letters from a Father to his Children(30.06.58)

Hotel St James & Albany,

Paris, 30th June, 1958

Our Darling Children,

Thursday, 26th June: It was raining in the morning and we just strolled in the neighbourhood of the Hotel intending to do a tour of Paris in the afternoon. As luck would have it something went amiss. The bus forgot to pick us up and we decided to do the tour tomorrow. In a way, we were glad of this as it rained the whole afternoon. I am afraid the weather has not been too kind to us since we got to FRANKFURT.

Friday, 27th June: We had a full day's programme today. We toured the "MODERN PARIS" in the morning; that is, we passed all the important landmarks and stopped at MADELEINE CHURCH, TRIUMPHANT ARCH, HOTEL des INVALIDES and NAPOLEON'S TOMB. In my case, of course, it was my second visit and I could remember some of these places. MADELEINE CHURCH is one of the famous churches with it's peculiar interior architecture. At the TRIUMPHANT ARCH,  a fire is always burning in the memory of the UNKNOWN SOLDIERS and one can always find some wreaths laid here by relatives or friends of the dead soldiers. This Arch is where so many AVENUES converge. There are twelve wide AVENUES converging here. One of the main features of PARIS is her wide, straight AVENUES which are 150 feet wide. From TRIUMPHANT ARCH, therefore, one can have a wonderful view of these AVENUES which are also lined by trees. The best and biggest avenue is AVENUE DES CHAMPS-ELYSEES. Besides the wide avenues, it has also about 150ft on each side for pedestrians.

HOTEL des INVALIDES is a Church where invalids are housed and fed. This Church was built in the 17th century and it was here that NAPOLEON was buried. There was an inscription on the inner wall of the Church which went "This Building Is Constructed in Gratitude to France's Great Men" or words to that effect in French. Going through Europe what struck us was the way the Government and the people showed their appreciation of their leaders. After all, for instance, NAPOLEON made mistakes but his good deeds were the thing that mattered. In our case, we expect perfection. Once a man makes a mistake he is condemned for ever! What a tragedy!!

In the afternoon we tour the "HISTORIC PARIS". We passed again along outstanding land-marks including TUILERIES Gardens, LOUVRE MUSEUM (which I will explain in more details later), PANTHEON, PARIS UNIVERSITY, HOTEL de VILLE (TOWN HALL) and the OPERA PLACE. We visited the Church of MONT MARTE which was situated on a hill from where we had a wonderful view of PARIS. It's always beautiful to look from above. At the end of the tour we stopped at the famous NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL - a marvellous example of old architecture.

We relaxed a little in the evening - we went to attend a musical show FOLIES BERGER. It was indeed a wonderful musical show running non-stop, except for a short interval, for 3 hours. We saw  gorgeous dresses, excellent dances and marvellous stage scenery. It was worth the 1185 Francs for each of us. This is equivalent to $9/=.  Quite expensive, isn't it but it is not the most expensive seat which cost 3000 Francs = $22-50. Anyway, we were on the balcony quite close to the stage.

It was therefore a full day's programme and we went to bed very tired.

Saturday 28th June: It was HARI RAYA day. Our thoughts were with you all. We wondered how you spent your Hari Raya. we went to LOUVRE MUSEUM in the late morning. This building was the French King's Palace before FRANCE BECAME A republic. It was a huge building and it had in it famous paintings, sculptures and the well-known statue of VENUS de MILO. There is a saying that unless you have seen this statue you have not seen Paris. There were so many things to see showing the old civilization of GREECE, ITALY and EGYPT.  Whenever we visited these Museums, it brought our thought back to our National Museum at Kuala Lumpur. What a contrast!?

In the afternoon we just sat at the TUILIERS GARDENS. until about 8.00pm. We did not realise it was so late as the sun was still in the sky.

Sunday 29th June: Again we sat in the TUILIERS GARDENS as this was a bright morning. This Garden is about 60 acres in area - a very well laid garden with two ponds in it. We enjoyed watching little boys and girls playing boats in the ponds - those toy mechanical boats and sailing boats, too. I then left Mak to wait for me there as I walked to the TRIUMPHANT ARCH.  We could see the Arch and I thought it was quite close but I found that it was a  fairly long walk. My feet hurt so much that during the night I suffered a great deal. I indeed cried.

In the afternoon we went to VERSAILLES and visited VERSAILLES PALACE which was the Royal Palace during the period of LOUIS XIV, XV and XVI.  Versailles is about 15 miles out of Paris. The Palace has 2,000 odd rooms. We did not go round all the rooms except the important ones. The gardens round the Palace were well symetrically laid. They were beautiful.

We were happy in Paris. It was made more  wonderful when we received your second letter dated 22nd June on the second day we were in Paris.

speaking about letter, we would like to know how many of ours you have received. We sent them as follows:

First: sent from ATHENS on 7th June

Second: sent from ROME on 12th June

Third: sent from FRANKFURT on 18th June

Fourth: sent from PARIS on 26th June

This is our fifth letter. What about those Post Cards we sent to everyone of you?

Yes; the Malay term for GREEKS is either ORANG2 GREEK or as the Malay papers sometimes refer to as ORANG2 YUNAN. Of course, I am not fatter. I looked fatter as I put thicker suits. So it is with Mak.

From you was the first time that I have heard about the Thomas Cup results. They were not in any of the local papers! That was a bad show!! I must however, say to Indonesia "Well done; the better team wins". There shouldn't be any excuses!!! Mr. Heath appears to me rather unsporting.

Well done, Adek Shor. I hope by now you have won more points for your House.

Nazir: better luck next time.

Nan: You must try to play for your School at hockey. Will you please convey my regards to Mr MORI?

Yong: Quite right. That's what you should do i.e thank Air India for the nice present on our behalf and point out that we are away on vacation.

Ajid, Nah, Nan, Adek Shor & Nor: When can I expect letters from you? Postage money can be obtained from Kak.

Yes; before I forget. I want to tell you a story. On Thursday - as i had nothing to do and my hair was already too long - I went to the Hair Dresser's shop for a hair cut. The barber did not know a word of English and I did not know a word of French. Anyway, by a sign language we managed but to my disadvantage. I did not ask for a shampoo but he gave it to me. Of course, that's not bad because, after all, I thought I needed a shampoo. When the bill was presented I found the haircut and the shampoo had cost me 1700 frans = $12.75. Wasn't that expensive! Ooh, that was a real cut-throat!!

That's that for the time being. Tons of love & kisses from us to Sayang, Adek, Intan, Kuntom, Nor, Adek Shor, Nan, Nah, Ajid & Yong. Sembah salam to Tah, and salam to Tok Lehah, Piei, Mak Yah, Pak Sharif, Mak Minah, Pak Hakib, Pak hitam & Isteri and Pak Hussin & Isteri.

Your Lovingly,

 Mak & Bapak

P.S. Herewith some 'snaps'. Please send to our London address the photograph of the five younger ones: Sayang, Adek, Intan, Kuntom,and Nor taken on the day we took the group photos. 

SPECIAL NEWS:  Mak and Bapak have been invited to BUCKINGHAM PALACE GARDEN PARTY ON 17TH JULY.

BRAVO!