Settling into Johor Bahru

Written on February 27, 2021.
Near the end of 1956 or the beginning of 1957, my father came back to Singapore and decided with my step-mother to move to Johor Bahru (JB, see beginning map in 1st chapter) which is in the north across the Straits of Johor. In old time, the causeway was not that busy and passport was not needed to go back and forth (see picture).

The choice of this date may be because schools usually started in the beginning of the year. My brother and I were admitted in Foon Yew School located at Stulang Laut (Laut means Sea, left and below pictures) which was about 5 miles from where we first lived in JB. I barely remember the house we first lived but it was located across a sawmill that my father used to work with.

I obtained a copy of an old letter from my second niece mentioned in my previous write-up and it was sent by my father (apparently it was my step-mother’s hand writing, she was quite proficient in Chinese writing) in 1957 from this sawmill to his older brother who lived at Sekinchan (mentioned in "The Legacy of my Grandparents").
My father’s letter talked about the Labis government limiting his timber works even he had spent more than 20,000 dollars (a big money at that time) building a jungle road. Then he went to Mersing (see earlier maps) to build another road and found the trees, which had to be inspected and approved by government before cutting, were not good timber.

I only met my uncle once and forgot all about it until I visited his Sekinchan family in 2011. Mersing is a port that we stopped by in our 2019 family trip to Rawa Island and rushed Lennox back to see a medical doctor when he got injured on the island.

My father lost all his money and sought help from his older brother. Since he came to Malaya in 1920 (we guessed), I don’t know how many times he had seen his brother. Apparently it was a close family tie even they didn’t see each other that much. I didn’t see my father that much either.

I obtained a copy of a letter dated 1952, the last letter he sent to help the family in China. That was 32 years after he had left China and his mother and brother were already passed away. Not sure he’s getting help from his brother this time. One day he took the bus (I heard he had only $5 in his pocket) back to Labis to restart his business and we settled in Johor Bahru.

Since we lived 5 miles away, we were taking bus to go to school as fifth and fourth graders and the classes were taught in the afternoons. I remembered one day we walked home in the dark and later my brother explained that he lost the bus money. Luckily a lorry picked us up and sent us home.

My brother remembered our step-mother was very rough to him when our financial situation was not good. In just a few months, my father regained his business and we moved to a stilt house at the seashore of Stulang Laut (see below 1st picture, a nearby house). The front of our house was connecting to the front of the high school along the shore (2nd picture).

Across the road was a big sultan garden with patrolling soldiers and is now developed into residence area. I might have sneaked inside stealing some fruits. In our 2019 family trip, we visited the Kentucky Fried Chicken located just across Foon Yew High School (below pictures).




It has been a long time for a fast food chain to be located here. The KFC was a good idea because Malays don’t eat pork, local Indians don’t eat beef and all people eat chicken. I heard that the Sultan of Johor was behind this venture.

The old sultan, Ibrahim of Johor, was fabulously wealthy, spent most of his time in Europe and opposed the independence of Malaya. He was befriended and given a car (still here) by Hitler that made some ally friends not happy. Probably after the death of Ibrahim at London in 1959, they started to sell the land, piece by piece, to developers. Now the land on the left side of the high school is totally developed. Recently on Google map, I saw a McDonald’s built next to the school just opposite the KFC. It was built during pandemic and was not there in 2019.

In 1982, we have a big reunion of family members during Chinese New Year at JB and the kids got to meet their grandfather the first time. Also, we went to Singapore to meet my mother, my younger brother’s family and all half siblings. (bellow pictures)



There is a nearby ZON Duty Free (below left pictures) which contains a big hotel situated within an integrated duty free shopping and entertainment complex and a ferry terminal connecting to foreign countries. There was no sale tax inside. When visiting here in 2011, we saw a McDonald’s booth located inside that only selling ice cream whereas plenty of nice food were sold around it. We own a condominium near the ZON and we had taken vacation in 2011 and 2012 when it was not rented. It was convenient to shop and eat at the ZON.

In early morning, we could buy fresh-catch seafood from the sea people on their boats parked at seashore (below right pictures). This happened to us while living in our stilt house in 1950s when they paddled a sampan boat to the back of our house to sell us fish, crabs and shrimp etc. Now I know that they are Orang Seletar (Strait People) who are considered as part of the Orang Laut (Sea People) and natives of the straits around Johore and Singapore. Compared to old time, they have adapted modern equipment for fishing.



