letters from a Father to his Children(25.06.58)

HOTEL ST JAMES & D'ALBANY

PARIS, 25th June 1958

My darling Children,

17th June; Tuesday: We reached FRANKFURT - it's full name is FRANKFURT am MAIN ( as explained earlier am means on). There are two Frankfurts in Germany. This one is the Frankfurt on the river Main. We arrived on a very warm afternoon ( I almost fainted really) and we were not very impressed a result of my uncomfortableness probably! We were tired and had a rest until dinner time. After dinner we strolled for about 1/2 hour in the City.

18thJune; Wednesday: We started off very happily with the receipt of your letter handed to us at the breakfast table. We read and re-read your letter. We then went for a tour of the City, rather spoilt by rain. We visited poet Goethe's old house which was preserved so well. Some parts of it were restored after the War. Some were original. Frankfurt suffered so much by bombing during the War. It was wonderful to see how it recovered. New modern buildings were constructed. They were still short. Some remains of bombed building were still in existence.

In the late afternoon we went for a walk to a small Park in the City. We sat there for about one hour watching people. Rather cold when we return to the Hotel. There did not appear many things to see here.

Thursday 19th June: Nothing particular to do today except to confirm with KLM our flight tomorrow. The weather was rather erratic. Rest most of the day - to recover the hectic days of the past few weeks.

(NOTE: I missed informing you that on our way to ZURICH and before we reached GENEVA we flew over the Mt Blanc. It was a wonderful sight - exciting & cool whiteness. I took a few 'snaps' from the plane. I hope a few would come out well)

As the weather was poor we did not do anything in particular. It was rather cold too.

Friday 20th June: We were hoping to go out this morning but it rained and rained. I went out to sort out a few things but Mak did not go out at all.

While we were in the Hotel we were watching cars passing. Most of them were OPEL. Of course when we were in ROME we saw mostly Yang's cars - FIAT.

We left FRANKFURT at 4.45pm. The flight by KLM airways to AMSTERDAM took us 1 1/2 hours.

Saturday 21st June: We went out for a City tour. It was drizzling and cold  most of  the time. We stopped at the National Art Galleries where we saw REMBRANDT'S paintings including his masterpiece " THE NIGHTWATCH". We also visited a diamond cutting worksop. It was shown here that the saying, "it needs a diamond to cut a diamond" was literally true.  After 2 1/2 hours we went to a Chinese Restaurant called "CHINA".  We had 'nasek goring' and we really enjoyed it - after 3 weeks without!. One of the waiters was a Chinese born in Java who could speak Indonesian Malay. He was married, he said, to a Dutch Dame.

(NOTE: I have not mentioned earlier that during this time, the day was longer than the night. Here now. sunrise was at 5AM and sun-set at 9PM. The only snag was that it was quite cold!)

On our way back to the Hotel- Hotel des Pays Bat (pronounced PAY BA) we decided to go for a few motor - boat drive. We went through the many canals to the Harbour. Netherlands (as it was pointed out that it was wrong to call it Holland as Holland is only the district surrounded by other districts) is a very low-lying country. It was usually flooded in the old days and it was through the system of canals that land was reclaimed. There are now 70 canals and 400 bridges in the City. Amsterdam therefore uses a good deal of water traffic even to Germany. The river RHINE flows from Switzerland through Germany into the Netherlands. Amsterdam is flat and bicycles are popularly used. It seems that every other person own a bicycle. Amsterdam has a population of 1 million and there are 500,000 bicycles.

While we went through the canals we were shown a number of boat - houses in which people live. They did not do this for pleasure but forced to do so by circumstances. There was a shortage of houses. However, these boat-houses were well decorated and properly maintained.

It continued to rain in the evening but while Mak  had was in bed resting, I went out at 5pm to "look see" around the City.

Sunday 22nd June: Spent a very quiet Sunday. There were not so many people in the City but we just strolled along. We had lunch in another Chinese restaurant called HONGKONG RESTAURANT. This time we had plain rice with some vegetables and prawns.

