One of the most memorable moments in Auckland was the time I spent with my well-known uncle, Chong Yuk Hien, formerly the Miri District Council (Now renamed as Miri Municipal Council, following Miri's elevation to city status) secretary. A qualified architect, he retired to New Zealand in the eighties. With his departure, our Anglican church in Miri lost a very generous, gracious, God-fearing and humble gentleman. It was because of his love for Christ and church that he did a lot of architectural drawings for free without charging a single cent. There are indeed so few humble, kind and warm-hearted human being I know like him. Meeting him and spending time with him was the answer to my dreams as some of you are aware I did mention his story and his heroic actions in defending Sarawak against the offensive launched by the Brunei rebels to take over the Sarawak government in the sixties' Brunei Rebellion. For his courageous actions, together with a handful of local Ibans, in holding the northern front against the invading rebels, he was presented the colonial government's governor's award bu the last British governor, Governor Sir Alexander Waddell. In the pictures, my uncle and I climbed up Mount Wellington which is near his home. In my two weeks with my relatives, we had a marvelous time walking and climbing various places. Mt. Wellington is such a fascinating site. There was a Maori settlement at the summit, and it is believed that warring cannibalistic Maoris fought each other up there in many pitched bloody battles. I managed to reach the summit myself as my uncle found it quite tiring considering his age, and I went to the actual spot where there could be seen the remnants of a stone settlement. There were lots of stones and rocks in certain parts of the area. I could almost feel the presence of hundreds of blood-thirsty Maoris with their bloody curling cries in the lonely desolete place, as the wind howled and blew fiercely and the warm sun beat my face high up there ...
If you ever travel to beautiful New Zealand... drive around and you'll experience and see sights and sounds that a tourist in a group tour won't ... Here are a few of many other pics that I took as I cruised around in my Nissan Sunny car. 
Pic on left taken at Mount Maunganaui beach... fella beside me is from up North, used to have an intimate Malaysian Chinese gal from Kuala Lumpur... Right, he says she's a pretty good spicy cook and he loves all Malaysians 'cos of this sweet gal...! Now he's heart-broken -she's gone home!These four cute chinhuhuas belong to a lady at Maketu Beach... 
I drove all the way from Rotorua to Auckland in South Island and spent over a week with my relatives. It was a fantastic time... here an environmental expert is conducting a talk about what Kiwis can do to help the environmental cause. The talk was informative but conducted in Mandarin!Later, there were about ten lucky draws... and amazingly, I won a potted plant together with three others in our Sarawakian group (including my aunt and a couple)! 
Here's a mysterious shot below taken at Maketu Beach... The Chinese alighted from a vehicle in front of me suddenly and then sat on a bench, sobbing her heart out. I was about to come out to chit-chat with her to comfort her when a shaggy long hair Caucasian Kiwi came from another vehicle to comfort her by wrapping his an arm around her neck! By the way, for you history buffs out there, Maketu is rich in history and one book I found in Te Puke's fine library written by an Eurasian (Interestingly, I would meet one of her close relatives, a Justice of the Peace, one day!) Europeans first landed in that part in New Zealand's South Island but before they came, the various Maori tribes in this area were warring against one another... and yes, they ate their enemies up after defeating them!!!
More to come... So while Sarawakians here may have practised head-hunting centuries ago, the Maoris practised cannibalism!
In 1929, my great grand-uncle, Reverend Paul Chong En Siong founded the oldest school, St. Columba's School in Miri, Sarawak in East Malaysia during the reign of the Brookes. Classes were held in a bungalow belonging to a Police Officer. 13 boys and girls from ages 8 to 13 were the first batch of students.
The Japanese invaded Sarawak in December, 1941 and the school was closed. Revd. Paul Chong's beloved brother, Catechist Chong En Fui who had been a teacher in St. Columba was murdered by the Japanese. He had been betrayed by a friend who gave false information about him to the Kempeti (Jap Secret Police).
Today, the late Catechist Chong En Fei's son, Chong Yuk Hien, an honorable and well-respected former church leader, is happily retired and enjoying his golden years in beautiful New Zealand. He has also written a very interesting book entitled The Rise and Fall of the Rising Sun.
Not too long ago, he wrote to me commenting on the fact that I had misspelt his middle name in my historical book, A Time For Us. With merely an additional letter 'n' I had made his name feminine! I have apologised and remain apologetic to him for the grave commission of the error on my part.
I have fold memories of this uncle who was once awarded Sarawak's most courageous award by the last outgoing British governor of Sarawak back in the early 1960's ( He had led a small band of equally brave natives in defending Miri from an outside invasion by foreigners). He and his family members used to give us wonderful treats and ang pows (Chinese New Year red packages of money) in his home at Pujut on numerous occasions. He was also one of my mentors in the absence of my dad who could only reside and work in Sabah for over 16 years. There were also many times when I went with his family during those 16 years of Christmas caroling.
I pray the good Lord will allow me to see him someday. We have already learnt of the sad news of the demise of his brother whom I also love a lot. He passed over in Australia. I wouldn't want to miss, for all the tea in China, the chance of seeing this great hero of mine !
The picture above is of an unknown person, believed to be the long-serving school clerk, the late Tan Kheng Hee. He is seen standing in front of the Belachan (prawn paste) store which was used as a classroom right after WW11 in 1945. Today the store would be where the car park is in front of St. Columba's Parish Kindergarten.