Malaya gained its independence on August 31, 1957 and we probably already had moved into the stilt house. In 1958, Foon Yew (means Broadmind Gentle) declared itself to be an Independent High School (that means privately owned, the Chinese name is Secondary School which includes Middle School) and all primary schools were owned by the government. My brother was just on time joining the high school and I was a sixth grader studying in the afternoon in a borrowed classroom from high school. No wonder he remembered more on playing basket balls in school and swimming after school. Later we moved away from the stilt house and lived on the streets of Ah Siang and Indera Putra (means Beautiful Prince, below pictures), which will be described in my next write-up.

Since I was in school at the same place for 9 years, most of my classmates are long time friends. Every time I went back to JB, we had reunions and went to pasar (market) to eat local food and drink. So far I have written mostly my early age events and I will write more after I entered high school when I can remember things better. I just noticed that I didn’t hear anyone calling the name “Stulang Laut” in our time.

Era of Change in Johor Bahru

Written on April 25, 2021.
When we came to Stulang Laut of Johor Bahru (JB) in 1957, we did not know much about this place. We only called it “New Kampong” in Chinese from the area of stilt houses where we lived to the end of road where is now the ZON Duty Free (see previous chapter). Now I just wonder who lived here before we came.

I found a 1923 newspaper article about Stulang near the end of 19th century which wrote, “on the further side of Bukit Meldrum and only a mile from the town - it was considered that a visit to that place was to court death at the teeth and claws of tigers which swarmed there; ….not till years after…. a kampong built one piles in the sea.” I found the early pictures of Johore Straits and the stilt houses (see pictures at left).

In 2020, the government has been ordered to pay a group of indigenous people (Orang Seletor, they lived on boats and stilts) as compensation for taking them away from their ancestral land where the ZON now stands. Their name means "People Strait" (Selat means Strait in Malay, my early living in Singapore is Silat village).
While we were in JB, we lived in a stilt house located at the seaside of Johore Straits (see left pictures). Just last week my brother told me that the New Hong Kong Restaurant (a landmark) and Johore Hotel were actually located in front of our stilt house facing Singapore. Now the restaurant is still there and where abouts the hotel, hardly anyone mentioned it, is totally absent from history.

I found a dinner menu of this first western style hotel with a picture. I pasted it on the scene obtained from Google map and it matches well. We first lived on the stilts on Jalan Ibrahim Sultan (2nd sultan), later moved to 2nd house on Jalan Ah Siang, and finally moved to 3rd house on Jalan Indera Putra (means Beautiful Prince) located on a hill.
The road connected to downtown is Jalan Bukit Meldrum, the name of a Scotsman who set up the first steam sawmill of JB in 1860 and was the son-in-law of a tutor of Abu Bakar (1st sultan). Strictly speaking, our 3 houses are all in Kampung Ah Siang (see map at left).

When we lived in our 3rd house, we discovered a huge old tomb covered by tall grass on the hill at the back of Johore Hotel. We didn’t know who were in the tomb. It was the best place to scare friends or ourselves.

Only recently this tomb got cleaned up and I realized that it is the tomb of Lim Ah Siang (Teochew) and his 5 wives facing Singapore and ironically also facing our old stilt house.
Lim was a timber merchant, a steam saw miller and the leader of a legitimized secret society (Ngee Heng Company) based in JB. In 1892, Sultan Abu Bakar granted a special land concession to him to develop the Stulang area. Lim built a road right across the center of his concession to his gambling farm built on stilts in the sea facing what is now the New Hong Kong Restaurant. At that time, gambling was prohibited in Singapore, so Singaporeans crossed the straits by boats (the Causeway was built in 1923) to come to the Monte Carlo on the water. I am not sure when our stilt house was built.

To understand why and how the Chinese came to JB or the state of Johor, we need to understand the history on how Johor and Singapore were founded (see left map).

The original Johor Sultanate was founded in 1528 by the son of the exiled sultan of Malacca which was conquered by the Portuguese. In 1641, the Portuguese was defeated by the Dutch and the Johor forces.

