was set up in 1959 as a breakaway unit of the then University Malaya, Singapore. Upon the establishment of our University, the then University Malaya in Singapore ceased to exist. Hence I was privileged to be amongst the pioneers of the first batch of students at the newly set up University Malaya at Pantai Valley, Kuala Lumpur.

The selection came as a big surprise to me since I had never been made aware of such an event to enroll as a participant for the "students exchange" program as it was later called. I felt jubilant to be chosen to represent Malaya at the Afro-Asian Students Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. The event itself proved significantly in my later life when the then USIS or the United States Information Services continued to touch base with me right through my student days up to my earlier career in Felda. The Science Monitor newspapers from the States was subscribed to me free of charge for many years until I decided to terminate it when I informed USIS that the papers did not serve my needs. In fact that was almost the cut out point of our relationship. The truth is, I was never a newspaper reader nor a reader of books then apart from reading comics and going to the movies, the latter of which remains to this day.

The flight to the States was by Japan Airlines four turbo jet- engine plane which took off from the then airport at Sungei Besi, Kuala Lumpur. I recalled being sent off by my College mates such as Amir Yaakub, Mohd Khatib, Abdullah Zawawi, Rahman Ali , Dalil Awin and Wan Jaafar and not forgetting of course my uncle Tunku Mahmud who got ready all my "wardrobe" for my maiden overseas trip. Indeed at that time I had no idea whatsoever about what I should have by way of outfit befitting a student of our country to represent Malaya then. Almost everything was "supplied" by my uncle. Since my father was then stationed in Trengganu, he could not get down to see me off at the very short notice of two days given by my University to prepare for the trip. Anyway, there I was for my first real experience in an international flight. Meeting and being with the Japanese flight crew itself was thrilling for me. I had then a simple camera lent to me by my uncle and my first photo shot was when I snap a photo of the Japanese stewardess that went past my seat in the plane ! She was sporting enough to later on asked me if I would like to take a photo with her, to which I did with the help of my Chinese University mate Lim Kok Min who was selected to come along for the trip. I have since then graduation in 1962 lost trace of Lim

It was a long flight with a short stop over for refueling at Wake Island, a mid- way refueling centre for all planes heading to and out of Japan. I had my first taste of Japanese food and enjoyed it, but that was nothing compared to the sukiyaki lunch given by the University students fraternity when we were in Tokyo on our short tour of the University of Tokyo. That sukiyaki was really memorable and since then whenever we dine or lunch at any Japanese restaurants, sukiyaki will be my first choice. Sad to say though, the Japanese sukiyaki served in Japanese restaurants could never match what I had then tasted in Japan ! Japanese food as a whole seems healthy since it is served raw or steamed cook or grilled. I am told the tempayaki stuff that we do get in Japanese restaurants these days is not a typical Japanese food. It is western originated to make Japanese food more palatable to western taste.

That Afro-Asian Students Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii saw the meeting together of twenty eight undergraduates from Europe, Africa, The Middle East and South East Asia, many of whom were on their first ever visit to United States and for some, their first time ever overseas. There was a feeling of strangeness meeting fellow students from Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and South East Asia but at the same time I felt excited at the thought of getting to meet and to know new friends from these parts of the world. The Conference schedule later on saw us flying over to the mainland United States on a rapid tour of Universities in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC and New York and after a last meeting at Honolulu, we all returned home.

It was many years later that I went overseas again and this did not take place until I was married. The long absence of my overseas trip was only broken after Ainul had to make a trip all on her own, and at the time when she was carrying Izzat, to fulfill the need to take Sarra. my sister and her husband-to-be Azam Baba to get married in Medan, Indonesia. That marriage episode is a story by itself which merits telling in a special article in the future. Suffices it to know that Ainul and I and together with my best friend the late Din Ahmad and his wife, the late Zaharah Harun , made a week's visit to Jakarta. It was the first for all of us to Indonesia except for Ainul who had had hers at Medan a year earlier. This was another exciting visit for all us and merits another story telling by itself too.

I do believe in the saying that once you make a trip overseas, you will then get the travel bug to go again just as those people who take up golf have the golf bug ! Well, from that Indonesian trip, we then later on went to the Philippines, to Jeddah and Mecca, to London and the British Isles , Belgium, Holland, West Germany, Austria, Italy, Russia , East Germany, Poland , Switzerland, The Baltic countries, and to the United States, to Hong Kong, Macau, China and Japan, Australia and New Zealand , Canada, and South Antatica ? and which visits we covered such cities as Jakarta, Puncak , Bandung, Jog Jakarta, Bali, Manilla and ........ ? , Jeddah and Mecca, London, parts of Wales and Scotland, Belgium, Holland, oh boy, I cannot recall them all ! Suffices it to say, we have traveled the world over and most suprisingly the

bulks of our travels are centred in the United States and Canada, as John Jennrich used to say, "Abah, you and Mama have travelled the States far more than we have ourselves " ! The point is can we recall them all ?

That's something I will try to delve in later on for tunku.org.

written by Tunku Farid