關於 mrbrowninterempa ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

In the midst of visiting relatives and friends, sightseeing and eating, it is good to pause and take in a sunset from a kelong in the North Natuna Sea.
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The owner of the kelong we are standing on did not have a lot of education. But he certainly had gumption and he knew how to rear fish. He now owns the kelong business as well as a few islands.
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#travel
#mrbrowntravels
#mrbrowninTerempa

Lives and destinies are built on the kindness of others.

Before we departed, my Sam Pak (Third Uncle) gave specific instructions to his three sons, “Find the family of a particular man. Give them this money.”

Back in 2002, when Sam Pak (Third Uncle) and two of his sons came to see The Man, he had already passed away, so they met his wife. This time, in 2019, his wife had already passed away, so we had to find his children.

Sam Pak (Third Uncle) told his sons the name of The Man. My 堂哥堂弟 (paternal cousins) gave the name of the man to our relatives in Terempa. It was CSI time.

On the last day of our trip, they found his son and daughter. Mission accomplished. They could now fulfill his father’s wishes.

We then heard the story behind The Man my Sam Pak (Third Uncle) wanted found.

During the Japanese Occupation, The Man taught my Sam Pak (Third Uncle) how to fish and where to fish, to feed the family. At that time, other sons were somewhere else, and my Mm Suk (Fifth Uncle) was too young, so it fell on Third Uncle to find a way to feed the family.

Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he will save his family from starvation.

The Man’s son even remembers the scar Sam Pak (Third Uncle) got from fishing. He said, “I was a boy then, but I remember the long scar on your father’s leg.”

This was a time when Chinese Indonesians were targeted during the Japanese Occupation. Ethnic Chinese had to register themselves and pledge allegiance to the Japanese. Many were arrested or killed by the occupying Japanese forces to smother dissent.

In the conversation, we discovered The Man also helped to hide our Mama (嫲嫲 or Paternal Grandmother) from the Japanese, which is how he became friends with Sam Pak (Third Uncle)

In a time of turmoil and war, against all the odds, and in the face of tremendous adversity, family members, friends and strangers helped one another, rising above race and religion.

To know this is to be grateful and humbled. That we do not get where we are now, and where we will be in the future, without the good deeds of others in the past.
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#travel
#mrbrowntravels
#mrbrowninTerempa

Going Home

I am in Terempa, Riau Islands, in Indonesia and this is where my father and his ten siblings were born. No words can explain the profound sense of history and gratitude I am feeling being here.
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I am sitting where my father’s mother, my Ma Ma (嬤嬤) lived. Part of me wants to kiss this ground where I sit. But I settle for touching it with my fingers and placing it on my heart.
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I met my 二伯’s (Yee Pak, or Second Uncle) daughter, my 堂姐 (paternal cousin. She is the lady in red).
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My late father was the third youngest of eleven children. He was 四叔 or Sey Suk to most of the cousins.
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Our merry band is led by my 五叔 (Mm Suk, or Fifth Uncle) who is the youngest son and second youngest sibling. Without him, this trip would not be possible because he has all the ties and knows all the relatives here. When he walked through the streets, we had to stop for him to meet and greet everyone in town, like a celebrity.
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And I also visited my my 二伯娘 (Second Uncle’s Wife) herself, at her home. She is 90 already. The home she lives in is 55 years old. Still in its original form. Strong wood floors, unfazed by age.
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Word got out to the village that we were visiting, and someone said, “She was so excited, she bought a new mat for the house.”
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I could see a few tears in her eyes as she saw us off at the door. She has not seen my Mm Suk for 33 years already. We told her we would see her again the next day.
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Terempa is the capitol of Anambas region in the Riau Islands. My uncles, aunts and paternal grandparents came from here. My grandfather came from 顺德 or Shun Tuck, in China. We are Cantonese.
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But we are also of hardy Indonesian island stock. It used to take my Third Uncle nine days to get to Singapore by sampan.
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This is the first time many of us cousins are traveling together. And it’s made doubly significant that this is the first time many of us have ever seen or set foot on our ancestral home. If you made a tv series out of our journey, it would be called 回乡寻根.
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Back then, life was hard. Children were often given away because families could not afford to keep all of them. But Mm Suk said my Nonya grandmother was firm and insisted no one would be given away, Without her, they may have been separated.
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It was not easy to get here. We came by ferry via Tanjung Pinang. Then a one hour flight from Tanjung Pinang to Matak. Then from Matak, we took a speedboat to Terempa that took 20 minutes (it would take 90 minutes if by Pong Pong, the boat bus).
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We started out at 9am and finally reached the island at 4pm. It was like the Amazing Race.

But I was finally home.
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#travel
#mrbrowntravels
#mrbrowninTerempa