In 1819, Stamford Raffles arrived and worked with Temenggong Abdul Rahman (Chief Minister resided in Singapore) to install a 2nd sultan to cede Singapore to British. In 1824, the secret Anglo-Dutch Treaty ceded all lands south of Singapore to Dutch.
The puppet sultan and later his son built Istana Kampong Glam in Singapore (we had visited the palace in 2012). Both died in Malacca. In 1823, British assigned an area in Teluk Belanga to the Temenggong. The area flourished under the Temenggong and his successors, and the British chose to describe as "piracy".

In 1855, Johor was ceded to the Temenggong's son, Daeng Ibrahim. He and his son Abu Bakar actively invited the Chinese migrants over to open up land to cultivate pepper and gambier, and to develop JB (original name Tanjung Puteri, means Cape Princess). Abu Bakar (also known as Albert Baker) grew up in Singapore, spoke fluent English and was noted for his diplomatic skills.

In 1886, consented by Queen Victoria, he claimed the title of Sultan of Johor. To commemorate his ascension, the sultan and his sultanah Fatimah (Wong Ah Gew) built Istana Tyersall in Singapore which was modeled in the movie ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ (below 1st pictures).

This palace, the JB Istana Besar and many landmarks was built by his good friend Wong Ah Fook (Cantonese, there is a street named after him in JB) who was also granted a special land concession to develop the JB downtown area in 1892. By the end of 19th century, JB became a bustling free port and prompted to broaden Segget River and increase landing jetties.

Boats brought in loads of holidaymakers who wanted to enjoy the scenic landscape or try their luck at the numerous gambling farms in town. Among the more favored hotels at that time was the Johore Hotel which had air of grandeur and opulence rivaling those in Far East. The grand downtown Johore Hotel was probably owned by the sultan and it doesn’t exist anymore (below 2nd pictures).



This week I found this hotel located in a 1953 aerial picture showing local people celebrating the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (see above 3rd picture from the Australian War Memorial museum which we had visited in 2019) at JB downtown. At the upper left of the picture is the entrance to the Johor Sultan Gardens located in the west side of the downtown, which were popular outing places when we were in high school, and our family had visited in 1982 (with my father, see picture in last chapter).

On another hand, I found an advertisement announcing the opening of a new Johore Hotel in Stulang on Sept. 9 of 1956, just a few months before we arrived at JB. May be the hotel franchise taking over part of the land of the tomb of Ah Siang to build a new hotel (read the beginning of this write-up).

During our years after the ravages of WWII, JB slowly lost its grandeur. Left pictures show the 1955 Segget River. Our most memorable downtown place is the food court (Pasak-kia, means small market in Teochew) which was located next to the river (2nd picture).

In our 2019 family trip, we walked from the Hindu Temples on Ungdu Puan Road, turned into the Segget River Road (parallel to Wong Ah Fook Road), through the area where the old time food court is located, and got up to the next road to reach the old Chinese temple (see below pictures).

The Chinese temple was built in late 19th century to house the five deities worshipped by five main clans, Teochew, Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka and Hainanese. Sultan Abu Bakar continued the goodwill started by his father and encouraged the Chinese to live in peace. He played a role in uniting the Chinese by providing them land to build the temple and the cemetery.
Every year the “Parade of Deities” attracted more than 300,000 people to march around the major roads of the city together with the five deities. We loved to watch or to join it with a bunch of friends. The temple construction was helped and then funded by Ngee Heng Company (a legitimized secret society).

It was disbanded in 1916 because it had achieved its goal to topple the Qing Dynasty (supposed to reinstate the Ming). They built the Ming Tomb and gave the remaining balance of $30,000 to Foon Yew School, a substantial sum in those days for a struggling school, under the condition that the school would perform the annual rituals of the Tomb (twice a year).



My first 3 years in JB was in the reign of Sultan Ibrahim who was born in Singapore and educated in England. He was the son of Abu Bakar with a daughter of a Danish trader and his Chinese wife. The sultanah Wong Ah Gew did not give birth to a son. However, Ibrahim married the daughter of her sister, one of three sisters of Wong family who were married into the royal family.

Ibrahim was considered to be “fabulously wealthy” and an Anglophile spending most of his time away from Johor and died in London in 1959. He opposed the Malayan independence and his heirs tried to rehabilitate his image as a wastrel. The present sultan is his great grandson and the present queen of Malaysia is his great granddaughter (with a British mother). The present king’s father was also a king, and when he was the crown prince of Pahang in 1960s, my father and brothers actually worked on his timber project.

