Very funny how I found solace and peace this week. I found them at the jetty in Kampung Pengkalan this morning, while participating in a boat handling course organized by VAD-57. Handling a boat on the Miri River was a very interesting experience, plus the weather was OK, except for the early morning rain. There was an instructor from Malaysia Red Crescent, who taught us the basic parts of the speed boat engine (30 horsepower, 5000 rpm); later on, everyone took turns maneuvering the boat in groups. I was in the same group with Eleena, Peter, and Amin - we were the second group. I think our group was the loudest one, because EVERYONE kept screaming every time the boat seemed as if it was about to tip over (naughty, naughty boat). No worries, we had life vests on =)
The last time I sat in a boat, it was a 'sampan' with an engine attached to it, like the one shown in the picture below. We travelled across the Batang Ai dam on it, WITHOUT life jackets. Yes, sometimes if you travel upriver to settlements in rural Sarawak, there may be no life jackets provided. As we worry about life and death, the guy who controlled the boat looked as if he cares about nothing going on in the world.
Back to the story about solace and peace. We were sitting under a hut while watching the others having their turns on the boat, one group after the other. The wind was blowing softly, though too bad it carried the smell of a polluted river with it (Miri River is unfortunately recorded as one of the most polluted rivers of Sarawak, according to
1 State 1 River). You could see plastic bags and debris floating on the water, and these things pose a problem because they can get entangled in the engine's propeller. While joking around with the others, I realized that I have not visited Kampung Pengkalan for quite a number of years. Ten years maybe? It reminded me of a village near the neighborhood where I used to live. Life was so much peaceful in that area. My parents bought another house in another neighborhood a few years ago, so my brother and I had to move with them. Maybe that's why I find it peaceful in Kampung Pengkalan. It gave me something I had not experienced for a few years - the atmosphere of village life. The sounds of cockerels crowing in the morning, the sight of kids playing traditional games, old men riding old motorcycles...the sound of the school bus honking to fetch the village's children.
May this peace stay with me for now. I need it to survive the next few weeks.
Not the iPhone worm