Later in the afternoon we went on a tour. We visited BROKE - in - WATERLAND's cheese factory. As you may know, the Netherlands is a cheese exporting country - mainly to America. Her livestock is very good. We proceeded to MARKEN - a queer and isolated island - famous for its old costumes of which the people of the island are very proud of. However, the people, generally speaking, are rather ugly. We spent about 1/2 hour on the island looking around. The island has a population of 1500 only. From here we went to VOLENDAM, a picturesque fishing village. Here again the people dress in their national costumes of which they were proud of. It was raining then and. I'm afraid, it spoil the trip. We returned and got back to the Hotel at 6.30pm

Monday 23rd June: We left for BRUSSELS  by KLM  airline FLYING DUTCHMAN. The departure was delayed for 1/2 hour and landed in Brussels at about 1.00pm. It was so much of rush - getting change for BELGIAN francs and at the same time trying to check up on the Hotel reservation. No such reservation (second time) appeared to have been made - at least I could not get any confirmation. Ver disappointed. There was such a rush for accomodation due to the WORLD TRADE EXHIBITION being held here and it was at about 3.30pm before we could arrange it. It was not in a Hotel but we got a room in a private house. This wasn't unusual now with the Exhibition still going on. We were very tired and cold. It was raining all the time since we arrived at Brussels. We would hope for a better day tomorrow! As we were so tired, we went to bed without dinner.

Tuesday 24th June: Immediately after breakfast we went to the City Centre  from where we proceeded to the WORLD FAIR. As you might know this Fair or Exhibition was opened on the 17th April and would only be closed on 19th October. The site comprised 20 million square feet and many Countries (Malaya not included) were represented and had their pavilions. We visited most of the pavilions including THAILAND's who had a very charming pavilion, though small. Other than the BELGIAN pavilions those of RUSSIA and the UNITD STATES were the biggest. The two latter countries do seem to be really competing with each other in every field especially in those economic and political fields. Both these countries were trying to pubilcise their so-called achievements!

There were so many people attending the Fair. Except for going round the Exhibition by little "trains" we walked and walked and walked. Mak was so tired later that we had to stop for rest after every few hundred yards. There were so many things to see within a day. There was the modern technology section, art  galleries and the Gardens. The was the AUTOMIUM. A pamphlet in its introduction said, "Just as the Eiffel Tower symbolised the 1889 PARIS WORLD EXHIBITION,  so wil lthe 360 feet high AUTOMIUM symbolise and constitute the highlight of the 1958 BRUSSELS UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION. One had to go up by lift and also some escalators. We did not go up as Mak was too tired. I might explain briefly that the AUTOMIUM represented the atomic structure of a crystal of iron magnified 150,000 million times. There was even a DAY NURSERY in the Exhibition compound where children under thirteen years of age were taken care of by nurses and kindergarten teachers while parents went round. Wonderful!!

Imagine us spending 91/2 hours there - from 10.30AM to 8.00PM. While resting and waiting for me Mak saw, from a distance, a Malay friend Che' SUJAK. She wasn't sure but, anyway, he was too far to call. We went back really tired but this time we had our dinner at the Exhibition before going back.

Wednesday 25th June: We left for PARIS - gay PAREE - this morning by SABENA airline. At the BRUSSELS AIR PORT,  Mak really met Che SUJAK but I did not meet him as I was already proceeding to the plane whilst Mak was following well behind. I always went quickly ahead so that I could get two good seats in the plane. We just stayed in the Hotel when we got to PARIS.

While completing the letter tonight Mak was already in bed asleep. Poor Mak! it must be tiring and quite a trial for her. While eating our dinner just now we were talking about you all. We missed you all so much that we cried - silently, of course. Sometimes we felt like rushing home but I am sure you all do not want us to do this. We must complete our tour but do write whenever possible. I received Che Nasir's and Yang's letters today. They were handed to us on arrival at the Hotel. How happy we were to have received these letters.

Now, how is everybody? We do hope that you all are GETTING ON WELL TOGETHER. Let us pray to GOD that OUR REUNION will be a HAPPY ONE with EVERYBODY WELL AND HEARTY. 

Well dear Children! It's getting late. Mak is awake again watching me complete this letter. Until we write again, here's wishing you all, all the best. LOTS & LOTS OF LOVE AND KISSES to all of you. 

Sembah salam to Tah and salam to the rest.

Yours Ever Loving,

Mak & Bapak

(Yong! Tell the others they can write to us if they want to)

P.S. Here are some pictures, including those of the people of MARKEN  which I explained earlier in this letter and also the AUTOMIUM in the Exhibition. (The envelope is not big enough. I may send them later.)

P.P>S Mak wants to know if her "kutu" money + $100/= have been deposited into the POSB...