In 2019, our family had visited the Istana Bukit Serene (palace for Sultan and Sultanah of Johor, 1st picture) located in the west side of JB downtown. Our father and sons picture in 1st chapter was also taken in front of this palace in 1982. Below 2nd picture was taken by Xinru for the coronation of the kids. In the same trip, we also visited the Istana Negara in Kuala Lumpur (3rd picture).

The jungle road built by my father’s company, which was called Ng Piew Timber Company, is now a public road and it helped the development of Pahang state (see next write-up). My younger brother had joined the family timbering business when I was in Taiwan.

Graduating from High School

Written on June 13, 2021.
I had lived almost 10 years in JB (Johor Bahru) until I graduated from high school at the end of 1965 and went oversea to college in Taiwan in September of 1966. JB emphasized education much more than an inland town like Labis. When visiting Utah in the past few weeks, an impression of the grandkids that we were gangsters (used by my brother, see previous write-ups) occurred in Labis. We didn’t quite develop the habit of studying.

Even in junior years of secondary school, I had been scolded by an old teacher (we called him Botak, means Bold Head) when I was late for a test in the class. Surprisingly, I had the highest test score in the class (about 40 students) and he later apologized in front of all students. He originally came from old schools in China to teach Chinese literature (he sang instead of recited the poems) to local oversea students (mainly Teochew, my mother tongue was Cantonese).

My brother was more sociable and capable of making friends. I am more in studying and my after-school activity was scouting (below pictures show my brother in greaser hairstyle and me in scout uniform). I became a troop leader and a King Scout (though it was a Queen in England).

It turned out my math was pretty good. In junior years, a few times the teacher gave a test in class, she basically stood near me to prevent me to pass answers to neighboring classmates. Maybe all these made me love studying in senior years when students were divided into Science and Literature classes.

I was in Science with a math teacher (we called him Old Wizard) as head teacher. Sometimes I helped him to solve homework problems in front of the class because he was so sleepy after a long night mahjong (rumored). I was so trusted that I compiled the final examination scores for the whole class in his dormitory and I graduated top of my class.

I collected insects on a mountain and made samples in the biological lab and also helped to organize the lab (see below picture with 2 animals). At the time of writing, I couldn’t find my other high school pictures except my graduating class picture with me sitting at right side in the front row. Our Science class produced many student to study oversea and the Physics text book used in our 3 senior years was the same as that in my 2nd college year in Taiwan.



After I graduated from high school, my parents put me to work at JB custom with my brother to learn about exporting timbers to Singapore. Always, it was a long wait for a timber Lori coming from far away jungles. Our cousin (our step-mother’s nephew) was a driver and he broke his finger at one time unloading and loading the logs from the Lori at roadside. The Lori custom was about 1/2 km away at the left of JB railway station (now retired and became a museum, below 1st picture) and the Johor-Singapore Causeway is about 1/2 km to the right.

In 2019, before the kids flew in to join us to begin our family trip, we came to JB and stayed in the Capri by Fraser Hotel. The hotel is at the center of town and has the front view of the causeway between Johor and Singapore (below 2nd picture). I just found out (Feb.2023), the old railway station is on the right side of the road leading to the causeway in front of the hotel. The Lori custom (not there anymore) was just on the right side maybe a little behind of the hotel which is on a hill called Bukit Chagar. Nowadays many tall buildings were built in JB like those shown in below 2nd picture on the waterfront called Tanjung Puteri (Princess Cove, original name of JB). This place was used to be Merdeka Park that we visited quite often in 1960s.



The 1st picture below is the view of the east-side of JB where I used to live and go to schools. Most of my writings in previous chapters focused on this part of JB. However, the west-side of JB comprised most the government and business buildings and was developed earlier. Below 2nd picture shows the landmark Government building (not used anymore) on a hill called Bukit Timbalan. These 1960s pictures were scanned from postcards given by my early friend now living in Taiwan.



My brother graduated one-year earlier and had already gone to help my father at his office at Kemayan, Pahang located about 180 miles in the north (see map). Apparently my father had moved away from Labis and found better business in the state of Pahang.

My brother is quite regret that my step-mom didn’t support him going to college instead of wanting him to help family business. I was very determined to go to college that I applied for the admission of Taiwan Normal University (called Shida) instead of the better Taiwan University because Shida would pay me to go to school. Maybe my worry was my step-mom not sending me money when I was in Taiwan.

My school principal asked me if I wanted to switch to Taiwan University, apparently he had connection, and I told him I didn’t apply. Later, his son became the famous president of University of Hong Kong. However, my step-mom seemed happier and was more accepting of my going to college. Now I understand that my father’s business was really growing and he obtained a timber project from the crown prince of Pahang (see below map). It helped the wealth of our family.



Later the crown prince became the Sultan of Pahang and the King of Malaysia (5-year term). His son also became the Sultan and then the present King of Malaysia in 2019 and married the princess of Johor (see previous chapter).

It was the cousin of the prince who managed the project and came to JB to meet my brother sometimes and he was given a Mercedes-Benz as a gift. The project required to build a 40 mile road through the jungles from Kemayan to Keratong where only aboriginal people lived there at that time. They built a lodge next to the River of Keratong for workers to live (above 2nd picture).

Every day they drove the jungle trucks which were called San Tai Wong (means Mountain big King, see picture) in Chinese or Lori Hantu (means Ghost Truck because they don’t have license plates and seldom appear in public road) in Malay to surrounding jungles to bring out the timber logs. I checked the 40 mile road they pushed through the jungle to Keratong is now part of Pahang public road system. In Malay, Kera means Monkey and Ah Tong is a Chinese name which was also the name of my father’s Kepala (means Head Man).

Though my parents would like me to work in the family’s business, I pretty much just wanted to go to college. Chinese school diplomas were not recognized by the government of Malaysia. To increase my chances going to college at the time Taiwan admission was not confirmed, I went to a Christian secondary school in Singapore recommended by a classmate (I can't remember whom).

I don’t know how I got in and what kind of student I was in there but I remember I attended classes and sang in a chapel. I studied the bible classes which were very new to me and an Indian teacher commented that Islam probably would dominate the world (left pictures).

Maybe it was too far from JB, about 15 miles, I finally gave it up. I hardly remembered this school until sometime ago I read an article posted by a Yorkshire English man. He was admitted to this St. Andrew’s School in 1961 by his parents who were stationed at Woodlands, a town on the opposite side of JB in Singapore, and it was a long commute too.

He took some pictures on the Boy Scouts activity in the school and I recognized the school buildings and my classroom was on second floor (see left pictures). Later I also took German Language classes offered by German embassy in Singapore because there was an opinion that one needed to learn German in order to study Science.
Many classmates were accepted by Taiwan universities. To save money, we arranged to ride on a cargo ship to go to Taiwan. The ship was called Taipoolai, however, on my passport it was labeled Taipoosek by Hong Kong port authority. I couldn’t find any information online about Taipoolai but Taipoosek (left picture).

Maybe they were sister ships and looked alike. I read online it costed about 100 to 150 Malaysian dollars depending where you slept. We all stayed below the deck where the cargo were located, probably the cheapest place. It took seven days to get to Keelung port of Taiwan from Singapore and stopped one night at Hong Kong where we could go ashore. Some people got seasick and were quite miserable. They could not bear it anymore and took flights from Hong Kong to Taiwan.
In old time entry at customs was not very strict. This was a amazing journey and many classmates did not know much about Taiwan. They were advised to bring soaps, toilet papers, warm water bottles etc. because Taiwan was a very backward place. Of course later we found out it was not quite true. Not until 1970, I returned to JB.

Going to College in Taiwan

Written on June 20, 2021.
After a week riding on Taipoolai ship, we arrived at Keelung Port of Taiwan on September 21, 1966. We were picked up by the Overseas Compatriot Council, a government agency of Taiwan, and transferred to individual universities in Taipei. We were well taken care of because we were considered the oversea compatriot students.

This privilege was originated in mainland China when oversea Chinese helped, largely in donations, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who founded KMT party overseas, to overthrow the Qing dynasty and form the Republic of China. I just realized that there is no official entry stamp on my passport. We had visited Sun Yat-sen memorial in Singapore in 2019 (see below).

We didn’t have problems adjusted to the life and studies in Taipei and we could speak much better Mandarin than Hong Kong students. At that time, we were financially better than most local students, and in second year I gave up the free dormitory room and board for better living outside the campus.
Actually, it was quite fun to stay in the dormitory because just outside was a street with many food vendors that we could eat until mid-night. But the dormitory already closed and we had to climb the walls back to our room. They called it Night Market of Shida (Taiwan Normal University). However, each dormitory room, which was very small, had to squeeze 8 students inside and in winter time there was hardly any hot water for taking showers.

As compatriot students, we had the priority to join the summer camps, mostly military kinds, organized by the government to strengthen our fighting spirit. We had the opportunities to travel around the island to learn some skills and knowledges.

I owned a camera at that time and could take pictures though I barely remember when and where I were (see above and left pictures). My most impressive trip was visiting Orchid Island, about 50 miles southeast off the main island, where some indigenous people lived, and the war boat ride was very rough.

We called them Yami people (now they are called Tao people) who speak Austronesian language which sounded like Malay to me. Based on studies, ancestors of the Tao people were the first Austronesian Expansion (~4000 BP) from the mainland of Taiwan. They lived in primitive dwellings but made beautiful ipanitika fishing boats. The girls were good at hair throwing dance. (See above pictures)
There was a requirement for all male students, except those people with unfit bodies, to attend a military training in a summer. It was trained at a military base called Success Hill with real weapons (see left pictures). When we marched past in front of then President Chiang Kai-shek, I remember I kicked the wrong foot.

The training was quite rough to most students and it was quite an experience to me. As citizens of Republic of China, the local students needed to join compulsory military service after graduation and this was a provision for them to enter as military officers directly.

There was a problem for Malaysian students. The Malaysian embassy objected this training after they found out and worried about the trained students might overthrow the government when they went back to Malaysia. In 2 years, Malaysian students were no longer required to take the training.
When Dr. Sun Yat-sen tried to overthrow the Qing dynasty, numerous uprisings and fundraising activities were planned in Singapore by forming a branch of Chinese United League to absorb many revolutionaries.

A villa, originally owned by Lim Ah Siang as mentioned in my previous write-ups (revolutionaries were illegal in JB because only Ngee Heng was allowed), was offered to Sun as his headquarter in Southeast Asia. This villa was gazetted by the Singapore government as a National Monument called Sun Yat-sen Nanyang Memorial Hall (see left picture).

My father was targeted to be sent back to Republic of China (at mainland China that time) when he was detained by British Government. After the Malayan Independence in 1957, we all became the citizens (my father and brother had some issues not clear to me).
When KMT party led by Chiang moved to Taiwan, we were still treated as citizens of China in Taiwan and therefore we were required to attend military training. All these summer camps were designed for the purpose of recovering mainland China by fighting back. It was a lot of fun to me. Now Taiwan government still calls itself China and Sun’s portraits were hung in all government buildings.

In my fourth year of college, I met my wife when she attended the same university majoring in history. We knew each other when we both sang in the university chorus (below picture). The chorus picture’s banner labeled year of 1970. I only found two black and white pictures (below right) with my wife at this time of writing. Today is father’s day and I will continue to look for pictures and write more in future (delayed).



In Taiwan, the biggest goal for science students was to go to USA, not that common in Malaysia, for further study and I was influenced by it. Below the left picture is our graduating class in Physics shot in front of our main campus in 1970. There was another Class B. The right picture shows the front gate of the university in old time, however, the physics department had since moved away to other location.



When I went back to Taipei after I took a vacation back to Malaysia in 1970, I taught in a high school at Keelung, a port 15 miles northeast of Taipei. Teaching for one year was required for me to obtain the bachelor degree of my university. The local students were required to teach 5 years, because they were paid during school years, before they could be free to pursue higher education.

Continued writing on 2021 October 16: It has been almost 4 months that I have not done any writing and the pandemic is still far from over. I found a very early color picture taken with my wife at Bitan Creek, which is not too far from the university, probably in 1970. Below two portraits were taken before and after my coming to USA.

Going to College in the USA

Written on October 18, 2021 and revived on December 2, 2023.
In old time, if a person went away from home, it usually took a long time for that person to go back because of the expenses and the transportation. Even calling home was a luxury and so writing was essentially the way, but I seldom wrote.

After 4 years in college in Taiwan, I went back to Malaysia in the summer of 1970. Before I went back to Malaysia, in the Chinese New Year of 1970, I visited my wife’s family in a southern town called Gangshan. We took pictures inside a nearby elementary school where my wife had attended (left picture).
In Malaysia, I stayed longer than one month. It was a big deal for the whole family, my 2 step sisters had joined our family and I saw my brother’s 1st daughter for the first time. Below 1st picture is the birthday party for my step-Mom shot at home and another picture (in the beginning chapter earlier) was shot in front yard with my brothers and parents. The 2nd picture was shot at Singapore airport when they sent me off.


Our family timber business was doing very well and they took me to Kemayan (see my previous write-ups), about 180 miles from home, to see it. Later we went to Kuala Lumpur to meet an American business man coming from Hawaii at a hotel, I learnt that he eventually defaulted on bringing in investment capital.

After I came back to Taipei from Malaysia and moved to Keelung, I started to go into the color photography by taking pictures in both places. Every year’s spring, azalea flowers bloom on NTU campus, not too far from Shida, with many bright colors. It is a popular place to take pictures (1st picture). Keelung is a rain city and is good for growing plants. I also found good azalea blooming in Keelung. Below right pictures show the spring time of sport field of Keelung’s Girls Senior High School where I was teaching.



Teaching in Keelung was not my career but it gave me the time to apply for financial aids to attend a US university. Without financial help, it was very difficult for most students to come to USA. Surprisingly, I got an offer from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Other schools did not give me answers.

I don’t think I had much money at that time but I took a flight from Taipei and landed on San Francisco on August 8, 1971. I didn’t get out of SFO but continued my flight to Milwaukee. The life was simple and quite safe in USA at that time that people still hitch-hiked on the road and didn’t necessary locked their doors at nights.

I rode a bus at Milwaukee airport in the afternoon and it took more than an hour to get to the university campus. I cannot remember that how I was settled in a student dormitory on campus. It was summer time, there were no other students. It was a shock to me because in Taiwan people were anywhere regardless of days or nights. You could buy food even when it was very late and people, including women, went out at nights. Here it was almost no one around at this time.

It turned out my brother’s classmate in Foon Yew, one year higher in grade, was studying in the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The next day I went to visit him and it was very nice of him to take me riding a boat on the lake next to the campus (below 1st picture).

Then I went to visit my own 2 high school classmates studying near Toronto. I stayed at Toronto for a few days and really enjoyed the city. We did many things and I barely remember. The most interesting thing is they took me to visit the world famous Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. Now I only brought back my memory by starring at my old pictures and, surprisingly, they are in good colors. Below 2-4 pictures were shot at Niagara Falls. It is strange that I don’t have their pictures taken with me at the time.



There was a young Chinese Physics professor on Milwaukee campus. Don’t know how he found out me and invited me to his house for dinner. He found out that I was also applying other universities and University of California at Davis was one of it.

At that night, he helped me to call one Physics professor at UC Davis who verbally promised me a financial assistantship. I really owe to this professor at Milwaukee who helped me and even advised me that California was probably better place for me. So I flew to Davis, California in days and this totally changed my life path.

Some old volunteers picked me up at Sacramento airport and I didn’t know it was quite far from Davis campus. I was settled at the UC Davis dormitory with cafeteria open but very lousy food. I just wondered how I could survived on these food and a physics Chinese student came along to move me out of the dormitory and share apartment with other foreign students.

It turned out there was a Chinese Student Association on campus that would help new comers. After that, there were many things happen in Davis. However, I want to submit this story first because there is a deadline, and I can add more later.

The time was in 1971, which is still long time ago, and I need to look at my old pictures to bring back my memory. Left picture is the certificate awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Davis during the picnic in a park to foreign students before the school started. It was quite a very considerate thought which seems not likely happen nowadays.
When I arrived at Davis, I realized that many people, especially the UC Davis students, were riding bicycles. It is widely known as the bicycle capital of the world. As a student without car, it was so convenient for me to ride to school and around town.

Since I only have few pictures during my early years in Davis, I found these pictures online from the City of Davis to celebrate its first bicycle lanes officiated in 1967, four years before I arrived at Davis. The scenes looked very familiar to me because I was doing the same thing on the same streets. So I posted these pictures here as my experiences in Davis.
Below first 2 pictures were shot on campus after I arrived at Davis. I had an office in Physics building. Roughly after 1-2 years I moved to Applied Science Department. Once a while, we ventured out to other places because some foreign students had cars. Below 3rd and 4th pictures were shot at Golden Gate Bridge and some place in bay area or in Sacramento.